McNamara to blame over Brough debacle

We are in a World Cup year and we as a sport have already started the blame game over England’s chances and I’m afraid I am involved in that as well.

I’m not one to just throw blame at a person just for the sake of it but there are lot of people disinterested in the England team this year and the blame has to be pointed at coach Steve McNamara.

It would be easy just to cover how he has treated Danny Brough over the last 12 month or so, but it goes even further than that. Brough, in my opinion, has been one of the standout performers in Super League for a couple of seasons. He has thoroughly matured as a player and his kicking game is second to none as are his organisational skills.

Everyone can see his talent – except McNamara.

Yes I know Brough opted to play for Scotland in 2004 and has played a handful of internationals for them, but he was called upon by McNamara last year to feature in one of the Origin games against the Exiles.

But since then he has been overlooked by McNamara for a number of training camps and the autumn internationals last year, but even to the untrained eye you can see how well he has played this year and many thought McNamara would swallow his pride and include for the upcoming Origin series and for the World Cup at the end of the season.

I am putting the blame on McNamara because, although Brough could have helped his own cause by saying he wanted to play for England this year rather than keeping quiet, the coach should be approaching every top class player who is eligible to play for the country. Brough would work wonders in the national set-up and in my opinion he is a much better fit than New Zealand born Rangi Chase.

I know some fans will say he has played for Scotland and therefore shouldn’t be playing for England, but hooker Michael McIlorum has played for Ireland and I don’t see many people saying he shouldn’t be playing for England in the World Cup.

Warrington coach Tony Smith has come out this week and laid the blame at Brough’s door saying he should have waited a bit longer, now I might not be qualified to question Mr Smith but how long does he have to wait, this kid has been playing out of his skin and McNamara has always said he would pick his squads on form well that hasn’t been the case.

That is another problem I have with McNamara. He states he picks his squads on form and then ignores the likes of Brough and Darrell Goulding but resorts back to his old favourites.

James Roby and Adrian Morley have been both selected when they haven’t played much this season through injury while the likes of Rob Burrow and Jamie-Jones Buchanan have not been setting the world on fire.

Players are not going to put their hand up for England if they are not getting a fair crack of the whip. Now the injury to Kallum Watkins was a major blow for McNamara but how can he ignore the form of Wigan centre Goulding – his wing partner Josh Charnley is in the squad after scoring 21 tries this season but who do you think has set him up for most of them? Answers on a postcard please.

Right I hope I have got all the negativity out of my system because I will be fully behind the boys once the World Cup starts even if I don’t agree with the coach and his selections and don’t forget you can follow all the World Cup at Bettingpro.com.