Mostly agree with you Pat, with a few tweaks. Jowitt is the next best British fullback IMO, so it’ll be really interesting to see where Wane goes. It’s the one position England are light on. 


Brimson is probably the most likely slot in, which is a shame. And Wane famously doesn’t like picking players unless they’re extremely proud to wear the badge - and that’s Brimson’s test. He’s played Origin, and (I think) one rep match, so he’s ahead of Jowitt in terms of big game experience. He’s more likely to come up with a big moment too. However, I genuinely believe Jowitt is a better all round full back than Brimson, and it’s a massive shame he won’t have a mid-season international to prove it, because I’m positive he would have got a shot. 


My team would be: Brimson/Jowitt, Johnstone, Farnworth, Wardle, Young, Williams, Smith, McMeeken, O’Neill, Thompson, Pearce-Paul, Nsemba, Radley. Walker, Havard, Lees, Knowles.


And in reserve I’d have Jowitt, Newman, Lewis, Delaney, Litten, Nicholson, Smithies.

Bias? You must be a Cas fan!

For me, the Brimson story sheds light on the fact that fans way overrate average NRL players. It’s true, the best of the NRL are the best in the world, the second best in the NRL are probably the second best in the world, but after that it’s level with the top of Super League. We see that when we play the pacific nations. But the presentation and the hype makes it seem like they’re freaks of nature. 


Following from that, Jowitt is still criminally underrated. A few of us called it before the season started and fans of other clubs laughed. Is it because he doesn’t look the part? Is it because he came with us to the Championship? Is it because he didn’t burst onto the scene like some players did? Now, for me, he’s next FB in line. But I can totally understand why Wane would go with Lewis there, with no warm up game.

I'm not sure about bias, but I do think fans of other clubs criminally underrate him, and then we have to press his case to make up for other fans who don't watch him that much. I'm also unsure why they do, he excels in all aspects of playing Fullback imo. He's quick enough, he organises the defensive line well, he makes tries for others and also scores tries, he's great under the high ball, his one-on-one tackling is good, and he's also a very good goal kicker. He's just become so consistently good and rarely makes mistakes. Maybe the fact he's good everywhere is his undoing, rather than say have blistering pace and makes loads of yards but lacks in defensive areas and the high ball. If Jowitt played for England, I'd be confident he'd do a great job for us and he'd rarely make a mistake. Ateotd, these last few years, he's grown into the player we all thought he would all those years ago, when he burst onto the scene and won the Albert Goldthorpe Rookie of the Year in SL in 2016. Then we bought Grix, which in hindsight got in the way of his development and probably his confidence for a few years, but he's 28 now and playing his best RL in his prime years.

I think when it comes to the FB position, Welsby is a different gravy to any of the other players, including Max. I feel Welsby will be given all the time needed to be the number 1 for England in the Ashes.

As much as I like Max, I feel every other 1 in the county or player eyeing up that position is a distant second to Welsby, especially at the most elite level. A level Welsby has played and performed on multiple times and actually captained us. 


That being said, for me Jowitt deserves a place in the Squad on current form, he’s been the 2nd best English FB in SL. The experience would obviously be amazing for him. 

Are we playing 14 a side, you seem to have a 7 man pack ?

Yes. It’s the new international rules being applied for the Ashes which is 14 a side.