Aussie and NZ squads just been announced.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/63114476 Unsurprisingly it's a who's who of the NRL (and that's without Tonga and Samoa), so let's just say England will have their work cut out to get anywhere in the tournament !!

Aussie and NZ squads just been announced.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/63114476 Unsurprisingly it's a who's who of the NRL (and that's without Tonga and Samoa), so let's just say England will have their work cut out to get anywhere in the tournament !!

Quote FIL="FIL"Aussie and NZ squads just been announced.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/63114476 Unsurprisingly it's a who's who of the NRL (and that's without Tonga and Samoa), so let's just say England will have their work cut out to get anywhere in the tournament !!'" I'm an optimist by nature and I think Wane is the right man for the job but we just don't have the talent as far as I can see.

Quote FIL="FIL"Aussie and NZ squads just been announced.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/63114476 Unsurprisingly it's a who's who of the NRL (and that's without Tonga and Samoa), so let's just say England will have their work cut out to get anywhere in the tournament !!'" I'm an optimist by nature and I think Wane is the right man for the job but we just don't have the talent as far as I can see.

13 uncapped players, and all of them are top draw. If we're lucky we might make the semi's, but we're not in the same league.

I'm worried enough about Samoa considering they have a big bunch of Penrith players that just smashed their way to Grand Final win.

There's a lot if good in the England team but I'm not confident of getting past Samoa.

I agree
Barring a miracle, the semis will likely be the end of the road for England and that's not a 100% certainty.

We got no chance to many old players in the squad getting past there best for S L never mind world cup and a few more that are very poor S L standed .Shows how how bad the S L standed is

Really looking forward to the WC, not very often the worlds best land on these shores nowadays. The amount of 33/34 year olds we have in our squad is both worrying and embarrassing, showing a complete lack of quality coming through in my opinion.

.....and how long have we been saying these things?!?! Shall i go back to the Full circle thread i started, something i didn't actually mention, that switching to Summer would help us 'catch' up with the Aussies, we were told as athletes they had an advantage because they played and trained in better conditions, that by our players doing the same, their core skills would improve etc, etc. Another part of switching which hasn't worked, the standard of the game over here is way lower than it was 25, 30 years ago. Where are the British players of the standard of Hanley, Schofield, Platt, Gregory, Edwards, Offiah, Lydon, Betts etc. Those players couldn't beat the Aussies in World Cups or in a 3 match series, yet they are far superior to the best of today. Of course i will edit all this if we do actually win the thing............

The game has evolved. We have improved but so has the Aussie game. It isn't correct to say Summer rugby hasn't changed things.
You need to go back and watch some if the mud baths Hanley had to play in.
The very fact all the players you mention enjoyed good stints in Aus shows how they benefited from the harder ground.
Hanley and Offiah would have loved playing in summer.

Kyle Evans has made the Wales squad. Hope he plays.

With him and Hood (Scotland) at least there's some interest for Wakefield fans.
Tini too if he gets selected for Cook Islands.
Wales v Cook Islands at the LSV might see our two guys head to head.

Tini is in the Cook Island Squad yes.