GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 12:43 pm  

In honour of the GB team marking their return to the international arena by sending out the worst representative RL team that's left these shores since 2008, I thought I'd apply what I call the Crunch Test to the 2019 tourists and the form they've shown when coming up against REAL opposition (though they've not even played Australia, we should remember). It's the same one I've applied to various Wigan teams over the years and is not complex.

A = Exceptional; B = Good; C = Average; D = Poor; E = Total rubbish.

Players who've barely appeared are also going to be included, because all this means is that they've not been deemed good enough for selection even in a team as awful as this one. Players who got injured will be judged on the little we saw of them before they limped off.

For what it's worth, I've always reckoned that no successful team can afford to field more than a couple of players who are C-standard or below. So, let's see how this lot measure up.

James Graham - E
Blake Austin - D
John Bateman - C
Tom Burgess - D
Daryl Clark - C
Jake Connor - E
Lachlan Coote - E
Oliver Gildart - E
Zak Hardaker - E
Jackson Hastings - C
Ryan Hall - E
Chris Hill - E
Josh Hodgson - C
Jack Hughes - E
Josh Jones - E
Jonny Lomax - D
Jermaine McGillvary - E
Joe Philbin - D
Luke Thompson - D
Jake Trueman - E
Alex Walmsley - E
Elliott Whitehead - D
Gareth Widdop - E
George Williams - E

Yep. I reckon that just about says it all.

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 1:55 pm  

Lomax was twice as good as Hastings thought he’s had a terrible series

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 2:30 pm  

The team for me should have been :

1 - Hardaker
2 - Handley
3 - Percival
4 - Gildart
5 - Marshall
6 - Lomax
7 - Hastings
8 - Walmsley
9 - Clarke
10 - Graham
11 - Whitehead
12 - Bateman
13 - Sutton

14 - Watts
15 - Thompson
16 - Farrell
17 - Williams (Halves or 9)

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:06 pm  

All things considered I thought Austin did well, he looked like one of the few that looked interested in the outcome, I would of had him at 6 ahead of Widdop who looks like a player recovering from injury.

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:58 pm  

post wrote:

The team for me should have been :

1 - Hardaker
2 - Handley
3 - Percival
4 - Gildart
5 - Marshall
6 - Lomax
7 - Hastings
8 - Walmsley
9 - Clarke
10 - Graham
11 - Whitehead
12 - Bateman
13 - Sutton

14 - Watts
15 - Thompson
16 - Farrell
17 - Williams (Halves or 9)

That looks like a squad made up of players who would be selected in the position they know and play in regularly. Don't you know that at international level you play your best 2nd row at centre and half-backs on the wing...

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 4:19 pm  

muttywhitedog wrote:

That looks like a squad made up of players who would be selected in the position they know and play in regularly. Don't you know that at international level you play your best 2nd row at centre and half-backs on the wing...

I’d be very tempted not to play James Graham either, he sdone bugger all all season. I’d be very tempted to have taken Eddie Battye even though he’s unfashionable I’d have wanted to see how he went, he’d have shown more umph than Chris Hill that’s for sure.

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 4:35 pm  

dany1979 wrote:

All things considered I thought Austin did well, he looked like one of the few that looked interested in the outcome, I would of had him at 6 ahead of Widdop who looks like a player recovering from injury.

Agreed. Like last week, some errors from Austin, he tried really hard in a very unfamiliar position. For me, one of the very few to deserve any credit at all, alongside perhaps Lomax and Walmsley.

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 5:22 pm  

Embarrassing result against PNG but what did i say 2 weeks ago? Bennett should of been kicked out after the first NZ defeat. Not only has our attack been terrible and as flat as a pancake all tour but the players have looked anything but up for it. Most of the team looked like they were waiting to come back to the UK from the first game and who could blame them having to look at Bennetts miserable face for a month?

The GB players may npt be the world beaters that they are made out to be over here but there was more than enough talent in the team to beat PNG with ease.

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 5:25 pm  

Several things bother me about this series....I can forgive the first test as they were arguably rusty (yes, I am being charitable), but the lack of depth, players out of their usual position, Bennett seemingly out of new ideas, woefull defence, old legs (or lags) like Graham all add to a sense of foreboding.

There is little scope to shoehorn international fixtures in next next year & then up to the WC and if Bennett is given the shove, very little time for a new guy to get to grips & make the requisite changes (& I wouldn't mind Wane being given the job - has to be in the running, no?).

Once again, the huge gap between anything honed in the NRL & the various components of a GB team are laid bare.

Re: GB players - the Crunch Test : Sat Nov 16, 2019 6:48 pm  

CyberPieMan wrote:

Once again, the huge gap between anything honed in the NRL & the various components of a GB team are laid bare.

Dunno about that: our halves were outshone by a bloke who plays for Doncaster!