England head coach Brian McDermott has justified his decision to leave Jake Connor out of his World Cup squad by insisting he has assembled a group that can stick to his game plan to beat the best.
For the second consecutive year, Connor’s omission from a major England squad has proven to be a significant talking point.
The Leeds Rhinos half-back is once again left out of the national team picture – with McDermott following on from Shaun Wane 12 months earlier by opting to leave Connor at home.
And McDermott has explained that decision clearly on Monday morning.
McDermott explains Jake Connor omission
Speaking to the media before meeting up with the England players later this week, McDermott admitted that he based his squad on an ability to execute a game plan and model he has devised to take down the likes of Australia and New Zealand.
That meant that ultimately, the likes of Harry Smith, George Williams and Mikey Lewis were better fits for his philosophy that Connor was.
He said: “I believe Jake has had a really good year. He had an outstanding year last year and got the Man of Steel. But what I’ve got is a squad full of players who I believe will best play to the game style, the attack plan and the same model we identified many weeks ago in terms of what we need to do to compete with the leading nations.
“We can’t do the usual things. We’ve got to play with a point of difference. I’ve got a squad of players of how I want England to play.”
However, McDermott did admit it was a ‘small margin’ that Connor missed out by – and appeared to suggest he would be the next cab off the rank should any injuries occur.
He continued: “Jake Connor missed out on selection by a small margin, it came down to who I think can best stick to the game plan. If we do get injuries in the halves, he’d be a consideration, for sure, absolutely.”
Mikey Lewis call-up explained
McDermott also insisted while current form played a role in his 23-man squad, the historical success of Lewis – arguably a surprise inclusion in the final group – was crucial in his thinking.
He said: “Current form has a bearing – but can you play under pressure?
“In the World Cup, you don’t get second chances, you can’t go back and review the game and have another go the following week.
“Again, I’ve picked a group of players who’ve got recent history of playing in finals.
“Mikey Lewis won a World Club Challenge and guided his team to a Challenge Cup final. I get he wasn’t in the best of shape in the back of the year and incurred a couple of bans, but I’ll point everyone to the attack plan and the game model I think England needs to have to compete with the bigger nations.”