Briscoes lack of tries is more due to Delaney at second row on the right, who also restricts Watkins(who I think many seem to be writing off a little too early).

Wasn't convinced by Sarg when we signed him but it has to be said he really is a very good player already and potentially could be a very special player. His footwork and dynamic strength is very special.

Watkins I rate highly but his defence is a real issue. Going forward he is very good but his decisions in defence and his failure to stick to the patterns is a real weakness.

Watkins defense has certainly dropped off this season.
Thought he was unlucky when Hodgson was slow to cover leaving Watkins exposed.
I don't think Joel Tomkins helps with his reading of the play either And OLoughlin totally mis read the chip for the Hunt try.
But let's blame Watkins for the loss hey?

Everyone makes mistakes, sunshine. Did you see the one he took with 3 or 4 Australian players around him? I'd like to see any other winger in rugby [either code] take that ball. Charnley didn't have the best game, but I still feel he's a better option than Budgie. Can you imagine the slating he would get if he'd cost us that game? That type of abuse could really affect a young player's confidence.

I cannot understand how Joel Tomkins is even in the team. Elliott Whitehead was superb throughout the season. There is no comparison between the two on last season's performances. O'Loughlin's main contribution was to give penalties away. He does not seem fit. His injury problems have severely affected his performance. Both were included on past reputation not current form. Westerman played well against Samoa and should have kept his place. I can understand Wigan fans trumpeting O'Loughlin's inclusion as when he is fit is arguably the best 13 we have. That is not at this moment in time though.

It beats me why people feel the need to look for changes constantly. The lads did us proud on Saturday and but for a dodgy video ref call would have won the game. All the Wigan lads played well with Sarg a standout on debut. I thought Sam was back to his best too.

This is going to seem strange, but the person I feel most sorry for is the coach. If we lose on Saturday against NZ then his job will go to someone else for sure and yet we should already be in the final against NZ. Sport has a way of kicking you in the plums. I thought McNamara was poor at the WC but this is an improvement.

He has lost his best player in Sam Burgess and arguably his second best in James Roby and yet still put out a decent team that played well against an admittedly weaker than usual Aussie team (although any team with Cronk, Inglis, Smith, Jennings and Bird in it isn't going to be too shabby).

I think there is something to build on here. Hall was superb as were the entire pack. The halves looked like proper halves too unlike the shambles at the World Cup with Chase and Sinfield.

Why feel sorry for the coach? He is the one responsible for our poor showing over the last few matches. He was the one that picked Chase and Sinfield that resulted in the shambles as you describe it. He was the one who picked Joel T when he has done nothing since his return to warrant it. He was the one to pick O'L when he obviously was not fit. He should have gone after the world cup but no his post was downgraded to part time and he can do whilst on the other-side if the world. What coaching success has he had? His stint at the Bulls was an unmitigated disaster. We have one of our strongest sides for some time, the Aussies were at their weakest and we could not beat them. It is too simplistic to blame one dodgy decision. We outplayed the Aussies in the first half yet changed tactics for the second instead of pressing our advantage. If we had we would have won the match. The coach was responsible for that.

Do you honestly believe that McNamara told the players to play more conservative in the second half?
Why would he do that?

What happened was that England didn't make as many metres in the second half so the kickers were in general kicking from inside their own forty rather than the Aussies forty and consequently we couldn't put as much pressure on their back three. Then when the Aussies did make a mistake in their own half we lost the ball on the first tackle and then gave away a soft penalty to invite them close to the line.
With players like Cameron Smith and Inglis playing against you it's then only a matter of time before they get you.

Something must have happened at half time. When things were not happening for us whether it was the coach's second half tactics or the players that were not doing what they were told plan B should have been implemented. We did not seem to have a plan B. Coaches get the plaudits when thing go right they must expect the flack when they don't. I was interested to note that from my post you only felt it necessary to comment on that one point.

The thing that happened was that

a)GI was told to get his finger out and do something
B) the ref decided to look only one way when penalising a team

Any team, but even more so an Australian team, will punish you when they get handed easy position through pens - or don't hand the ball over due to not conceding pens.

All Australia's 2nd half tries came from possession given to Australia on the back of refs decisions or non decisions.

Just look

I think sheens made a big call bringing hunt on and playing with 3 halves. They moved us around then which give GI the space he needed.

Also the Aussies speeded up the play the ball which killed us.

Playing with 3 halves was a clever move, poo poo'd by the TV experts at the time...

They dragged us about after that. They knew we had the better of them in the middle. When they had us dragged out of position it gave GI the space he needed.

Realistically we are always going to have a two or three injuries in any given tournament, Australia have more than that and I think I'm right in saying New Zealand do as well.

I'm not sure Waite or Noble ever got as good an opportunity as this and yet they both managed to beat Australia at least once and have fairly good records against the kiwis. Smith had a poor side to choose from with the old guard of Radlinski, Long, Fielden, Cunningham, Farrell and Sculthorpe all gone and Roby, Graham, Burgess and Lockers not really ready to take over at that level so it's more understandable him not getting a win against the aussies, though he did whitewash New Zealand in a three match series with a mediocre squad.

If we get beat by the kiwis this time that will make it 1 win from 9 attempts against Aus/NZ for McNamara. The last two have been agonisingly close but even so I can't help but feel that another coach would have produced a better return than that all with this set of players at his disposal.

Yes I agree with that. And maybe someone else deserves a crack at the national coaching job (though I hope it isn't Shaun Wane to be honest).

My point about feeling sorry for the coach was that he was one poor decision from getting into the final and beating Aussie for the first time in 8 years. Sometimes coaches are lucky and sometimes they aren't. I think we underestimate the role that luck plays in top class sport, sometimes the difference between winning and losing between two well matched sides is down to luck.

I don't believe that you can make your own luck either. By its' very nature luck is random and can't be 'made'.