https://www.rugby-league.com/article/57 ... ng-session No Connor or Trueman!

https://www.rugby-league.com/article/57 ... ng-session No Connor or Trueman!

Think overall it's a decent squad and once you reduce the numbers to say 23, the likes of Newman, Watkins and Sarginson (whose inclusions are strange IMO) will be out.

I would add in Watts in with those 2 personally.

8 centres and 2 halfbacks seems a tad imbalanced.

Lomax, Williams and Gale are in, with Tomkins a possibility in the position as well.

‘If’ guys like Connor and Trueman keep up the form they’ve shown in two games over the course of the season Wane will put them in. He’s basically made no changes to a squad he picked at the end of last year on the basis that 2 games isn’t enough for somebody to show if they warrant being in or out. Players from outside that group will make the World Cup squad I’m sure and plenty in there won’t.

I see Lomax and Tomkins more as fullbacks. Don't think either are top class in that position compared with who Australia and NZ get to pick from so maybe stand off is a better place for them.

Watkins? wow!

Think at centre there are a lot of options because there is an older guard that is probably past it but the younger players haven't quite had the opportunity to prove themselves. So Wane seems to have picked all of them.

Backs - as expected, except Connor is an odd omission, especially given how many he has taken. I'm surprised Manfredi has been picked after all his injuries.
Halves/hooker - No issue with the ones he has picked but I would have liked a younger half in there too so he's getting experience of the setup. Trueman?
Forwards - No issue with the ones he has picked but we look a bit light on numbers at prop. Watts+1 with fewer backs would have made sense.

Think we're lacking a bit of a ball handler in the pack and a bit of size in the backrow. A sort of Burgess or O'Loughlin size hole in fact. Williams is key too as I'm not convinced there is another halfback in the squad at his level.

Also interested to see how Wane handles the hooker/dummy half issue. Having a specialist hooker on the bench may be a bit of a risk. A lot of NRL teams seem to play the same dummy half for 80mins. How many subs are allowed at international level?

Lomax has been playing and playing exceptionally well as a halfback for a few seasons now. He’s a halfback end of story for me. Tomkins could play in either position but is a fullback week in week out and a damn good one at that. He’ll be huge for us. I’d argue the case that the current version of Tomkins will be more suited to internationals than the one around 2010-2013 who rampaged through Superleague sides. His game is more subtle now. He’s a creator and his ability to make space for others has come on leaps and bounds. He’s also a much more rounded defensive fullback.

Happy with the squad but fully expect some players to come in. He will select Jake Connor if he continues to play as he is. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Widdop make a push for the squad as well. There are one or two others who will push their claims as well. It’s great to be able to name plenty of lads who can feel frustrated not that get in when he’s named 35 players. I think the final 17 will lack 2 or 3 really World Class players which will harm any chance of winning it but we’ve got better depth than I can remember for a very long time.

Connor was excellent last season under Last and he is one of the few players that has stepped up and played well at international level. He wouldn't be in the 17, but should certainly be in the squad.

Newman hasnt played for about a year and Watkins last good game was about 3 years ago.

I wouldn't have picked Watkins, but saying he hasn't had any good games for Salford just isn't accurate, he has re-found form there. It's just better to turn the page and start looking at our younger centre options whilst we have quite a few good ones IMO.