I'll stick up for tom burgess here, he was in good form before souths season ended and was getting back to his best form. however hill, brown and ratchford should not have been included - i would have had tomkins in before ratchford and watts for hill. kevin brown is the worst selection - if we don't have better than him we might as well not bother. i'm worried that his inclusion means bennett is thinking about moving widdop to full back to replace hardaker. widdop is our best half by some distance, it would be madness to move him. congrats to scott taylor

Wonder if the plan is to shift Widdop to full back with Williams and Gale at 6 and 7.

you think there's a plan?

same old same old as Gravy says, no ambition in that squad at all, nothing to get excited about, we already all know the out come

What 24 would you have picked? And would that be capable of beating Aus?

No real shocks
Heighington and Brown should be nowhwere near this squad selection and whatever you think of Tomkins he is still the best full back back up to Hardaker.
The quicker we get rid of Bennett the better.You can see there is no passion or interest in the position for him.
I just wonder what imput the assistant coaches and hanger ons like Peacock have with naming the squad.
The quicker we get Daryl Powell in the job the better.

Watts > Hill
Sneyd > Brown
Shaul > Ratchford
Ward > Heightington

That's off the top of my head but would all improve the squad in my opinion. Everyone knows we haven't got the player pool the Aussies have but we make our pool smaller by continually picking from the same group. Regardless of how good some players perform they'll never get in and regardless of how poor some are, they always get picked.

There's 5 players combined from the top 3 teams in super league (the three teams to win silverware) and 4 from Warrington who were abysmal. How can that be right?

I Know what mean, picking a 24 man squad out of the player pool we have, how much different could you make it? But this squad is nothing the aussies aint seen before and will do what they always do, Houghton would of been perfect to play against them, I know im biased , but how, Watts Houghton Snyed and Shaul have not made that squad is sole destroying.

My starting pack would of been

Watts
Houghton
Walmsley
Whitehead
McMeeken
S Burgess

Big mobile and aggressive

The backs have always been our weakness, but Shaul at fullback would of added some real pace and offer something different, I'd of even been tempted to take connor for a centre spot after is end of season form, Watkins will be a weakness.I like Percival, but apart from him, we look weak. Gale and Widdop in the 7 and 6 look ok, on the wings, Hall always performs well against the Aussies and Nz. Just think taken some of those players who have not had great seasons instead of the likes of the hull players I've mentioned is really poor, predicatable and will end with same outcome

Ratchford and Brown are baffling selections to me. From a selfish FC perspective this obviously benefits us but with Mini, Sika and Faraimo involved that’s a fair few core players who’ll be late returners to pre season. Doesn’t it go on until December as well? Not ideal but I guess 3 of the 4 are well integrated in the squad so not too disruptive.

What have your lads done to Wayne Bennett.
Watts would be the first forward on the team sheet for me.
And Ratchford/Lomax over Shaul ??

Not even going to question Sneyds exclusion for Kevin Brown .

Does the coach actually watch any SL matches.
Ive backed Tonga at 25/1 anyway .

To be fair, if they put me ion charge of Australia I'd pick a bunch of no hopers so you can't really blame bennett

Agree with you re Tom Burgess who finished the season as the best English prop out here. Completely agree with the Tomkins omission. He has been average since he left England to play in New Zealand. Bennett will play Widdop in the halves. I would have preferred Watts to Taylor.

3 of the 5. Final is Dec 2. When does pre-season start?

I’d missed Miloudi being picked, but him being back late less of an issue really. Normally senior players are back mid November but obviously those involved in the WC need a few weeks off, so maybe an after Christmas thing.