England national team

1. Sam Tomkins > Corey Norman
2. Tom Briscoe ~ Josh Hoffman
3. Jack Reed == Jack Reed
4. Kallum Watkins << Justin Hodges
5. Ryan Hall >> Lachlan Maranta
6. Gareth Widdop ~ Scott Prince (reserving judgement on Prince to see if he stops playing terribly)
7. Kevin Sinfield >> Peter Wallace
8. James Graham > Ben Hannant
9. James Roby >>> Andrew McCullough
10. Sam Burgess > Josh McGuire
11. Ben Westwood < Alex Glenn
12. Gareth Ellis ~ Sam Thaiday
13. Sean O’Loughlin < Corey Parker

14. Rob Burrow > Ben Hunt
15. Chris Hill > Scott Anderson
16. Gareth Hock > Matt Gillett
17. George Burgess > David Hala

 

I like O'Loughlin but he isn't better than Parker imo. Too undisciplined and not as strong defensively as Parker. Even when he is healthy I wouldn't categorically take Ellis over Thaiday. Thaiday has a string of really strong performances for Australia and Queensland in the past, when was the last time Ellis performed to his ability for England? Ellis has been a class player in the SL and NRL but a chronic underperformer at Test level.

 

Graham is quite a bit ahead of Hannant imo. They both get through and enourmous amount of work and are very strong defenders but Graham has great ball skills and it adds a facet to his game that Hannant does not posses. Then if you consider their performances at represnetative level the gap gets bigger. Dating back to 2008 Graham has averaged 130m and 30 tackles a game in Tests against Australia and New Zealand and has been one England's best players in most games. He was strong in the 2008 World Cup and one of the best props in the 2009 and 2011 Four Nations. In that time he has matched or bested his opponents, including Hannant in 2009. In contrast, Hannant has managed some strong games off the bench for Queensland and Australia but his rep career has been underwhelming considering the potential he showed circa 2007. Graham is one of the best 3-4 props in the world imo, Hannant is down the list.

As said before, Hock is a freak and one of the best offloaders in the game. It is only his monumental bone-headedness and undisciplined play that holds him back from being one the best second rowers in the world.

 

George Burgess is >>>>>> Hala.