Agree with most of that ... still think we'd be better off with Widdop in the halves and Sinfield back at 13.

Wasn't overly impressed with Chris Heightinton - by moving Widdop into the halves we reduce the need for a back on the bench with Sinfield being able to play 6 & 9 if absolutely necessary as cover . Leaving space for another forward on the bench.

Really thought our pack stood up very well indeed and did control a lot of the ball/defence... just need to be sharper with execution in the halves/centres. Tomkins was a class act as usual

Ryan Atkins, even Chris Bridge and most other "English" centres must look at Yeaman and wonder what they need to do to get picked.... crap

I thought Chase went ok apart from the 2 head rushes that probably cost us the game. I'm not sure but I think Auz had 6 chances on our line and scored six times. Chase gave them two opportunities with the strange kick to touch effort. Westwood was pretty bad too with his holding down penchant but luckily it happened further down field.
I would have liked to have seen Reed been given as much ball as Yeaman had been given, that said I thought Yeaman punched above his weight for most of the game. I would have liked to have seen Cudjoe and Atkins going down the suspect Auz flanks though as those two are less predictable than Yeaman and Reed.
I don't think it will matter who we pick for the final, if we get there, as Auz will have another gear. It's no disgrace losing to Auz by less than 20-30 points, they are that good. It doesn't mean we are crap. For me most of our side would be decent NRL players and could even fit into the Auz side no questions asked. Ala what happens to us with Shuddersfield.

Good attacking player but the aussies kept targeting him in defence and he struggled to tackle anyone..

God you're boring! If your club values him as much as you do they'll pay him accordingly and he'll stay with you.
If not, don't feel the need to try and shame the rest of RL into sharing some kind of guilt trip!!

Yes exactly however good Sam Tomkins is, no player is bigger than rugby league and owe them a personal debt to keep them in the game. If they want to go and their club cant keep them, well that's life, harsh but thats real life!

It's interesting how many Wigan fans suddenly have 'the good of the game' at the forefront of their minds; I wonder what's brought on this collective bout of philanthropy towards our great sport?

I'm wondering whether Reed was responding to his coach with his two defensive slips, because both involved rushing Inglis. Would he have been told that if the Aussies are in space and it is shipping out to the left, close Inglis down, because it will probably go to him and if you give him space twenty yards out, you've no chance unless you've got the numbers? Or something.

At the game I thought Westward made a few too many errors but when i watched it back I realised he played the full game, half at prop because Graham didn't come back on and Peacock was crocked.
He's bound to tire and make bad decisions. I don't think he will do the same mistakes given a fully fit team with him.

Westwood is a player I hugely admire and respect - but none of the above is any excuse for persistently holding down in the tackle.

He gave away a couple of early penalties, when he wasn't tired, and I'm not happy about him play-acting when he got high-tackled. But when the fight started, he went in swinging, and so he gets a

from me.

Cameron Smith is one of the biggest houses in the game - anyone who gives him a smack upside the head is alright by me.

Benny still had a stinker though - most out of character.

i thought westwood was pretty hard done by to be fair.

i thought jack reed was average, in that he made a couple of crappy defensive calls and failed to draw his man when he gave the ball to his winger.

sinfield and yeamen were hopeless.

great game though. really exciting international encounter.

That's a bit harsh - for the first try, they had very little room to work with and Reed's dummy gave Hall an extra fraction of a second to make a spectacular score.

On that note, I thought Hall was outstanding - the fact that he broke Billy Slater in the act of scoring is testament to his strength and power.

Agree about Sinfield and Yeaman - Sinfield couldn't even kick reliably, which is bizarre given his club record. As for Yeaman - Ryan Atkins must be wondering what the hell he's done wrong.

I'm not convinced Atkins is up to it anymore than Yeaman who I actually think is ok. Atkins always strikes me as liable to do something really stupid

Yeaman has had a cracking season for Hull, but he looks at sea on the international stage.

The one man who thoroughly deserves a crack at the international game isn't even in the squad. Kris welham has been the form centre of super league

Where are Carvell and Atkins?????

Can somebody please get Sinfield out of that number 6 shirt, he'll never be an international 6 as long as he's got a hole in his backside! There were two occasions when the ball was offloaded to him and he was stood with his back to the ball organising the next play. A 6 should be buzzing about the field and know everything that is going on, unfortunately Sinfield looks exactly what he is, a workmanlike loose forward out of his comfort zone at stand off.

If only he was not so poor in defence.

He has potential but until he sorts his defence out he should not get an International call up in my opinion as he would get crucified.

Atkins has asked not to be considered
Welham is a defensive liability
Reed looked good when carrying the ball but was pretty bad defensively
Yeaman uncharacteristicaly had a questionable defensive game.
Ben Westwood gave away three penalties but two of them were very pedantic from the ref, the very first tackle of the game, when he had Thaidays leg and the ref called held and when the two of them innevitably fell to the ground he penalised Westwood. Interestingly he didn't penalise Watmough a few minutes later when he tipped Tomkins upside down forcing Sam to do a somersault.

Agreed. Thought Westwood was a bit unlucky. Watching the game live, admittedley through slightly blurry vision, i thought apart from the penalties (which were not as cut and dry as people are saying) he was our best forward, yet you read the comments on here and the VT and think maybe i got it wrong and didnt realise quite how pi***d i was!
Yeaman is not upto it. Neither is Atkins and neither is Welham, The problem is im not sure who is! I think anyone of them could do ok next week, but the week after (if we win) is a different matter all together.

I don't agree that Westwood was badly done to; the ref made his intentions clear from the outset and at this level, it's not too much to expect players to adapt and react accordingly - Westwood failed to do that and persisted in messing about at the ruck.

If you look at them as isolated incidents maybe so and after he was done the first time, you could say BW should have learnt, but im not convinced the ref was consistent with his calls around the ruck. The one mentioned above when Whatmough tipped ST up was a prime example, and not the only one. Cameron Smith could have been penalised numerous times for various slowing down attempts.

for me it looked the the ref had had people in his ear telling him that england would hold the aussies down. i thought the two holding down incidents involving westwood were both harsh. you could argue that he didn't learn, but i don't think that this is the case, i think the ref had been conditioned to look for things that may have been there. there didn't appear to be a standard approach.

Yeaman looked out of his depth at the international level i thought. Atkins might not be a better answer to the problem as he seemed on the same level as Yeaman in last years internationals. Not to say either are not good SL players.

Good player solid good defence we can beat kiwi on satuday