FOUR Warrington Wolves' players have been named in England coach Steve
McNamara 32-man Elite Training squad, with a further five in the 24-man
England Knights squad that will form the nucleus of the national team
between now and the Rugby League World Cup in 2013.FOUR Warrington Wolves’ players have been named in England coach Steve McNamara 32-man Elite Training squad, with a further five in the 24-man England Knights squad that will form the nucleus of the national team between now and the Rugby League World Cup in 2013.
Adrian Morley, Ben Westwood, Garreth Carvell and Chris Bridge have all been named in the Elite squad with Mike Cooper, Rhys Evans, Richie Myler, Stefan Ratchford and Chris Riley all named in the Knights squad.
The ETS players will meet up at their Loughborough base next week alongside the England Knights squad and there will be a further four camps throughout this year including a 10-day high altitude camp in the autumn.
“Over the past 12 months we have made excellent progress throughout our international programme,” said McNamara.
“We now have a long term plan with our programme of activity in place for the next two years. This approach, as we continue to build up to the Rugby League World Cup, gives me and the players’ clarity and a clear structure.
“We have two very exciting squads that can build on last year’s efforts on reaching the Gillette Four Nations final. In addition I am monitoring on a weekly basis our eight Australian based players, who will play a pivotal role in our plans. Our aim now is to retain the current crop of players and realise our ambition of winning the Rugby League World Cup in 2013.”
The average age of the ETS is just 26.8 while the average of the Knights is 22.6.
Super League reigning champions Leeds Rhinos have the most players in both squads with 12 representatives and there are a further 10 clubs represented from the Stobart Super League across both squads.
England will start their 2012 campaign with two matches against the Exiles in the summer and an international triangular series in the autumn against European counterparts France and Wales.
England Knights will play Ireland in June and will join Ireland, Italy and Scotland in the Alitalia Cup in the autumn.
Full squads
2012 England Elite Training Squad
Carl Ablett (Leeds Rhinos) Ryan Bailey (Leeds Rhinos) Chris Bridge (Warrington Wolves) Tom Briscoe (Hull FC) Danny Brough (Huddersfield Giants) Rob Burrow (Leeds Rhinos) Garreth Carvell (Warrington Wolves) Josh Charnley (Wigan Warriors) Rangi Chase (Castleford Tigers) Eorl Crabtree (Huddersfield Giants) Leroy Cudjoe (Huddersfield Giants) Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos) Zak Hardaker (Leeds Rhinos) Ian Henderson (Catalan Dragons) Gareth Hock (Wigan Warriors) Ben Jones-Bishop (Leeds Rhinos) Jamie Jones-Buchanan (Leeds Rhinos) Jonny Lomax (St Helens) Danny McGuire (Leeds Rhinos) Michael McIlorum (Wigan Warriors) Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves) Lee Mossop (Wigan Warriors) Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors) Jamie Peacock (captain)(Leeds Rhinos) James Roby (St Helens) Kevin Sinfield (Leeds Rhinos) Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors) Kallum Watkins (Leeds Rhinos) Kris Welham (Hull KR) Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves) Jon Wilkin (St Helens) Kirk Yeaman (Hull FC)
2012 England Knights Squad
Joe Arundel (Castleford Tigers) