Final preparation for the test match

The Liverpool committee intend to rely solely upon the players who had so brilliantly brought the club to its present high position. The few days of preparations they have undergone has already made a marked improvement upon one or two of the team, while the whole of the company express themselves in high terms of the salubrious and keenly appetising nature of the atmosphere, which, combined with the wholesome and plentiful diet, provided by the proprietors of the Hightown Hotel, will tend to make their training, usually looked upon as hard work, into an almost ideal holiday.

The players themselves speak very confidently of their capability of winning the test match, and after the fortnight’s rest, regular living, and careful training under Mr. H.P. Ellis, they should without much doubt be able to take down the Heathens. From what information can be gathered the team selected will be something like the following: – McOwen or M. McQueen, goal; Hannah and McLean, backs; M. McQueen or McCartney, McQue and McBride, half backs, Gordon, McVean, Henderson, Bradshaw and H. McQueen, forwards.

There is but one point the different members of the committee must not forget in their final selection, and that is to throw all sentiment and feeling on one side, and put in the safest and most reliable players, even at the cost of one who may have done good service in the past, but who now, through loss of health, nerve, or anything else, is not up to the concert pitch.

Copyright - Liverpool Mercury - Transcribed by Kjell Hanssen