Shocking news as Wakefield player dies.

Its not very often you hear of a Rugby League player passing away. Its an extremely rare case as today's athletes are in peak physical fitness and are monitored by doctors and medical staff on a daily basis. However, there are exceptions and the passing of Adam Watene is a deeply shocking scenario.

Adam Watene, a Cook Island international captain, played for Castleford helping them gain promotion in 2005. He was signed by Bradford for the 2006 season but only played four games. Midway through that particular season he joined Wakefield scoring two tries in eighteen games. He took to the field in every game during 2007 but was limited to only a dozen games this season due to injury.

The entire Rugby League community's thoughts are with Adam's family.

PNG announce the soldiers going over the top.

The PNG twenty-four man squad looks like this;

John Wilshire, David Moore, George Keppa, Stanley Gene, Keith Peters, Charlie Wabo, Rodney Pora, George Moni , Nixon Kolo, Paul Aiton, Jessie Joe, Makali Aizue, Trevor Exton, Neville Costigan, James Nightingale, Rod Griffin, Larson Marabe, Kevin Prior, Ashton, Tu’u Maori, Menzie Yere, Chan, Nick Ubile and Sam Joe.

There are quite a few familiar names among that line up. Ex-Warrington, Leigh, Melbourne and St George Illawarra star/flop John Wilshire makes the squad along with "the oldest man in Rugby League" Stanley Gene. There is also James Nightingale who plays for Penrith and Tu'u Moari, the new Cronulla winger.

I have little doubt Papa New Guinea will have a very good attitude. But I can't help but feel they will be whipping boys for the majority of the tournament. For the sake of the tournament I hope they are very competitive. Least I remind readers (if there are any) the weight of credibility within the international game hangs on the shoulders of this tournament. If the tournament is a failure, the ARL and NZRL will be unlikely to contribute to further international competitions apart from sending a national team to Europe every year. We don't want that.

However, I wish PNG the best of luck. They will certainly need it.

England 74-0 Wales.

It wasn't really the best game every played. Said that, none of the rugby or refereeing was really up to scratch. Steve Ganson was at his very worse last night, being too erratic with the whistle denying Wales a try and giving them a penalty instead which was backed up by the video referee.

With the majority of the world cup squad playing in last week's Grand Final, only eight players who will board the plane to Australia on Monday appeared in Doncaster making the team that will line up in Townsville very different to last nights. Martin Gleeson, for example, will definatly not play at stand off. That is despite the fact he had a decent game including crossing the whitewash twice.

Credit must go to Richie Myler who didn't back down at scrum half on his international debut. He is young but a good prospect with Salford now being admitted into Super League. He also scored twice but with a bit more experience he could also be a part of the next world cup in roughly five years time.

Despite the fact fifteen players were missing, I though the 74-0 scoreline was a fairly accurate reflection on how well England can perform if they had the option of a full strength 1-17. How the team played is totally irrelivant to the preparations but the tracks are leading in the right direction.

World Cup update.

Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Scotland and Ireland all announced their final 24-man squads yesterday with France naming theirs late last month. All ten nations that will take part in this years world cup have now named their squads that will compete in Australia. All squads from BBC and Official World Cup website.

France have picked the majority of the Catalan first team squad with others coming from Lezignan, Toulouse, Carcassonne, Pia, Villeneuve as well as Eric Anselme from Leeds and Julian Rinaldi who has left Harlequins. Fiji have also snapped up a few famous faces. Jarryd Hayne has managed to secure a place in their squad, along with Ashton Sims, Semi Tadulala and an old London Broncos favourite, Nick Bradley-Qalilawa. Scotland have snapped up four NRL players and eight Super League stars including Danny Brough. Paddy Coupar is the only Scottish based player in the squad.

Brett White will wear the emerald green of Ireland as he leads Stuart Littler, Pat Richards and Micheal Platt. Ross Barbour from the Carlaw Crusaders will also be present in the squad. Samoa have George Carmont, Ali Lauititi and the wing/centre partnership of Willie Talau and Francis Meli. If you thought that was a good squad, then throw in Nigel Vagana and Matt Utai for good measure. The squad that will take on Samoa on the 31st October (believe me, it will be a bloody Halloween) is Tonga. They call upon the two Anderson brothers, Frasier and Louis with Richard Fa'aoso, Fuifui Moimoi and Michael Jennings. An early tip, miss that match at your peril. Two Pacific nations who will go toe to toe and not back down.

