Rugby League World Cup 2017 Thread

Pieman wrote:No benji

Or Luke

rhinoceroo wrote:Tonga are going to have a nails pack with Fifita, TPJ, SST, Ma'u and Taumalolo. Tupou, Hurrell, Kata, Feki backline. Just missing at half/hooker but still could give Kiwis a game.

Aus side for me:

Slater
Boyd Chambers Munster Gagai
Morgan Cronk
Woods Smith Klemmer
Cordner Gillett
McGuire

Hunt, Frizell, RCG, JTrbo

Don't think that pack looks amazing, tbh. Hooker apart, Tonga's pack almost looks stronger.

i know its pretty easy to get excited about the tongan team but i don't think their pack, even taking out the large hooker advantage comes close to australia's pack


Fifita V's Klemmer - its probably fifita but i think overall klem had a bigger impact in origin when the rest of his squad wasn't dominating, bit more reliable then fifita to make the yards. fifita has that x-factor ability that not many props have ever had tho
Moa V Woods - even if you don't rate woods, you'd have him over moa every day of the week
Gillett & cordner are obviously better then their counter parts (even tho it is a good second row)
MCguire goes pretty good but clearly no forward is near lolo

jturbo, friz and whatever 3rd forward we use is easily better then BMM, TPJ, terepo, manu, Joe O etc



all that being said, the impact and flair value this tongan team have will make it awesome to watch

Rippin and Tearin wrote:KIWIS: Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Gerard Beale, Adam Blair, Kenneath Bromwich, Addin Fonua-Blake, Peta Hiku, Shaun Johnson, Thomas Leuluai, Danny Levi, Isaac Liu, Simon Mannering, Te Maire Martin, Jason Nightingale, Kodi Nikorima, Russell Packer, Jordan Rapana, Brad Takairangi, Joseph Tapine, Martin Taupau, Elijah Taylor, Roger Tuivasa Sheck, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Dean Whare.

still a pretty good team.

Te Maire will do a solid job next SJ, pack is still strong


outside backs will still carry a few passengers and hooker looks like an issue

josh mansour into the team for boyd


now that is a bit odd, i know there are other fullback options but once boyd is out, i feel like you should get the guy who is clearly our next best fullback in the squad in case something happens to billy


whether teddy being named for italy already affected that, i dunno

leaguegod wrote:josh mansour into the team for boyd


now that is a bit odd, i know there are other fullback options but once boyd is out, i feel like you should get the guy who is clearly our next best fullback in the squad in case something happens to billy


whether teddy being named for italy already affected that, i dunno

I understand Mansour was already on standby from the start and prior to Teddy joining the Italians.

I don't find it odd at all.

Why weaken one position (wing) on the off chance that your clear #1 fullback gets injured, particularly when you have similar backups to Teddy anyway already in the squad.

i guess my theory is more that mansour is likely to not be starting (perhaps now all 3 centre's do with gagai on the wing) or they plug in tommy T )


now teddy is much more likely to cover other positions as aback up and covers an important position, mansour only plays one position as well and if i was having a back up specialist, i'd rather it be to cover a key position, not one we can plug other options into quite easily

I love the fact players are choosing to play for these so called 2 teir nations. Go Tonga, they have a great team. Should all make for a much more interesting tournament.

With all this news I'm now expecting Tyson Frizell to pull out of the Aus side with an injury complaint, fly over to Wales for some "hollistic anabolic" treatment ala Naholo and pull on the red shirt in time for the opener!!

leaguegod wrote:
i know its pretty easy to get excited about the tongan team but i don't think their pack, even taking out the large hooker advantage comes close to australia's pack


Fifita V's Klemmer - its probably fifita but i think overall klem had a bigger impact in origin when the rest of his squad wasn't dominating, bit more reliable then fifita to make the yards. fifita has that x-factor ability that not many props have ever had tho
Moa V Woods - even if you don't rate woods, you'd have him over moa every day of the week
Gillett & cordner are obviously better then their counter parts (even tho it is a good second row)
MCguire goes pretty good but clearly no forward is near lolo

jturbo, friz and whatever 3rd forward we use is easily better then BMM, TPJ, terepo, manu, Joe O etc



all that being said, the impact and flair value this tongan team have will make it awesome to watch

yeah agreed

I guess now, I will just be more inclined to watch them play now that there are a 2 of the best players in the world playing for them.

Oz Sport Mad wrote:

I understand Mansour was already on standby from the start and prior to Teddy joining the Italians.

I don't find it odd at all.

Why weaken one position (wing) on the off chance that your clear #1 fullback gets injured, particularly when you have similar backups to Teddy anyway already in the squad.

Thank fuck tommy turbo is in the side.

I mean yeah, dugan or gagai would do a job but far out there is a big gap between Slater and them. Not as much of a gap between him and ttrbo tho.Cant believe they picked Mansour over Ted, lol.

