England have named their Four Nations squad and a few surprised with a few big names left out!
Leon Pryce, Rob Burrow, Keith Senior and Paul Wellens are all gone in a side thats very inexperienced at test level.
Pryce has been terrible for a while now, playing out of position doesn’t help him. He was bloody hopeless in last years World Cup and I wouldn’t be surprised if some carry over from the World Cup was involved in his omission.
Wellens simply has never been up to the task and Senior, who retired from Test football after a shockingly bad World Cup, put his hand up against this year but was not selected.
As for Rob Burrow, some Poms want him in the squad, I’m not sure why. He shows no ability to play in the halves at all.
Englands Official Four Nations Squad:
Chris Bridge
Shaun Briscoe
Sam Burgess
Garreth Carvell
Eorl Crabtree
Kyle Eastmond
Gareth Ellis
Peter Fox
James Graham
Ryan Hall
Danny McGuire
Scott Moore
Adrian Morley
Richard Myler
Sean O’Loughlin
Jamie Peacock
James Roby
Michael Shenton
Kevin Sinfield
Lee Smith
Paul Sykes
Sam Tomkins
Ben Westwood
Jon Wilkin
As for my team….oooh, this will be interesting…..
League Freaks Prefered England Team:
1. Shaun Briscoe
2. Lee Smith
3. Gareth Ellis
4. Michael Shenton
5. Peter Fox
6. Kyle Eastmond
7. Danny McGuire
8. Adrian Morley
9. James Roby
10. Sam Burgess
11. Jamie Peacock
12. Ben Westwood
13. Kevin Sinfield
14. James Graham
15. Eorl Crabtree
16. Sean O’Loughlin
17. Scott Moore
A few key moves I’d make.
Firstly, Ellis I like in the backline. England need something out wide to worry other teams, Ellis has good size and moves well for a big player. I think his experience will help too.
I’d selected Eastmond at standoff with McGuire at halfback. I’d be getting McGuire to the side and telling him this is his team, control them and guide them around the park. He can’t have Sinfield taking over.
As for Eastmond, I think standoff is a more natural position for him and he could cause trouble on the edges.
The forward pack from there picks itself.
I went with three forwards on the bench and a replacement hooker. There is a lot of room to move with this team and I’d rather have a good forward rotation on the bench than have a utility back watching 70 minutes of the game and then being thrown on just to get a run.
So thats it!
