nottinghamtiger wrote:He's got much more experience playing at half-back now than he had previously. All his previous games (bar one) for England have been at full-back too. I think he's a better player than he was the last time he played for England back in 2018. He'll have been playing regularly at half-back for Saints for three more seasons when the WC starts.
My biggest worry is Hodgson; looks great for Canberra, but has never been anything other than poor for England.
I agree about Hodgson. Bennett certainly saw something different than I did. Lomax, great for a Saints side that "wins every week" but, playing for England is completely different. Mind you, we havent had a decent HB pairing for 30 years.
The worrying thing is that our pack has been excellent for the last 4/5 years but, there are plenty of changes to be made and whoever we have in the halves will need to be playing behind a competitive pack. Assuming that some of the Kiwis stay with their Tonga preference, we may be ranked 4th.
wrencat1873 wrote:I agree about Hodgson. Bennett certainly saw something different than I did. Lomax, great for a Saints side that "wins every week" but, playing for England is completely different. Mind you, we havent had a decent HB pairing for 30 years.
The worrying thing is that our pack has been excellent for the last 4/5 years but, there are plenty of changes to be made and whoever we have in the halves will need to be playing behind a competitive pack. Assuming that some of the Kiwis stay with their Tonga preference, we may be ranked 4th.
Another semi final loss ?
Hopefully not - I have tickets for the final. My main worry is injury. Beyond a good starting 17, I don't think we have much to compete with the Aussies, whereas they can pick two or three players in every position who are international standard. Lose a couple to injury and we'll be picking players who wouldn't even get a club game in the NRL, let alone who can compete with a team of the best.
Jack Burton wrote:Why? He's not managed more than 20 games in a season since 2016, and has never played more than 18 SL games in a season in his entire career.
If he stays fit, he likely plays, but history shows it's a big if.
So, you are "bagging" a player that had 2 absolutely seperate ACL injuries on different knees and played the vast majority of last season, albeit a disjointed season ?
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 31950 Location: The Corridor of Uncertainty
Think we look ok in the wings and centres. We have options at halfback too but it all depends on the pack. We look short on quality, big aggressive backrowers and anyone with a decent offload or passing game. The Aussies seem to have heaps of options (as usual) but we're missing some big names now from the pack that kept us competitive in recent years (Graham, S,Burgess, O'Loughlin).
Fullback is another matter, the Aussies have heaps of amazing options, the Kiwi's have one and we have erm, ummm...
"If you start listening to the fans it won't be long before you're sitting with them," - Wayne Bennett.
Bullseye wrote:Think we look ok in the wings and centres. We have options at halfback too but it all depends on the pack. We look short on quality, big aggressive backrowers and anyone with a decent offload or passing game. The Aussies seem to have heaps of options (as usual) but we're missing some big names now from the pack that kept us competitive in recent years (Graham, S,Burgess, O'Loughlin).
Fullback is another matter, the Aussies have heaps of amazing options, the Kiwi's have one and we have erm, ummm...
Sam Tomkins and Niall Evalds. I think there is a pack that can compete, but lose any through injury and we are replacing them with players who are nowhere near as good.
Towns88 wrote:If Wane were to pick his starting wingers for an upcoming match he would be insane not to pick Makinson and Johnstone. With maybe Ash Handley if fit in reserve.
Correct.
Half back wise they should all be fighting it out to partner Williams, he’s had a great start to year and is Wane type player. Lomax would be my guess.
Tomkins Makinson Sarginson (again Wane a big fan, he signed him twice) Gildart Johnstone Lomax Williams Walmsley Clark Thompson (hopefully he recaptures 2019 form) Farrell Whitehead Bateman
Cooper TBurgess Connor (can cover centre/halves/full back) Bentley
RICHARDS IS SUPERMAN!!!!
Wire_91 wrote:its your first final in about 8 years and now you ravin and rantin about it F**k off, and ill be going old trafford tomoz cheering on the saints and ill be writing on this forum givin you loads of shi* when your drying you eyes and the wire fan will be here handing out the tissues in the thousands, thats if you do take that many fans cause now it looks like its your fans who have jumped on the band wagon now your in a final, this time last year there was only 1000 people in the jjb and now its fillin up cause youve won the league hahaha proper true supporters you are
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