Quote Durham Giant="Durham Giant"When i posted thisthread i had my doubts about Tony Smith viewtopic.php?t=430528 Now with this it has confirmed them www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... gland.html Is Bridge really going to be an England half back ahead of Pryce, Myler, Tompkins, Rachford, Burrows etc. Is Harrison going to be ahead of Wilkin Burgess, JJb etc. then why are they in the train on squad for England now . What has it done to attempts to get a meaningful international competition now Ireland have lost two key players. Between the RFL and Smith they are messing up International RL. Aditionally what does it say to club players come to Warrington and i will get you in the international squad. The sooner Smith **** off the better for England internationally he is incompetent, nepotistic and possibly a fifth columnist for the ARL and RU. What a waste of space Particularly when you look at the players left out. Dale Ferguson should have walked in ahead of Harrison. What a joke'" Totally agree. Wonder if Harrison and Bridge will have the same comments thrown at them,as Brough did when he defected from Scotland. FWIW it just shows the RFL dont give a flying **** about the international game. We are light years behind the Aussies and Kiwis and will continue to be so with this clown at the helm.

Quote Durham Giant="Durham Giant"When i posted thisthread i had my doubts about Tony Smith viewtopic.php?t=430528 Now with this it has confirmed them www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... gland.html Is Bridge really going to be an England half back ahead of Pryce, Myler, Tompkins, Rachford, Burrows etc. Is Harrison going to be ahead of Wilkin Burgess, JJb etc. then why are they in the train on squad for England now . What has it done to attempts to get a meaningful international competition now Ireland have lost two key players. Between the RFL and Smith they are messing up International RL. Aditionally what does it say to club players come to Warrington and i will get you in the international squad. The sooner Smith **** off the better for England internationally he is incompetent, nepotistic and possibly a fifth columnist for the ARL and RU. What a waste of space Particularly when you look at the players left out. Dale Ferguson should have walked in ahead of Harrison. What a joke'" Totally agree. Wonder if Harrison and Bridge will have the same comments thrown at them,as Brough did when he defected from Scotland. FWIW it just shows the RFL dont give a flying **** about the international game. We are light years behind the Aussies and Kiwis and will continue to be so with this clown at the helm.

Some one who can do it full time would be a start.

I actually made a bit of a comment saying in the future Bridge could be an England centre.

Bridge is probably a bit small but jesus christ if Ryan atkins is being touted for the position then Bridge should be a cert. In fact, I fail to see the real reason Smith has signed atkins

I really don't think this is the story some people would like to believe it is...



Since Smith took over, Warrington played 26 games between then and the challenge cup final inclusive and won 16 of them (of the losses it could be said that some might have been due to the challenge cup e.g. playing Wigan the week after the semi). In comparison the best team in the competition Leeds, played 22 games in the same period with no challenge cup to worry about for most of the season and won 15 of them.



I'm not saying we are as good as Leeds or anything like that, but people who point to the league table as a reason why no Warrington players should be in the squad aren't looking at the full picture. Warrington played well for large parts of the season, particularly in the big games (e.g. challenge cup semi against in form Wigan).



There are players in the Warrington team who had good seasons regardless of what some people would like to believe.

And for the other 46 weeks of the year what will they be doing to justify a full-time salary?

i think its fair to say that if TS wasn't the Warrington coach that Bridge and Harrison would hav ebeen laughed at by said gentleman if someone suggested adding them to an England squad.

Huddersfield and Hull KR have had great seasons but we only have 3 players picked - Scott Moore is a Saints player in reality - between us, i'm sure if its just a train-on squad it wouldn't have hurt to throw a couple of players from either club in there to give them the 'experience' of training with the 'elite' players. !

As I said on the other thread, a lot of the talent in the teams around us is foreign. Brough was unlucky to miss out, possibly ferguson from wakey but other than that..

Your suggestions being?

That is about as wobbly an argument as I have ever read. The league table represents the bigger picture regarding player performance and doesn't focus on one tema, unlike your argument. The fact that a team finishing in 10th can have more players than 9 other clubs combined, with at least 5 of them finishing above Warrington is dubious.



Look at Higham, for example. The lad has spent a massive part of the season out injured and gets picked, yet he justifies Bridges selection partly on the fact that Bridge didn't get injured.



I think if you look at several other sides and their performance in the same timeframe since Smith took over at Wire there would not be much between them, if anything, at all.



If Smith wasn't coach of Wire I personally don't believe that either Bridge or Harrison would have been selected. And maybe one or two more from Wire would have missed out.

Cudjoe,Mason from the Giants

Welham from KR off the top of my head although i'm sure people could add to that list

The league table represents how well a team has performed over the course of a season, not the relative form of its respective England eligible players



An international coach who picks players on the basis of where their team finished in the league table is in the wrong job.



Incidentally, which of the smattering of England qualified players at Huddersfield, Hull KR and Wakefield made such overwhelming cases for their inclusion but were omitted? Arguably the best players at each of these clubs this season have been Antipodean.

it was about 8 weeks which isn't massive, however just to put your mind at rest, higham's already been told theres about 2/3 other hookers ahead of him in the squad.

