No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:33 am  

Has this ever happened before? For as long as I can remember we've always had a few auto-picks in there.

Is this a sign of the times? Warrington and Leeds have 12 between them I think. It's a bit of a damning indictment of our much heralded (By Eamon and the blind optimistics on here) squad isn't it that not one of them is good enough to play for England?

Full squad: Ablett, Atkins, Briscoe, S.Burgess, Burrow, Charnley, Chase, Cudjoe, Ellis, Graham, Hall, Hardaker, Hill, Hock, JJB, Mcllorum,Morley, Mossop, Myler, O'Loughlin, Sinfield, Tomkins, Watkins, Westwood

Morley's inclusion is a joke, Hill deserves his spot The rest are pretty hard to argue with I guess. I suppose this squad also gives Rogues chance to say McIllorum was chosen ahead of Roby

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:45 am  

I'm afraid my heart dropped when I saw the squad and I went through the Saints possibles, with the exception of Robes and his hand injury. The reality is I'm not sure I would pick them on the strength of this season. I think the Knights squad would benefit from our youth but the senior squad will wait for a few seasons of development.
Sad state of affairs!

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:04 am  

Interesting to see Wilkin left out after being captain in the last England game. It seems he has paid the price for getting properly schooled by the beaver in said game.

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:11 am  

Unfortunately our backs are all either too early in their development, have been in too poor form/fitness or are just not good enough to warrant an England place. I think only Lomax and Shenton of our current backline could get into an England squad all things being equal and obviously neither are in a fit state for that at the moment. And our pack, good as it is, doesn't have a lot of eligible England candidates in it - LMS and Clough would still be good outside shouts but Wilkin has had a poor season unfortunately.

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:14 am  

Dux wrote:

Interesting to see Wilkin left out after being captain in the last England game. It seems he has paid the price for getting properly schooled by the beaver in said game.

Wilkin isn't worth a spot.

LMS is perhaps the only player I think has been harshly left out. He's been our best player this season.

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:17 am  

Saddened! wrote:

Wilkin isn't worth a spot.

LMS is perhaps the only player I think has been harshly left out. He's been our best player this season.

Agreed on both counts.

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:24 am  

There's no one you could say would feel aggrieved to miss out.

The only positive is that in a few years you'd expect Makinson, Josh Jones, Lomax etc. to be full internationals as long as they sustain their development.

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:29 am  

Thought it was a print error at first, forgot about Roby's injury!

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:43 am  

Would have given Josh Jones a go myself. Not let himself down at all this season. Better choice than Ablett too, unless he will be playing in the pack (which is still terrible as he is a yard dog).

Re: No Saints in the England squad : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:54 am  

I am perfectly happy to see no Saints in the England squad. Aside from our dismal style of play this season which is bound to have had an impact on whether anyone at all was chosen, it is essential that Robes gets a rest. He's hardly had a break for a number of seasons and I personally would like to see him fresh and rested ready for our new coach to come on board next season.