Re: The Future Of England RL : Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:43 am  

moto748 wrote:

I must say that this optimism about England's prospects (which I share) sits oddly with the widely expressed opinion on this forum that we've been hearing for the last year or so, that SL is at an all all-time low, we are falling further and further behind the Aussies, we don't have the players, etc etc. Where have all those pessimists gone?


FWIW I have argued that the NRL itself is not going through it's greatest spell. Of its current players, only JT deserves to be ranked with the greats of the game (Shaun Johnson has all the skills, it remains to be seen whether he can fully capitalise on them). Previous England/GB sides have faced Kangaroo sides with two or three in them. Smith Cronk, Slater, and most of the rest are ageing. There are talented players, like DCE, coming through of course. But we have talented youngsters too. And the only way they will sharpen their game is by players against the best. The expansion of the WCC is a welcome, but very small step, and more international footie is crucial.

I think having quite a few NRL players in our team helps.

Re: The Future Of England RL : Thu Nov 26, 2015 11:55 pm  

We do look to have more strength in depth ATM, and Sam Burgess in the backrow makes our pack look a different beast again.

However, England has two main problems for me.

First is unforced errors - both with and without the ball. We tend to drop ball in poor positions and generally give it up too easily, and in defence against a fluent Aus/NZ we always seem to let in a soft try.

Second is the general lack of fluidity in attack. When we spread the ball around it often seems rushed or panicked rather than controlled. Maybe as a result we often default to one up rugby. I had hoped Widdop would really help there, but he needs to improve drastically if we're a chance of competing against a firing Aus/NZ. Basically we are far weaker than both Australia and NZ at halfback if everyone is fit.

Put it this way, if England had halfbacks to match Foran/Johnson or Thurston/Cronk I'd rate us as very close to both Aus and NZ even when they are at strength. With our actual options we are simply playing at a handicap. TBH that's one of the main reasons I'm still hoping Tomkins moves to 6/7, at least for England, as he at least has some of that ability to stretch defences and provide an attacking structure.

Re: The Future Of England RL : Fri Nov 27, 2015 10:43 am  

Cherry_Warrior wrote:

1. Tomkins/Hardaker
2. Manfredi/Makinson/McGilvarry/Lineham
3. Watkins/Percival
4. Gildart/Cudjoe/Reed
5. Burgess/Hall
6. Sutcliffe/Hampshire/Ratchford
7. Williams/Widdop
8,10. Any from T.Burgess, G.Burgess, Hill, Walmsley, Graham, Cooper, Savelio
9. Clark
11. Farrell/Whitehead
12. Bateman/Currie
13. S.Burgess

If they all progress as they should it should be an exciting side, Players like Sutton could also continue their impressive progression. There will be loads i have missed for sure but the future looks bright for English RL.

Surprised more hasn't been made of Ben Flower's claims. He looked to me like he was capable of inflicting some pain on defences last year (and before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, this isn't a cheap dig about his GF sending off in 2014). He genuinely impressed me at any rate.

Re: The Future Of England RL : Fri Nov 27, 2015 10:50 am  

Clearwing wrote:

Surprised more hasn't been made of Ben Flower's claims. He looked to me like he was capable of inflicting some pain on defences last year (and before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, this isn't a cheap dig about his GF sending off in 2014). He genuinely impressed me at any rate.

Isn't he a born n bred Welshman?

Re: The Future Of England RL : Fri Nov 27, 2015 11:01 am  

Charlie Sheen wrote:

Isn't he a born n bred Welshman?

Ahh. He might be. I'd lazily assumed he'd be qualified to play for England but maybe he's not.

Re: The Future Of England RL : Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:05 pm  

Clearwing wrote:

Surprised more hasn't been made of Ben Flower's claims. He looked to me like he was capable of inflicting some pain on defences last year (and before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, this isn't a cheap dig about his GF sending off in 2014). He genuinely impressed me at any rate.

If we ever do go back to GB then I'm sure Flower would be in with a decent shout, though prop is arguably our strongest position. I do think it's possible for others to force their way in. I think we have better props in SL than Tom Burgess and Mike Cooper and even though both did very well in the Kiwi series they probably wouldn't get a look in if there weren't in the NRL. I'm interested to see if Scott Taylor manages to get his career back on track at Hull. He was looking every bit an international prop during 2013 before he effectively committed career suicide for 2 years.

Re: The Future Of England RL : Fri Nov 27, 2015 8:47 pm  

Liam watts from hull is another really good prop.