What a kerfuffle over nothing!!!!



It dosn't matter who Tony Smith picks for the England side the team will not beat the Aussies!!



They may put up a show against the Kiwis and probably beat France.



Most people, I suggest, would probably agree so why worry and get upset over something that is inevitable?

My problem is with the RFL, IRFL and Tony Smith not Warrington.



I understand what a train on Squad is and think it is good to give players who may not feature now an opportunity to be part of an international set up. BUt what gives Harrison or Bridge the opportunity to be ahead of Dale Ferguson or other players whose form has been good and are likely to be part of the future international set up.



Why not Leroy cudjoe we are not exactly flush with great wingers at the minute and on form he is as good as if not better than those already picked eg Fox and probably Gardener and may be an option for the future.



Is being at warrington advantage.





Secondly why the switch now TWO weks before Ireland start their international progarmme where does that leave Ireland particularly as they wire players are not destined to play for England this time around.



Next why did the RFL decide to play as England when it is clear that GB would have allowed a better selection of players for the big competitions against NZ and Aus and would have created an equal competition for the European and .





Why harrison and Bridge allowed to leave Ireland but not select Brough who wants to play for England and would be a real option at half back. I mean Brough plays for a team that starts with a W.



Whether Bridge and Harrison ar good enough is not the issue it is the way it is done, the timing and tha fact that it does not look transparent to me.

Cudjoe's a possible, but Mason?? You've got to be kidding, he's been good for the Giants but there's a hell of a lot of talent in our front row already and I reckon Peacock, Morley, Graham, Carvell, Burgess etc are way ahead in the pecking order.

Welhams not as good a centre as Bridge

Brough, Ferguson, Moore, Blaymire and Snitch have all had great seasons. Out of those four Brough is the only one who would've endangered the actual line up but all could've easily been added to the train on squad in place of Bridge or Harrison (Who?!).

Cudjoe's front-on defence simply isn't good enough at international level. The big athletic specimens Australia have in their backline would run over him then go back and run around him again just for fun.

Challenge cup medal winner, England Train on squad,

and also despite wire finishing the lofty position of tenth in the league, he's one of the players, along riley, mitchell and cooper who we've had many plaudits from other teams coming on to our board applauding us on his talent, cos he's fooking great.





Didn't Brough finish the season injured? is that something that hasn't cleared up or is it a slightly more longstanding problem?

Huddersfield choked in the play-offs and were never in the game at Wembley, but there were very consistent in beating "lessor" teams throughout the season to ensure a good league position, but usually failing in the big games against teams like Leeds.



And their star player is Australian.



Cudjoe hasn't really performed in the big games and was embarrassed in the Challenge Cup semi-final by Meli as I remember.

Mason is a decent prop who has had a great season but is unlucky to be in a position where England are strong with Morley, Peacock, Graham, Crabtree, LMS etc.

I agree with you in that Welham would be worth a spot in a train-on squad but disagree that he is a better player than Bridge.

Ferguson at Wakey is a good player and similar to Harrison in many ways but again in my opinion not as good.



Who else should have been picked for the squad ahead of the Warrington contingent?

The last three, no freakin chance.

The former 2 are unlucky, both had decent seasons, personally I think Harrison will become a better player than Ferguson, we'll obviously differ on that one

Does Brett Hodgson qualify to play for England yet?





Not sure why Cudjoe(to gain experience) and Wild aren't in the train on squad. I can see why Harrison is in there. He's been great when i've seen him and can gain a lot from it. Higham, Clarke, Tickle and Westwood can only be there as back up.

You cannot just put down the finishing position of, for example, Huddersfield on the shoulders of the overseas players. It is about various factors, including the coach. The league table does reflect the team performance and in the past we have heard of players not being selected because, as a team, he was not part of a higher achieving side.



I'm not interested in who 'should' have been picked. I am highlighting that the coach has picked more players from his own team than the rest of the other available teams combined so far. It woudn't surprise me at all if most of them don't make it, I'd be shocked if they don't mostly miss out in fact, but it till seems to me that he is abusing his position as head coach of England to try and develop his club players and help his club side and I think that's out of order.

We'll see but don't hold your breath, its difficult when you only see them 3 or 4 times a season granted and i have no wish to have a go at Ben.



Fergy will play for GB/England of that i have no doubt.

If there are 3 in front of him then why pick him? He's just not needed, although it would certainly help Warrington if the player were to gain experience of the International set up even if realistically he has no chance of representing his country this time.

Shame Ricky Bibey got injured then, he would’ve been a shoe in.





Brough did get injured (50-50 for the play off match). Don't get me wrong I'm quite glad he has missed out so that he can spend the off season resting so he can come back chomping at the bit next year.



Ferguson is another who has plaudits from rival supporters (even Huddersfield fans!) and caught Leeds interest when they came for Pitts!