And in other news, Anthony Tupou has been called into the Austrlaian squad to replace Michael Crocker who suffered a broken rib in Sunday's NRL Grand Final. Tupou was due to line up for Tonga but as ever the "strict eligability rules" that are issued in Rugby League mean he can play for both nations.

As far as I'm aware Papa New Guinea are yet to announce a squad that will take on New Zealand and Australia, starting with England on the 25th October in Townsville.

Australia exclude Hunt and Hayne.

Australia named their twenty four man squad yesterday at the same time as New Zealand announced theirs.

Australia

Terry Campese (Canberra Raiders), Justin Hodges (Brisbane Broncos), Darren Lockyer (Brisbane Broncos, capt), Joel Monaghan (Canberra Raiders), Paul Gallen (Cronulla Sharks), Anthony Laffranchi (Gold Coast Titans), Scott Prince (Gold Coast Titans), Brent Kite, Josh Perry, Brett Stewart, Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough, David Williams (all Manly Sea Eagles), MichaelCrocker, Israel Folau, Greg Inglis, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith (all Melbourne Storm), Kurt Gidley (Newcastle Knights), Johnathan Thurston (North QLD Cowboys), Steve Price (NZ Warriors), Brent Tate (NZ Warriors), Petero Civoniceva (Penrith Panthers), Craig Fitzgibbon (Sydney Roosters).

What sticks out there, is Karmicheal Hunt and Jarryd Hayne both miss out on the twenty four. This shows an alarming strength in depth that Australian possess, especially in the back line.

Looking at the two fullbacks, Billy Slater and Brett Stewart, are both good enough to play without the squad missing the other.

Isreal Folou, Kurt Gidley, Justin Hodges, Joel Monaghan, David Williams and Brent Tate are each capable to doing the same as the fullbacks.

Terry Campese, Darren Lockyer, Scott Prince, Greg Inglis and Johnathan Thurston definitely out class anything in the English side.

Front rowers, Brent Kite, Josh Perry, Michael Crocker, Steve Price and Petero Civoniceva are beatable by the English contingent, but only at full strength. If Morley, Peacock or Graham take a knock for England, these five will walk all over the team.

And again with the back rowers, Anthony Laffranchi, Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough, Paul Gallen and Craig Fitzgibbon can be pegged back. But this would have to be a very bad performance by the Australian side.

So overall the back line is untouchable, but England will have to take the game to the forwards and hope Burrow and Pryce can take advantage using the backs and the momentum gained from their hard work. Australia are beatable, but doing it on the 22nd November is a different story and one England will be hoping to do.

And as for the New Zealand team, they have a trickle of quality. Players like Greg Eastwood, Jeff Lima, Steve Matai and, for once, Benji Marshall. The full squad looks like this;

Nathan Cayless (Parramatta, captain), Adam Blair (Melbourne), Greg Eastwood (Brisbane), David Fa'alogo (South Sydney), Nathan Fien (New Zealand Warriors), Dene Halatau (Wests Tigers), Lance Hohaia (NZ Warriors), Krisnan Inu (Parramatta), David Kidwell (South Sydney), Thomas Leuluai (Wigan), Jeff Lima (Melbourne), Issac Luke (South Sydney), Simon Mannering (NZ Warriors), Sika Manu (Melbourne), Benji Marshall (Wests Tigers), Steve Matai (Manly), Sam Perrett (Sydney Roosters), Sam Rapira (NZ Warriors), Jerome Ropati (NZ Warriors), Setaimata Sa (Sydney Roosters), Jeremy Smith (Melbourne), Iosia Soliola (Sydney Roosters), Manu Vatuvei (NZ Warriors), Brent Webb (Leeds).

Keeping Benji Marshall fit is easier said than done these days. If they can, he will cause problems for Australia and England. On the back of go-forward from Lima, Kidwell, Hohaia and Fa'alogo they can be as dangerous as England with a good pack.

I think England should be looking to beat this side, but not in the same vein as they did twelve months ago. This year New Zealand will be no pushovers. They have almost a fully fit squad (excluding Sonny Bill Williams) that can even challenge the Aussies to a decent game like in the 2005 Tri Nations.

It will be a toss up between NZ and England for that place at Suncorp on the 22nd of next month. But it should be a fiery occasion if that situation does arise.

England name the squad that will travel to Australia.

