Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Thu Oct 23, 2014 8:35 pm  

Father Ted wrote:

Whitehead might well start ahead of Joel against the Aussies or Kiwis.

So he should, Whitehead has had a great season and deserves to be in for the more important matches against the Aussies and NZ.( I hope that statement about Aus and NZ does not come back to bite me)
Joel since he came back has done nothing to impress me, even before he went to Union he was always a player who wanted other players to put him through the gaps, he is not a player who has ever been able to create his own space. I now await the flack, but the truth sometimes hurts.

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:19 am  

There's no way Joel should be starting ahead of Whitehead. I just hope SM is just saving him for the big games against NZ and Aus...

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:23 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

I knew I should have put that in small font in case anybody jumped on my case I know he did that, I was there against the Kiwis at Ewood Park iirc but nobody could deny that overall he had a poor record in terms of turning out for GB! A lot of players delay ops to turn out for their national side but Cunningham never did. You could guarantee If he needed anything doing in the close season he would pull out at the drop of a hat.

Lockers at least try's to get on the field if at all possible. He could quite easily have retired from internationals given his recent injury record. To compare his issues to KC's is unfair IMO.

Cunningham made 23 appearances in twelve seasons as an international (GB & Wales).

O'Loughlin has made 19 appearances and this is his eleventh season as an international (GB & England).

I think the first comment alluding to O'Loughlin's international record is entirely justified. I've thought similar long before this season. Cunningham's situation was more widely criticised at the time as he had additional RFL money in his contract and missed the majority of internationals at the time this money was available to him.

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:07 pm  

SFW wrote:

Cunningham made 23 appearances in twelve seasons as an international (GB & Wales).

O'Loughlin has made 19 appearances and this is his eleventh season as an international (GB & England).

I think the first comment alluding to O'Loughlin's international record is entirely justified. I've thought similar long before this season. Cunningham's situation was more widely criticised at the time as he had additional RFL money in his contract and missed the majority of internationals at the time this money was available to him.

I'd be interested to know how many internationals were played during those years and for how many KC was first choice compared to how many SOL was. Also it would be interesting to know how many times KC turned out for Saints when he was supposedly injured compared to O'Loughlin (which I can already tell you will be zero!). Dry statistics very rarely tell you the full story. No one would argue that O'Loughlin's international career hasn't been curtailed by injury. However there is a big difference between that and the 'ducking' that KC did in his time.

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:14 pm  

Similarly I'd be interested to know when Cunningham 'ducked' or 'faked' an injury.

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:50 pm  

Putting O'Loughlin's name in the same sentence as the great Keiron Cunningham should require one to have a minute in front of a mirror and debate their lives.

[Wigan6/Leeds1 Andy]

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:55 pm  

SLS wrote:

Putting O'Loughlin's name in the same sentence as the great Keiron Cunningham should require one to have a minute in front of a mirror and debate their lives.

We generally leave that to people whose entire posting history is on another team's forum from the one they support, as not only do they need to have a look at their lives, but a minute is about as long as they're likely to last going forward.

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 5:21 pm  

Who is likely to kick goals for England tommorow?Widdop or Smith?

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 6:35 pm  

Widdop I'd have thought although I'm sure I read his success % is worse then Matty Smith's!

If that's the case we're in trouble either way.

Re: 4 Warriors to start for England on Saturday : Fri Oct 24, 2014 6:49 pm  

Matty Smith 69.5%
Gareth Widdop 66.3%