Stu M wrote:Anyway as much as I'd love to talk about our history making 4 in a row even with all the injuries its now time to devote all my attention to the WC. I have to say that I have no issues in ignoring club rivalries when it comes to the International game. I can't seem to do the same with football and have little or no interest in the International game despite being a big football fan too.
So what do we think about next week? The Samoa team is start studded but given that 8 of them played in the GF, the England game is 13 days later so thats a few days on the ale for the Penrith lads plus the flight, jet lag and mininal field sessions. England being at home in probably wet and cold conditions gives us a big advantage. I think we could pull of a narrow win, all depends on the team he selects of course.
Seems very strange though to be having a warm up game with half of the expected side against Samoa missing. Surely the point of a warm up game is to build combinations etc.
Be interested to hear other peoples thoughts...
I think a lot depends on if Jerome Luai gets a ban. He will be a big player for Samoa and if he plays I think they will beat us quite comfortably. Watching the NRL and there is an awful lot of it played in bad conditions (Although not as cold as it will be) and they handle it just as well as we do.
I think Australia will win it comfortably simply because they are light years ahead of everyone in the halves and hooker. The fact Damian Cook hasn't even made the squad tells you all you need to know.
MadDogg wrote:I'm looking forward to the competition as a whole but concerned about how England will match up. The real fear is it ends up being humiliating and a real reality check about the difference in standard between the hemispheres. Frankly if someone offered a semi-final exit with competitive games I'd take it and run just now.
England look to be in a transitional phase just now - in 2017 we had Graham, S Burgess, O'Loughlin, Roby, Widdop, Mcgillvary etc who have all now gone. We're obviously missing some big names in Walmsley, Newman, Hodgson with Lomax being the big one. Our playmaker options are either untested/unproven at this level (Sneyd, Ackers, Welsby), out of form (Williams), or carrying an injury (Tomkins). We also have a number of players who clearly have been picked for their experience which I can understand to a degree but there's no denying that most of them are past their best (Hall, Mcilorum, Cooper, Hill).
There are reasons to be hopeful - we do still have the potential of a very good forward pack particularly with Tom Burgess, Luke Thompson, Elliot Whitehead and Victor Radley. We have some exciting players out wide with Makinson, Farnworth and Young (although I worry it might be a bit soon for the latter - would have gone for Joe Burgess personally). Shaun Wane will no doubt prepare them very well and they'll be fired up. But looking at the other squads on paper it looks ominous.
The big misses for me are Newman and Lomax. I actually don’t think Walmsley is as big a miss as those 2 because a guy like that isn’t anything out of the ordinary for these NRL players and I think as we always see with a Wane team, the plan will be to out work and out last these big packs and guys like Knowles, Radley, Thompson, Bateman, Lees etc are perfect for him. It’s not to say Walmsley isn’t a miss, it’s good to have that point of difference but I’m not sure it’s as big as it looks at first glance.
There are some players in there probably past their best. McIlorum would be one but you know what we’ll get with him and in tough conditions, he’ll rock up and just rattle people. I doubt Cooper will play many minutes and the same possibly goes for Hill. I get why he’s gone with that experience in and around the squad however.
I’m excited mainly about the names the younger/less experienced players can make for themselves. We don’t look at Welsby, Young, Farnworth, Oledzki, Lees, Pearce-Paul and Batchelor and are proven international quality but they’ve just not had the opportunity to show it yet. I think 3 or 4 of those will walk away with their reputations hugely enhanced and will give us confidence as a nation going forward past this World Cup.
bazdev wrote:I think a lot depends on if Jerome Luai gets a ban. He will be a big player for Samoa and if he plays I think they will beat us quite comfortably. Watching the NRL and there is an awful lot of it played in bad conditions (Although not as cold as it will be) and they handle it just as well as we do.
I think Australia will win it comfortably simply because they are light years ahead of everyone in the halves and hooker. The fact Damian Cook hasn't even made the squad tells you all you need to know.
I saw somebody say the Aussie squad was the poorest they’d ever seen. I’m not having that at all! It’s inexperienced at international level (as it would be with Covid and the NRL trying to stop internationals taking place) but it’s pretty scary.
The backline will be along the lines of Tedesco, Holmes, Mitchell, Wighton, Addo-Carr, Munster and Clearly! To think guys like Edwards and Hynes haven’t even made it as back up is incredible.
NickyKiss wrote:The big misses for me are Newman and Lomax. I actually don’t think Walmsley is as big a miss as those 2 because a guy like that isn’t anything out of the ordinary for these NRL players and I think as we always see with a Wane team, the plan will be to out work and out last these big packs and guys like Knowles, Radley, Thompson, Bateman, Lees etc are perfect for him. It’s not to say Walmsley isn’t a miss, it’s good to have that point of difference but I’m not sure it’s as big as it looks at first glance.
There are some players in there probably past their best. McIlorum would be one but you know what we’ll get with him and in tough conditions, he’ll rock up and just rattle people. I doubt Cooper will play many minutes and the same possibly goes for Hill. I get why he’s gone with that experience in and around the squad however.
I’m excited mainly about the names the younger/less experienced players can make for themselves. We don’t look at Welsby, Young, Farnworth, Oledzki, Lees, Pearce-Paul and Batchelor and are proven international quality but they’ve just not had the opportunity to show it yet. I think 3 or 4 of those will walk away with their reputations hugely enhanced and will give us confidence as a nation going forward past this World Cup.
Agree with all of that. And i have to be honest McIlorum surprised me in the game vs. combined nations, thought he had a belter of a game. I think it is quite clever of wane having him, tomkins and williams all playing. All players in key positions comfortable playing together and all comfortable playing under wane. I think it showed in the combined nations game, there was a certain fluidity to it that i felt came from these 3.
Interested to see how harry smith ges on in the game vs. fiji if he is picked (seems like he will be). Will be out of the country unfortunatly and seems the game will be showed on the RLWC2021 app, hopefully i can get it to playback later or something if i don't get chance to watch live.
NickyKiss wrote:I saw somebody say the Aussie squad was the poorest they’d ever seen. I’m not having that at all! It’s inexperienced at international level (as it would be with Covid and the NRL trying to stop internationals taking place) but it’s pretty scary.
The backline will be along the lines of Tedesco, Holmes, Mitchell, Wighton, Addo-Carr, Munster and Cleary! To think guys like Edwards and Hynes haven’t even made it as back up is incredible.
That backline is better than anything England or GB has ever put together.
sergeant pepper wrote:Am I reading too much into it that all the extra players are from Wigan + Wardle?
Hard to say but realistically you’d imagine Marshall was the next winger in line, Smith the next halfback and Wardle the next centre. It’s Powell that makes me wonder because surely Leeming, Clark or McShane were next up in that position.
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its now time to devote all my attention to the WC. I have to say that I have no issues in ignoring club rivalries when it comes to the International game. I can't seem to do the same with football and have little or no interest in the International game despite being a big football fan too. 
