Re: Mike Cooper : Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:36 am  

Saddened! wrote:

Walmsley would be in ahead of him now anyway if he wasn't injured. Amor and Clubb aren't international quality.

It's arguable I agree that Walmsley is the better player, but, given the propensity to pick players 'hardened' by playing in the NRL then I think Cooper would be selected ahead of him anyway. Now that he's performed so well it will be tough to drop him for anyone other than a player in the same situation - probably one or other of Sam or George Burgess.

Re: Mike Cooper : Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:43 am  

Walmsley doesn't make many tackles. He was only 41st in tackles made in the league last season and missed over double the amount of tackles of Chris Hill.

Re: Mike Cooper : Mon Nov 16, 2015 3:17 pm  

Asgardian13 wrote:

It's arguable I agree that Walmsley is the better player, but, given the propensity to pick players 'hardened' by playing in the NRL then I think Cooper would be selected ahead of him anyway. Now that he's performed so well it will be tough to drop him for anyone other than a player in the same situation - probably one or other of Sam or George Burgess.

Walmsley would seriously need to adjust his attitude to conditioning to get a go in the NRL.

Re: Mike Cooper : Mon Nov 16, 2015 3:46 pm  

getdownmonkeyman wrote: Walmsley would seriously need to adjust his attitude to conditioning to get a go in the NRL. I don't think he would, he'd get an NRL contract now. He was offered NRL deals before signing his current Saints contract and before last season, which was by far his best. Walmsley agrees a new contract with St Helens When Walmsley came to Saints he was as raw as they come. Since then the improvement in his game has been remarkable, including his fitness. He was an absolute auto-pick for this series (In the Dream Team and voting for MOS) and if he continues to improve he will definitely be in the squad for the Four Nations next season. Whether he'd get in the 17 would depend where McNamara played the Burgi. Graham and Hill are 8 and 10, then if you pick all the Burgi in the front row there is no space for Walmsley or Cooper (And he might have to if SOL is still England captain next year). At best both are playing for the third bench prop spot if all the others are fit.

getdownmonkeyman wrote: Walmsley would seriously need to adjust his attitude to conditioning to get a go in the NRL. I don't think he would, he'd get an NRL contract now. He was offered NRL deals before signing his current Saints contract and before last season, which was by far his best. Walmsley agrees a new contract with St Helens When Walmsley came to Saints he was as raw as they come. Since then the improvement in his game has been remarkable, including his fitness. He was an absolute auto-pick for this series (In the Dream Team and voting for MOS) and if he continues to improve he will definitely be in the squad for the Four Nations next season. Whether he'd get in the 17 would depend where McNamara played the Burgi. Graham and Hill are 8 and 10, then if you pick all the Burgi in the front row there is no space for Walmsley or Cooper (And he might have to if SOL is still England captain next year). At best both are playing for the third bench prop spot if all the others are fit.

Re: Mike Cooper : Mon Nov 16, 2015 5:44 pm  

Walmsley is a cracking player but misses a lot of tackles which seems to be down to a fitness thing. He misses twice as many as hill with a negligible increase in average metres made. Certainly good enough for England but needs to be able to defend as well as he takes it up.

[Uncle Rico]

Re: Mike Cooper : Mon Nov 16, 2015 6:36 pm  

Saddened! wrote: I don't think he would, he'd get an NRL contract now. He was offered NRL deals before signing his current Saints contract and before last season, which was by far his best. Walmsley agrees a new contract with St Helens When Walmsley came to Saints he was as raw as they come. Since then the improvement in his game has been remarkable, including his fitness. He was an absolute auto-pick for this series (In the Dream Team and voting for MOS) and if he continues to improve he will definitely be in the squad for the Four Nations next season. Whether he'd get in the 17 would depend where McNamara played the Burgi. Graham and Hill are 8 and 10, then if you pick all the Burgi in the front row there is no space for Walmsley or Cooper (And he might have to if SOL is still England captain next year). At best both are playing for the third bench prop spot if all the others are fit. Easy I think we should play Burgess at centre.

Saddened! wrote: I don't think he would, he'd get an NRL contract now. He was offered NRL deals before signing his current Saints contract and before last season, which was by far his best. Walmsley agrees a new contract with St Helens When Walmsley came to Saints he was as raw as they come. Since then the improvement in his game has been remarkable, including his fitness. He was an absolute auto-pick for this series (In the Dream Team and voting for MOS) and if he continues to improve he will definitely be in the squad for the Four Nations next season. Whether he'd get in the 17 would depend where McNamara played the Burgi. Graham and Hill are 8 and 10, then if you pick all the Burgi in the front row there is no space for Walmsley or Cooper (And he might have to if SOL is still England captain next year). At best both are playing for the third bench prop spot if all the others are fit. Easy I think we should play Burgess at centre.

Re: Mike Cooper : Mon Nov 16, 2015 6:42 pm  

Cooper would be in there over walmsley for me. His overall game is better he runs very hard and is defensively better than walms.

Said to my day at the France game he's a lot bigger than when he left us.

We've had great success with what we have this tournament there's only g burgess that would actually improve the forwards walmsley wouldn't.

Re: Mike Cooper : Mon Nov 16, 2015 7:05 pm  

Cooper going to the NRL has really kicked his career on as it has for Josh hodgson i think super league is full of players that could go over and kick on players like walmsley Scott Taylor Liam watts (all forwards though) but after watching Tyrone McCarthy all season i don't see him making a big impact like most of the recent brits that have gone over