Dave Craven: Exiled Brough could come back to haunt England in World Cup

So taken himself by Sky TV and its continuous live stream of not just all things RL but cricket, football and tennis too, he kindly agreed to pay for my first three months’ subscription.

That was around 10 years ago and he is still stumping up the fee now; that first three months’ subscription has sort of stretched to 120.

I know, it’s the sort of benevolent thing grandparents are supposed to do. A proper Werther’s Original moment.

But I do sometimes wonder if I could afford it all on my own if, God forbid, I got one of his shopping orders wrong, arrived with the incorrect type of coconut biscuit and, in a fit of disgust, he pulled the plug on the whole funding operation entirely.

You know, the sort of thing you feel might just happen at Salford City Reds any time soon. But probably not over biscuits.

Such ramblings eventually get me to the point of why I did not get to see the opening State of Origin game the other day; aside from being a tight Yorkshireman who doesn’t even pay for his own Sky, I still can’t bring myself to invest into Premier Sports.

I know I should. I’m sick of hearing just how good the NRL is on a weekly basis and then you get all the excitable updates on Twitter too. It is unavoidable.

But I need to keep something back just in case my Sky ‘contract’ is ripped up. And, anyway, all seven weekly rounds are televised live; there are certain members of the Craven household who would simply not allow me to absorb so much live rugby league.

However, by all accounts, the New South Wales and Queensland action was just as ruthless, intense, highly-skilled and epic as ever with the only difference being that the Blues actually won the series opener.

It was just the sort of thorough examination Steve McNamara hopes his England side will be given by the Exiles in the International Origin game a week today.

Some are saying this is the weakest Exiles compilation in three years of the concept but I argue otherwise.

Admittedly, there are perhaps not as many international players as in previous encounters but let’s not forget, many of those established Australian and New Zealand Test stars before have arrived here once their own representative careers have expired and they are perhaps not at the height of their powers.

Is it not better to have a smattering of the likes of Leeds Rhinos duo Brett Delaney and Joel Moon or Widnes’s Rhys Hanbury, who may be uncapped but are now playing some of the best football of their careers?

Whichever squad he picks from that 17 – and I would love to see Hull KR’s combustible stand-off Travis Burns, not Lance Hohaia, go up against Rangi Chase – Brian McClennan has ample tools to give England a real test ahead of the World Cup.

As for England, as I have said many times before, I agree plenty with most of McNamara’s selections. Again, though, like many, I cannot get to grips with the situation surrounding Danny Brough.

By no means am I saying he is any better or worse than Chase – they are both brilliant playmakers in their own right – but it is mystifying how the relationship between the Huddersfield schemer and McNamara has eroded so badly over the last 12 months and I just hope the England coach does not regret it later.

If anything serious was to happen to Castleford star Chase or England captain Kevin Sinfield – or both, for that matter – that rules them out of the World Cup it would be a painful lesson to all concerned if Brough is actually still there but somehow in Scotland colours.

Some critics say he is wrong to turn his back on England but, personally, I think his country had long since done that to him.

I wish him all the best and hopes he lights up the tournament. Invariably, he will.