And he is still a far better centre than sykes, who cant defend, has no pace and no flair.

I think Smith has got it right leaving out those three big names. None of em have done anything for ages now especially Pryce.



Having said that, the replacements...

Sykes is a joke inclusion. He was a joke in the World Cup, directly responsible for 4 NZ tries and got taken off the field.



Does he have some incriminating evidence about Tony Smith?

The thing with Myler, and none other Salford fans will have noticed this more, is the way he is talked about as a phenomenon by coaches. Tony Smith has intimated a couple of times that Myler is by far the best scrum-half to come out of England for some time — hence the large transfer fee. Nathan Brown highlighted him for a lot of praise after Salford's victory at Huddersfield, which also seemed to be a dig at Luke Robinson.



To Myler's credit, he was pivotal in Salford's wins at Huddersfield and Leeds — the latter of which we hadn't won at since 1977. And he's a sniffer of opportunities, very much like Shaun Edwards at Wigan.



However, he blows hot and cold. His best games, for me, have been for England where the pack was very dominant. His long kicking game also leaves a lot to be desired. But he is cocky; I doubt he'd be overawed by any team.

Burrow has played consistently all season and had a pretty good game in the Grand Final

Bridge, Shenton and Sykes?



Inglis will have a field day.

Not sure which HB combo to go with as they all have cases for/against, the pack on paper is good but still think we'll do well to reach the final



Shaun Briscoe

Peter Fox

Lee Smith

Michael Shenton

Ryan Hall

Danny McGuire / Sam Tomkins

Richard Myler / Kyle Eastmond

Jamie Peacock ©

Scott Moore

Adrian Morley

Gareth Ellis

Sam Burgess

Kevin Sinfield



James Roby

Ben Westwood

James Graham

Eorl Crabtree

No haflback can play behind a beaten pack anyway, something RL fans seem to miss utterly when its convenient



Our forwards are very strong imo, and given we really can pick and choose from a set of props that is the match of any in the world bodes well, what we need is for our forwards to get on top of the aussie pack (which I think they can do) and allow the halbacks the space to do something.



Our weak link is of course our 3/4 line, but it has been for some years, fortunately we are starting to see some good young 3/4 come through the ranks and so perhaps next time we will have a team strong from front to back.

Comparison with the Aussie squad....



FB =redBriscoe, =greenSlater, Gidley

W =redFox, Hall =green Hayne, Lewis

C =redShenton, Smith, Bridge, Sykes =greenInglis, Hodges, Morris, Jennings

SO =redMcGuire, Tompkins =greenLockyer

SH =redMyler, Eastmond =greenThurston, Cronk

PR =redPeacock, Graham, Morley, Burgess, Crabtree, Carvell =greenCivoniceva, White, Hannant, Shillington

H =redMoore, Roby =greenCam Smith, Farrah

SR =redEllis, Westwood, Wilkin =greenHindmarsh, Watmough, Thaiday, Waterhouse

LF =redO'Loughlin, Sinfield=green Hoffman, Gallen



Decent forwards and to be fair I think the backs may shock a few. I agree we are weak at Centre and Full back though.

OMG that looks horrific! Take that post down. I'm having nightmares!



The forwards will do well but as soon at the backs have it there will be carnage!

Hodges cant defend for shizz, Bridge will wee all over him

FFS, we're doing it again aren't we? The Aussies this, the Aussies that, blah, blah, f*****g blah!



New Zealand don't seem to carry this mentality, why should we?



For me, Gareth Ellis sums it up perfectly in his RLW interview:-



"[iA lot of English fans and players see them as super human but I see them every week missing tackles and dropping balls. They're only human and I've been getting the message across to the lads that they can be vulnerable[/i"