New Zealand have won a world cup and seem to do better against the aussies than us though. For some reason they seem to struggle against us, but NZ seem to reach more finals and do better against australia than us which could indicate they are slightly ahead of us. I have seen the NZ squad and it seems relatively healthy this year. In recent years they seem to come into the end of season internationals rather beaten up so they might be better this year. The NZ backline looks rather good also which could be a problem for our weak backline.

Well you never know. It all depends on whether Aus and NZ can be d.

if NZ where miles ahead of us they would'nt struggle against us would they....the facts are there is'nt really alot between the 2 side,both are capable of beating each other,both are capable of dishing out the occasional hiding to each other also........sure the kiwis seem to overcome the mental stumbling block when it comes to playing australia when it matters....ie RLWC08 final & tri nations 2005 final...but thats no good if they then trip up against england...they are very jekyll and hyde...and have been for the past 10 years..



should the kiwis be favourites to beat england in the opening game...course they should..but only cos their at home

I wouldn't worry about it. I saw McNamara on Boots 'n' All last week, he said they are just going over to have "fun" so the results don't really matter

The problem with that line of thinking is that the coaches who rule with an iron rod and make it all about the ‘job at hand’ also fail – Capello in the World Cup springs to mind



Tony Smith had some pretty good results as GB/England coach – a 3-0 series win over NZ and making the final of the last 4 Nations but it all fell apart when he went on tour – he wasn’t the right man for the job of keeping the team together on foreign soil over a tournament



I’m not saying that McNamara is going to succeed but I will only class him as failure if he fails and not before he has even picked his squad



A final in appearance in this 4 Nations would be a step in the right direction

It'll be interesting to see who plays 7 with Eastmond and McGuire both out.



Burrow? Long? Myler? It's not a good list.



I'd expect another 3 or 4 withdrawals as well. Ellis is rumoured to be headed for an operation on his back for one.

It's McNamara we're talking about. It'll probably be Deacon.

Why not Danny Brough at 7 with Tomkins a 6. I reckon he will go with Kevin Brown at 6 and Tomkins at 7.



Brown will get murdered out there!

It won't be Long, that's for sure



Burrow has never really let himself down internationally and at this stage I would expect him to be in front of Myler in the pecking order



Is Eastmond definitely out? - he is struggling for the Grand Final but he has 3 weeks after that till the first 4 Nations match

We really need a 7 who has a good kicking game. That rules out Burrow and for me Myler has never lived up to his hype. Whenever i have seen him he seems to be another decent support halfback with not much else. Sinfield at 6? He has an ok kicking game. I would go Brough 7 and tompkins 6 which would give us a good kicking game but Brough always gets overlooked. I think McN will go with Tompkins and Brown at halves then if Eastmond is injured.

See, the real problem is not always the coach, in this case I have little faith in him but...





Look at the suggested teams on this forum. Its the same faces, or more importantly, some players are automatically dismissed because they dont play for the right club.



Our wings are weak you say? Who says? Just because Leeds, Saints or Wigan have poor options on the wing doesnt mean all the other clubs do. - What about the likes of Cudjoe or Lawrence - oh sorry, they arent austrailian and dont play for XYZ so they must be crap.



s? Again XYZ all have aussie/kiwi centres so GB musnt have any good ones. Or maybe, just maybe they dont play for the chosen clubs...



Halfbacks? There are more halfbacks of English origin than I can remember these days.



Somone has said Brown would get murdered over there. Why? He has been the guiding force behind the Giants for two seasons, not Hodgson - he has just added some real class at times but Kev Brown has been the real reason for our success.



Robinson, the only thing he is guilty of is trying too hard sometimes, but he has been superb at hooker this season and has the defence to bring down the big men too. Oh and he has a cracking kicking game



Maybe, just maybe if some people took of their blinkers and realised that the player pool at international level is a much, much different place than it was just 5 years ago, even 2 years ago then the better.



Maybe McNamara isnt the coach for the job, but so far he at least seems to be not letting the petty club prejudices of too many fans cloud his judgement for the train on squad.

I would be happy with both of these two in the squad



Cudjoe can cover full back and wing and has had an excellent season and peaked for the play offs



As for Lawrence - probably not quite enough pace for the wing but he is very solid defensively and he wouldn't be a bad option in centres for me



As for Robinson - it’s a funny one as I would rather have seen Lunt play the year at hooker for the Giants, I thought he was on his way to becoming a World Class number 9. With Brown playing Robinson at 9 and Lunt in the second row, he may have harmed both their international chances (this is not a criticism of Brown as he has to do what he feels is right for Huddersfield)