Our Strongest centre at the moment must be Atkins, who has decided to opt out prior to his Warrington move. I bet Smith tried dead hard to pursuade him to commit to the 4 nations?

In my opinion our backline for the tournament should be:
Briscoe, Hall, Shenton, Senior, Fox, Tomkins, Myler

A very young inexperienced backline but there playing in England at familiar grounds behind the best pack in the tournament.

Agree with you, except about Gleeson.

rather than getting the old guard pasted ???

lets play the best players we have that are available - young or old

But if they're getting pasted now then their morale won't me much cop come 2013 against players who they've never beat who have got even better.

To be honest from a selfish point of view i would rather our youngsters be given a chance if they are keen enough to take it. Because im sick to death of us putting out the same old players who never fail to fail.... Wellens,Gardner,Gleeson,Senior,Pryce,Burrow,McGuire.

Surely you should be playing your best possible team in competitions like the Four Nations.

I have no doubt that Tomkins is the most talented English half back and Myler is probably the most well rounded Enlish 7 at the moment. Whether Smith will have the balls to pick them both i doubt greatly. Probably prefering the old failing big stage chokers Pryce Burrow and McGuire.

Pryce should get nowhere near a halfback jersey.
Shame Long has retired as Smith could have rotated the choking quartet

I agree its a bit harsh actually - one of my favourite moments in rugby league was watching Senior tear the Australians apart in an Ashes series from the East Stand at Wigan.

What I can't understand is how many people are now calling for England to build for the World Cup by playing all the young lads. We've not had a World Cup for 8 years before 2008 but now apparently its the only international competition that means anything?

Not to mention the fact that some of the players people are suggesting like Shenton and Atkins aren't even tearing Super League apart yet. The odd glimpse of quality yes but no indication of international quality. Why play them in the internationals if they're not excelling at club level.

I agree we should play the best available, I don't think we should be building for anything. Young players must prove their worth in SL in the coming years for the World Cup. It may be in some instances that the younger players are the best available, some would argue that this is the case in the halfback position. There are also cases where the older guard clearly aren't up to it and need to be replaced, Paul Wellens for example. But equally so IMO if blokes like Keith Senior are still the best available, they should be in despite their age.

Are you being serious?

I wish none of our players had been picked, let Maguire tear into them before the new season.

I just cant want international RL to succeed, not with that clown Wood now pulling the strings at the RFL.

The ashes idea really soured my appetite for international rl, that and Smith and his agenda.

It's disappointing when two of our props are on about £400,000 between them and neither is considered good enough for their respective countries.
It'll be good when their contracts expire.

McGuire will get the 6 shirt, Tomkins will push for a place on the bench.

As for Bridge and harrision there alone stands the reason why no club coach should ever be allowed anywhere near a reps team.

Its not to bad

The aussies have only added Hayne, Waterhouse and Hindmarsh to there squad