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Lee Briers: GB call-up?

I know that the players who score the points aren't always the ones who worked so hard to create them, but you still need players to 'trouble the scorer' as they say in cricket. Briers has racked up five tries, 29 goals and a drop goal in the last four games.

Quotes of the week

Although it's over three months before Great Britain play against New Zealand in the Autumn Internationals, one of the questions below asks for my Great Britain team.

I've no doubt that Tony Smith might surprise a few people with the squad that he selects and I am certain that he will pick players who have been playing well during the last three months of the season.

One of the form teams over the past four rounds are Warrington, and arguably their form player is Lee Briers. The Wolves have won their last four games and led comfortably at half time in all four. Some might say that they've only played teams in the lower half of the league, but their performance against Wigan last Sunday demonstrated the class that they have.

I know that the players who score the points aren't always the ones who worked so hard to create them, but you still need players to 'trouble the scorer' as they say in cricket. Briers has racked up five tries, 29 goals and a drop goal in the last four games, and has created more points for his team than he's scored himself.

His performance against Wigan was the individual stand out effort of Round 22. With a highly motivated team around him, and watched by his mate Andrew Johns in the stand, Briers demonstrated his full bag of tricks. Chris Bridge is a superb partner for him at present and the quality of their passing allowed Warrington to score some great tries out wide. In terms of entertaining rugby, they hammered Wigan out of sight.

It's quite a while since Eddie Hemmings wore his "Briers for Britain' badge, but I might ask him if I can borrow it if he carries on playing the way he has recently.

The biggest challenge for Lee Briers and the Warrington Wolves is to play at that level consistently. That is why St Helens have been so good over the last few years. They can repeatedly perform at or near to their best.

We'll have a better idea of whether Lee Briers and any of his team mates will feature in the Autumn Internationals after the Wolves have travelled to St Helens for Round 26. They will have played Hull, Catalans and Huddersfield by then.

Realistically fourth is the best that they can finish at the end of the regular season. In my opinion, they are the only team who could win it from there! The question is... Have they got eight good games left in them this year?

On to those questions I mentioned...

PHIL'S PICKS

Hi Phil, I was just wondering what your GB side at the present moment would be for the series against New Zealand in the autumn? I'd give youth a chance with the 2008 World Cup coming up. Mine would be 1) Wellens 2) Gardner 3)Atkins 4) Yeaman 5) Raynor 6)Pryce 7)Burrows 8) Fielden 9) Alker 10) Lynch 11)Hock 12) Wilkin 13)Cooke REPS 14)Roby 15)Graham 16) Carvell 17)Wild. Thanks Jody.

PHIL SAYS: Well Jody, it's a very difficult job and I change my mind every week after watching the six games, but here goes for now.

1. Wellens - let's hope he doesn't get injured. He is my pick for Man of Steel because he consistently plays at or near to his best.

2. Gardner - he's helped by the fact that he plays for the best team. Martin Aspinwall would push him close at times.

3. Gleeson - still the best centre in Super League. Need to ensure that he gets the quality of ball for GB that he gets for Warrington.

4. Senior/Yeaman/Atkins/Sykes - I can't decide which of these that I'd go for. I'd probably go with Senior but have two of the other three in the squad.

5. Raynor - well respected by players for his ability to make ground. However having seen the try scored by Kevin Penny last weekend, I'd even consider giving him a go, he's quick.

6. Pryce/McGuire - I think that I'd start with Pryce and have McGuire as an ace on the bench.

7. Burrow - I think that he's the best all-rounder, but Lee Briers would offer an alternative if he can perform against the top teams.

8/10/16/17 - let's assume that we need four prop forwards and look at the possible candidates:

Morley - in form, experienced, leader.

Paul Wood - will play internationally in the future, is it this year?

Lynch - great going forward, reliable defender, good offloads.

Burgess - probably too young, but would benefit from being in the squad

Fozzard - big, tough man playing in a winning team. Will need some size against New Zealand.

Graham - unlucky to miss out last year, will feature this.

Crabtree - can make an impact.

9. Roby - second only to Paul Wellens as my favourite player in Super League. Can he play the full 80 minutes and still be devastating?

11. Westwood - on last week's performance he was a clear winner over Hock.

12. Ellis - one of the best players in this country. A certainty to start.

13. Wild/Wilkin/O'Loughlin - all three would make my 24-man squad, don't know who I would start with.

14. Reardon or Platt - someone who can score a try.

15. One of the above who is not in the starting 13.

SALARY CAP IN HAND

Hi Phil, First of all I would like to wish Maurice Lindsay all the best in whatever he chooses to do after he leaves Wigan. My main point is in relation to the salary cap issue. As a Wigan fan I am a bit dismayed that once again a good season has been thrown into a potential nightmare by the fact that yet again we have overspent. With the new system coming into play for next season with the Live salary cap how will that work for this season's crimes if there are any at the end of the season? If it is live next year does that mean a team may get punished twice, once for 2007 and if they go over in the 2008 campaign getting punished again? Also with relation to Castleford, I believe I remember hearing that the year they got to Super League that they too broke the salary cap rules? Can you please clear this up. Thanks, Chris

PHIL SAYS: The way that I understand it Chris, it will be very hard if not impossible to break the Cap when they move to a live system. A club will not be able to register a player if they are over their spending limit. It is a much more preventative system than the current one.

It is unlikely that a club will be punished twice, and I imagine that clubs will now approach the matter in a more honest and open way, after what has gone on this year and the fact that punishments are now more severe.

To my knowledge, Castleford have never been deducted points, although they were probably paying more to players than several other teams in the National League in the year that they won promotion.

SEVEN-YEAR ITCH

Hi Clarkey, I'm a life-long Wigan fan and find it increasingly frustrating that despite improvements to our ground, our fan base and our team's training facilities it's not matched by consistent improvements on the pitch. With your experience at Wigan, as GB captain and GB team manager, what do you think needs to change in the wake of Maurice Lindsay's resignation to give Wigan that extra X per cent for championship consistency? Regards, Richard Collins, Wigan.

PHIL SAYS: It seems to me as if the Wigan club have been cursed for the last seven years. Whatever they tried just hasn't worked. They've had different coaches and different players but have steadily dropped down the league table and will probably miss out on the play-offs again this year.

Maurice Lindsay did some great things for Wigan in his first spell at the club, but has recognised that it hasn't worked second time around. I'd start by having a five-year plan, and know where you want to be in five years from now. The town produces many talented young players, so I'd look to see if the club were capitalising on this raw talent. I'd appoint the best man possible to run the club. They need somebody to work full-time on the rugby side of the business and I'd look long and hard to find the best way of recruiting players from outside the club. Wigan's most successful time for recruitment was when they had four directors making the decision. They consulted with the head coach, but were ultimately the decision makers. I don't think that one man, be it the coach or the chairman or the chief executive can do this.

Recruitment and retention of players is a massively important issue that requires detailed planning. If you get this wrong, it's hard to be successful.

The club needs more patience if it is to become consistent champions, it wont happen overnight. I guess that it will take time to redress the imbalance in the salaries of their first team squad.