World Cup Squads

[Mattpoet]

Congratulations indeed Mattpoet.

16 Storm players representing 9 countries (15 of those who have played first grade for the Storm, Aiden Guerra being the odd one out).
10 of those players are current (ie 2013) Storm players.
7 or (hopefully) 8 players will be at the Storm in 2014. (hopefully Vave stays).
10 of those 16 players have played in Grand Final winning teams for the Storm.
Of the 5 countries we don't have a representative for we have in the past had representatives for four of those nations for PNG (Marcus Bai and John Wilshere), Wales (Keith Mason), France (Dane Chisholm) and Cook Islands (Fred Makimare). The only nation competing in the RLWC that the Storm has never had a representative for is Scotland.

Don't forget Jay Aston for PNG too.

Didn't Ben MacDougall play union for Scotland? Does that count lol?

[Scooter]

Congratulations indeed Mattpoet.

16 Storm players representing 9 countries (15 of those who have played first grade for the Storm, Aiden Guerra being the odd one out).
10 of those players are current (ie 2013) Storm players.
7 or (hopefully) 8 players will be at the Storm in 2014. (hopefully Vave stays).
10 of those 16 players have played in Grand Final winning teams for the Storm.
Of the 5 countries we don't have a representative for we have in the past had representatives for four of those nations for PNG (Marcus Bai and John Wilshere), Wales (Keith Mason), France (Dane Chisholm) and Cook Islands (Fred Makimare). The only nation competing in the RLWC that the Storm has never had a representative for is Scotland.

Don't forget Jay Aston for PNG too.

Didn't Ben MacDougall play union for Scotland? Does that count lol?

Whoops sorry Jay. Ben MacDougall did play union for Scotland, I don't think that counts Mattpoet lol.

[Mattpoet]

How's this for an international 17 of players to have been at the Storm? I have included 2014 signing Travis Robinson whose inclsion on our roster gives us 17 nationalities that Storm players have been selected for, either in a squad that they later withdrew from or in a team that they played for. As much as possible, I have tried to pick players who actually played, hence Naitoro over Nielsen. I am aware that a couple of these have played for more than one country, but, I have indicated the country that has gotten them selected in this team.

1.Billy Slater (Australia)
2.Sisa Waqa (Fiji)
3.Travis Robinson (Lebanon)
4.Justin O'Neill (Vanuatu)
5.Marcus Bai (Papua New Guinea)
6.Dane Chisholm (France)
7.Gareth Widdop (England)
8.Jeff Lima (Samoa)
9.Rory Kostjasyn (Russia)
10.Brett White (Ireland)
11.Clint Newton (United States)
12.Sika Manu (Tonga)
13.Tawera Nikau (New Zealand)
14.Fred Makimare (Cook Islands)
15.Matt Constantinou (Greece)
16.Keith Mason (Wales)
17.Will Naitoro (Solomon Islands)

[Scooter]

Awesome team Mattpoet. If you went back five or ten years you wouldn't think some of the nations like Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Greece etc playing genuine test RL let alone having a Storm player represent or be named for 17 different nations.

[Scooter]

There are a number of RLWC warm up matches this weekend:
NZ v Cook Islands
USA v France
Scotland v PNG
England v Italy
Samoa v England Knights

[Scooter]

Former Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers forward Eddy Pettybourne into the USA squad as an injury replacement for Andrew Durutolo.

[Scooter]

NZ team to play Cook Islands:
1 Hoffman
2 Nightingale
3 Inu
4 Whare
5 Vatuvei
6 Leuleuai
7 Johnson
8 Bromwich
9 Luke
10 Kasiano
11 Pritchard
12 Mannering
13 Taylor
14 Eastwood
15 Matulino
16 Glenn
17 Locke
18 Goodwin

[Mattpoet]

Did Fiji play a game last weekend?

[blazza18]

Wonder why the Aussies have chosen not to play a warm up match.

[Scooter]

Did Fiji play a game last weekend?

Mattpoet there's something on Fiji RL Facebook page about the Clash of the Titans being played in Nadi last Friday. There is nothing else that says anything about which players played and whether any of the RLWC squad played.

[Mattpoet]

thanks scooter

[KingHoweofIsrael]

Wonder why the Aussies have chosen not to play a warm up match.

Arrogance?

But maybe they are giving them a break after playing all season....i think the latter, but if they don't win the cup, maybe arrogance will be sighted as a reason for underperforming (i guess anything other than winning is underperforming)

[sallymay]

They were going too but the St. Helens team pulled out

[Mattpoet]

i've heard that we are playing match simulations at training this week, I assume 12 on 12.

[Scooter]

England team to play Italy

1 Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)

2 Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos, Oulton Raiders)

3 Carl Ablett (Leeds Rhinos, Hunslet Parkside)

4 Leroy Cudjoe (Huddersfield Giants, Newsome Panthers)

5 Tom Briscoe (Hull FC, Featherstone Lions)

6 Rangi Chase (Castleford Tigers, Dannevirke Tigers)

7 Kevin Sinfield, captain (Leeds Rhinos, Waterhead)

8 James Graham (Canterbury Bulldogs, Blackbrook)

9 Michael McIlorum (Wigan Warriors, Queens)

10 Lee Mossop (Wigan Warriors, Hensingham)

11 Gareth Hock (Widnes Vikings, Wigan St Judes)

12 Liam Farrell (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)

13 Sam Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dewsbury Moor)

Interchange:

14 Josh Charnley (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)

15 Kallum Watkins (Leeds Rhinos, Latchford Albion)

16 Gareth Widdop (Melbourne Storm, King Cross)

17 Rob Burrow (Leeds Rhinos, Featherstone Lions)

18 Chris Hill (Warrington Wolves, New Spring Lions)

19 James Roby (St Helens, Blackbrook)

20 George Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dewsbury Moor)

Note: The match is not an official Test match. Both sides will play with a minimum 20 players and unlimited interchange.

So the match is not an official test match, yet Ben Westwood can still serve his suspension from the Super League GF. The NZ v Cook Islands match is also not an official test.