Difficult one this week but id go with all forwards on the bench with sinfield to swapp in with roby as i thought he played really well at 9 last week



Briscoe

Smith

Eastmond

Shenton

Hall

McGuire

Tomkins

Morley

Roby

Graham

Peacock

Ellis

Sinfield



Burgess

Crabtree

Carvell

Westwood

The team has already been named and is as follows:



Shaun Briscoe

Peter Fox

Chris Bridge

Michael Shenton

Ryan Hall

Sam Tomkins

Kyle Eastmond

Adrian Morley

James Roby

James Graham

Jamie Peacock

Gareth Ellis

Kevin Sinfield



Bench:

Sam Burgess

Eorl Crabtree

Ben Westwood

Jon Wilkin

Im glad that McGurie has been dropped, nice to see eastmond getting his chance at 7 and also happy Jon Wilkin has been brought back in.

Fair do's didnt realise it had posted yet,

Say a lot about wilkin but he has better hands for distribution than sinfield from 13. Lets be honest sinfield is in the squad for his kicking as there is no one better but like I stated previously with sinfield at 13 you lose some attacking options because he can only pass one way.



Wilkin also has a good eye for attacking runs and breaking the line.

Do you think if these guys really hit their potential Rugby League can keep them. Personaly I doubt it.

Maybe that was because the link in the halfs was poor for a big portion of the match.



I would not count Roby out yet and how can you put sinfield in at 9 when he can only pass one way?

Well one of them is tied down to a 5 year contract at one of the richest clubs in the game, the other i'm not so sure but if he is going to be representing his country at his chosen sport that should be reason enough for him to stay in the sport. All depends how much poison offiah whispers in his ear.

This is the part of Wilkin's play that few fans of any club appreciate, that and he defends like a demon. He also has a kicking game, when he is in the mood/on form/allowed to kick (whichever is applicable) and that might be helpful if we get injuries or if a player needs rest time.



I'm unsure about Fox and Bridge myself as I haven't seen enough of them to judge although Fox's form may have slipped, according to what I've read elsewhere on here. Hopefully he will go in with belief and that may help him keep a cool head and cover his post well.



Roby is dodgy at present so far as his passing is concerned but he is another one who defends like a demon and he also has some scooting pace which may help get around the Kiwi big men.

I really like Wilkin,he's got good hands & i actually think he's been v good when he's played in the halfs on emergency occasions. His only problem is that he's light for a forward & is definately a dry weather,hard ground player. In wet conditions he doesn't make many yards.



Its going to be interesting to see how Tomkins & Eastmond gel together, they're both exciting players but v inexperienced. Sinfield is gonna have to step up. It is refreshing to have a coach who is strong enough to drop big name players. In the past, England/British coaches have been guilty of refusing to drop players who were still getting by on past reputations.

What do people think of Bridge at centre? Is he capable of breaking the line & creating chances for his winger against the Kiwis?

It's not stopped Cunningham playing at dummy half - since his elbow injury his distribution, particularly the flat pass over any sort of distance, has been much less accurate than it was.



Besides, if Sinfield can pass in one direction it puts him one direction ahead of Roby/Higham.

Only if we change our tactics and get the ball out wide.