The England squad, announced by Tony Smith today is as follows, according to the BBC;

Keith Senior, Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Jamie Peacock (captain), Gareth Ellis, Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Lee Smith (all Leeds), Paul Wellens, Ade Gardner, Leon Pryce, James Graham, James Roby, Maurie Fa'asavalu, Jon Wilkin (all St Helens), Rob Purdham (Harlequins), Mark Calderwood, Mickey Higham, Gareth Hock (all Wigan), Martin Gleeson, Adrian Morley, Ben Westwood (all Warrington), Jamie Langley, Paul Sykes (both Bradford).

A total of fifteen players played in Saturday's Grand Final while the remaining nine are combined from Harlequins, Wigan, Bradford and Warrington. This, in my opinion, shows the class between the top two teams and how they are developing home-grown players.

From a Warrington point of view, its pleasing to see Ben Westwood being named on the flight down under. He has, without a shadow of a doubt been our stand out player. He has done the little things right, as well as consistently working hard every time he set foot on the field. Adrian Morley has often dragged the team forward on occasions when we were in real trouble.

Tony Smith said to the England RL website that he has gone for versatility, agility and pace.

“When you’ve only got 24 players, there needs to be a certain amount of versatility and I think we’ve got that,” he said.

“If you take five front-rowers, that’s over a fifth of your squad so that would be a gamble too.

“There are some players who play in the back row that I wouldn’t hesitate in pushing forward to the front row. There’s a gamble whichever way you go.”

And looking at it that way, I agree. An Australian summer would benifit back rowers as the grounds are much harder, therefore if we have the speed to counter a five man Australian front rower we're putting them on the back foot every time.

Looking at the squad, Rob Purdham, Jamie Langley and Paul Sykes would be looking at being in reserve and lucky to get a game. Lee Smith is the only recognised left winger, with Peter Fox and surprise exclusion. Stuart Fielden fails to make the international side for the second concsecutive year while Lee Gilmour also misses out. The exclusion of Gilmour is one that did surprise me, while Joe Westerman is reported to have a foot injury.

However I do have critisism for one player in particular. Mark Claderwood has not done enough to warrent a place. I personally would have given his position back to Peter Fox. I'm not going to repeat myself so read the earlier post here as to what I think of the Hull bound player.

So to finalise, here is what I belive to be the strongest starting seventeen that should line up against Papa New Guinea on 25th October in Townsville.

1. Paul Wellens

2. Ade Gardner

3. Martin Gleeson

4. Keith Senior

5. Lee Smith

6. Leon Pryce

7. Rob Burrow

8. Jamie Peacock

9. James Roby

10. Adrian Morley

11. Gareth Ellis

12. Jon Wilkin

13. Kevin Sinfield

14. Mickey Higham

15. James Graham

16. Jamie Jones-Buchanan

17. Gareth Hock

Manly put Melbourne to the sword - and stab them repeatedly .

The centenary domestic season came to an end on Sunday as Manly thrashed Melbourne 40-0 to become premiers for the first time since 1996. Brent Kite received the Clive Churchill medal after a domineering performance that saw Melbourne being pegged back time and time again. In my opinion, hat-trick hero Micheal Robertson should have collected it for himself. How often do you score a hat trick on Grand Final night? But there is no point in lingering over it, especially as any of the Manly seventeen could have easily done the same.

Although the scoreline didn't really reflect the story of the game, Manly were without a doubt the better side. At half time, the scoreline of 8-0 in Manly's favour and richly deserved. They battled on as a team and produced a well worked try that sent in Robertson for his first of the game. But as Phil Gould said on the Channel Nine telecast, the intensity in that first forty was little short of Origin standard. And it was brutal, but fair.

Specail mention is Irael Folou who was the Storm's only player who stood out. He was able to burst past Steve Matai twice in the game which Melbourne, on any other day, would have capitalised and scored. Not on Sunday. Not when Manly were as good as they were.

Matt Orford was worthy of a test jersey. As was Brett Stewart, David Williams, Glenn Stewart and Matt Ballin.

I feel for the person or people who will have to hand either Billy Slater or Brett Stewart that number one shirt. I believe it should go to Stewart, although thats not to say Slater didn't try. Slater himself had a pretty consistent game, but Stewart really did step up a gear. Twice he threw obscure passes that went straight to hand to give Robertson his first from between the legs of stewart, and a back-door pass to send Williams in with roughly ten minutes remaining.

So another season over for the NRL. And as ever, it hasn't lacked drama, works of genius and a little bit of magic.