Also - the "he was already named for another side" talk is garbage. Fifita was literally named in the aus team and withdrew to play for tonga. There is no reason they couldnt have been in touch with Tedesco and asked him to play for aus. The bloke covers wing, centre and fullback - I dont care what anyone says, Tedesco is 10x the player Mansour is. If you can be an excellent fullback you can be an excellent winger.

Absolute garbage selection.

Its purely a selection from mal and co, no other excuses.

Been away camping so this could have already been said. It's been reported in the past that NZ are just islanders playing for the dominant RL nation. If a pact is formed or the new international eligibility rules are used for the way they have been designed. Then I'm happy to see NS flogged for the shit arse team they are

leaguegod wrote:... if a player decides to play for a minnow, thats fine but don't expect your 20k match payments when australia are playing and they are not

Do you really think the future 20k match payments played a part in his decision? Obviously not.
And if what's happened today keeps up, maybe Tonga won't be a minnow until the selection rules get changed again. Handy looking team.

I’d bet on Munster being the fullback if Billy can’t go for whatever reason during the tournament, Boyd out doesn’t change the fact that there are still 5 fullbacks in the team and a back-up specialist fullback is not needed

Rippin and Tearin wrote:KIWIS: Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Gerard Beale, Adam Blair, Kenneath Bromwich, Addin Fonua-Blake, Peta Hiku, Shaun Johnson, Thomas Leuluai, Danny Levi, Isaac Liu, Simon Mannering, Te Maire Martin, Jason Nightingale, Kodi Nikorima, Russell Packer, Jordan Rapana, Brad Takairangi, Joseph Tapine, Martin Taupau, Elijah Taylor, Roger Tuivasa Sheck, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Dean Whare.

So, I'm thinking something like:

RTS
DWZ, Whare, Takarangi, Rapana
TMM, SJ
JWH, Kodi, Blair
Taupau, Tapine
Mannering
Levi, Packer, AFB, NAS

England will be something like:

Hardaker
Hall, Watkins, Shenton, McGillvary
Widdop, Gale
Graham, Hodgson, Surgess
Whitehead, Bateman
O'Loughlin
Roby, Walmsley, Hill, McMeekan

That's a pretty competitve side if Bennett lets them play. Good pack and bench, solid 3/4s, Hardaker is much better player than he showed at Penrith. Lot depends on the halves.

While it may be somewhat of a cunt move I'm looking forward to seeing Fifita and the Tongan forward pack give a few sides a run for their money. Just purchased a full new projector setup so can't wait to put it to good use for the WC.

Shanbon wrote:I love the fact players are choosing to play for these so called 2 teir nations. Go Tonga, they have a great team. Should all make for a much more interesting tournament.

Don get me wrong, I love it too, but the process has been shit in some circumstances.

I.e. Lolo pulling out of the NZ team a day before the squad is named without having discussions with them is shit. Fifita pulling out after he was named is just dumb.

Im left feeling some of these guys are just taking the piss a bit. Its playing for your country after all, you should have a little bit more respect for that IMO.

code delta wrote:

Do you really think the future 20k match payments played a part in his decision? Obviously not.
And if what's happened today keeps up, maybe Tonga won't be a minnow until the selection rules get changed again. Handy looking team.

yeah i defs don't think money played a part in this decision, i think both lolo and fifita had made this decision based on their desire to represent their heritage and i think its awesome for the world cup and i've got nothing but admiration to them for making such a big call


i'm just saying, that for me, if Aust and NZ are playing a tourney at a later date and tonga isn't, i am sure both players put their hand up. i wouldn't pick them, i think the tier 1 nations still need to defend themselves and i wouldn't be picking players for my country who rather play for another country.


i think Australia will do this, Fifita will never play for australia again imo. NZ will probably bend as soon as lolo puts his hand back up

rhinoceroo wrote:

So, I'm thinking something like:

RTS
DWZ, Whare, Takarangi, Rapana
TMM, SJ
JWH, Kodi, Blair
Taupau, Tapine
Mannering
Levi, Packer, AFB, NAS

England will be something like:

Hardaker
Hall, Watkins, Shenton, McGillvary
Widdop, Gale
Graham, Hodgson, Surgess
Whitehead, Bateman
O'Loughlin
Roby, Walmsley, Hill, McMeekan

That's a pretty competitve side if Bennett lets them play. Good pack and bench, solid 3/4s, Hardaker is much better player than he showed at Penrith. Lot depends on the halves.

seen the hardaker shit storm over night ?


rugby league at its best, i doubt he plays the WC now

leaguegod wrote:NZ will probably bend as soon as lolo puts his hand back up

Can't blame them. I'd bend over for lolo if he looked sideways at me.

Hope this is the start of poly players choosing their home country over Aus/NZ despite the extra match payments available to them. Its fantastic for the international game.

leaguegod wrote:


seen the hardaker shit storm over night ?


rugby league at its best, i doubt he plays the WC now

Yep. Probably mean the return of Sam Tomkins, who's gone to shit since his big injury at the Warriors.