Kallum Watkins’ World Cup dream looks on with another likely England call up
KALLUM Watkins’ World Cup dream looks on as he is set to make Shaun Wane’s latest England squad.
The Salford man has not played for his country since the 2017 final, when his break looked like cracking Australia.
But he is believed to be in the latest international party, which is named tomorrow.
And this one group will be different as the easing of lockdown restrictions mean Wane will be able to put his players through their paces ahead of June’s match against Combined Nations All Stars.
Since 2017, Watkins has left Leeds for NRL side Gold Coast Titans but returned to England and Salford, the club he supported as a kid.
He impressed last season under Ian Watson and is already one of new boss Richard Marshall’s first choices.
However, the 30-year-old faces huge competition for a centre spot, from both Super League and the NRL.
In England, Wigan’s Oliver Gildart and Zak Hardaker, St Helens’ Mark Percival, Warrington’s Toby King and Hull’s Jake Connor lead the fight – Lancashire lad Herbie Farnworth is also impressing Down Under.
Early season candidates include Wigan’s Jake Bibby and Castleford’s Jake Trueman, while Warrington’s Gareth Widdop is also looking to get back in.
Whatever happens, Wane will not ‘break’ players selected.
He said: “When I was at Wigan, we’d send information on our players of what they needed to do as we had them every day, they were our players, and they’d come back broken.
“Things weren’t stuck to. Any advice I get about a player, that’s exactly what we’ll do. We want to get the players healthy and it’s more important I send them back healthy.”
