Leeds Rhinos star Jake Connor has been recalled to the England squad for the first time since 2018 \u2013 with the reigning Man of Steel at the heart of Brian McDermott\u2019s first performance squad which also includes ten debutants.<\/p>\n
McDermott has wasted no time putting his stamp on proceedings with the national team, leaving out a number of players who featured in last year\u2019s Ashes and including a string of players including four fresh faces from the NRL, three of whom were born in Australia but have pledged allegiance to England.<\/p>\n
But there is no doubting the headline news is Connor.<\/p>\n
Connor makes England return<\/p>\n
McDermott seemed to strongly suggest when taking the job that Connor would be included in his plans and he has wasted no time in making that news official.<\/p>\n
The Leeds Rhinos star, who has again been sensational throughout the 2026 season, gets the chance to make his first England appearance since 2018 \u2013 though he also played for Great Britain in 2019.<\/p>\n
He was a headline omission last year, but has immediately made his return in the first squad following Shaun Wane\u2019s time in charge of the national team.<\/p>\n
There are several other new faces from Super League too. Wakefield Trinity duo Caleb Hamlin-Uele \u2013 another born overseas \u2013 and Jake Trueman are included. Hull KR forward Dean Hadley\u2019s fine form over a prolonged period of time is recognised while Wigan winger Zach Eckersley is one of eight Warriors in the 38-man group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed the process of looking throughout Super League and the NRL for players who could potentially play for England in the 2026 World Cup,\u201d McDermott said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear there is a raft of talent available at our disposal and it\u2019s encouraging to see the sort of player who could be lining up for us in a few months\u2019 time. As well as plenty of seasoned Test players who we all know about, there are some new faces on the international scene, including Jake Trueman, Dean Hadley and Zach Eckersley.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have all earned places on the programme for their consistent excellence in Super League.<\/p>\n
Several heritage players named<\/p>\n
As mentioned, a number of players born overseas have now officially declared their allegiance to England \u2013 with a loosening of the rules surrounding State of Origin representation allowing them to do so.<\/p>\n
They include one man who actually was born in Huddersfield, Canterbury star Max King, who has played for the Blues in Origin. Hooker Jayden Brailey gets a first England call-up too, as do Sydney Roosters centre Billy Smith and Brisbane forward Ben Talty.<\/p>\n
McDermott had suggested he would not be afraid to pick non-English players: and he has held true to that belief. The likes of Victor Radley and AJ Brimson are again named, having been previously part of England plans under Wane at various points.<\/p>\n
McDermott said: \u201cFrom the NRL, there\u2019s further players who I have seen first-hand who are performing well and who have expressed a desire to represent England via the heritage rule: Max King, Jayden Brailey, Billy Smith and Ben Talty. It\u2019s an exciting time as we continue our preparations and build-up towards the opening game against Tonga.<\/p>\n
Ashes quintet dropped altogether<\/p>\n
Five members of the squad that were beaten 3-0 in last autumn\u2019s Ashes have been completely omitted from the performance squad altogether \u2013 hinting at their World Cup chances being minimal at best.<\/p>\n
One of those, Matty Lees, would have been unavailable anyway due to injury, with the St Helens star almost certain to be recalled when back fully fit.<\/p>\n
But the other four are available for selection. North Queensland Cowboys forward John Bateman drops out, as does Hull KR winger Joe Burgess.<\/p>\n
Leeds Rhinos centre Harry Newman is another headline omission from McDermott\u2019s plans while Leigh Leopards forward Owen Trout, who made his international debut last year, is also dropped.<\/p>\n
England performance squad<\/p>\n
Junior Nsemba, Ethan Havard, Luke Thompson, Sam Walters, Brad O\u2019Neill, Jake Wardle, Harry Smith, Zach Eckersley (all Wigan Warriors), Kallum Watkins, Mikolaj Oledzki, Ash Handley, Jake Connor (all Leeds Rhinos), Ben Currie, Danny Walker, George Williams, Matty Ashton (all Warrington Wolves), Kai Pearce-Paul (Wests Tigers), Dean Hadley, Jez Litten, Mikey Lewis (all Hull KR), Morgan Smithies, Jayden Brailey (both Canberra Raiders), Victor Radley, Billy Smith (both Sydney Roosters), AJ Brimson (Gold Coast Titans), Jack Welsby, Alex Walmsley, Daryl Clark, Harry Robertson (all St Helens), Morgan Knowles, Herbie Farnworth (both Dolphins), Mike McMeeken, Caleb Hamlin-Uele, Jake Trueman, Tom Johnstone (all Wakefield), Matt King (Canterbury Bulldogs), Ben Talty (Brisbane Broncos), Dom Young (Newcastle Knights).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos star Jake Connor has been recalled to the England squad for the first time since 2018…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-740536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}