Father Ted wrote:O'Loughlin is the best we have for a 13 at International level.
Trouble is our player pool is too small hence we bring in foreign born players.
Lockers out and on here it's Heighington.
Widdop may play or may not, if not then Chase will come in.
At least Reed and Widdop were born here.
One out of the back door for selection in the pack, Gareth Hock.
If brought into the squad will have to sit out one game due to the ban.
He's big, powerful, pacey, skillful and physical enough to take on the Aussies.
If he was selected he'd be the most skillful player in the pack.
Anyone with any thoughts on the possible selection of Gaz Hock?
I thought when he returned from his lengthy ban, Hock could be a bolter for the England team in the 4N’s – for exactly the reasons you state, he is big, strong, a good runner and skilful
But even before his latest ban, I don’t think he did enough to earn a call up – he showed glimpses of good form but for me his defence was quite a bit away from where it should have been. I think he would have been shown up internationally this Autumn. That’s not to suggest he wouldn’t be worth a shout at the end of a full SL season (if he manages to stay away from the beaks)
p.s. agree that O’Loughlin is the best option we have at 13 – he is very well suited to play internationally where he has more size and strength than Sinfield etc but he has been very unlucky with the timings of injury and not has a chance to demonstrate this as much as we would have hoped
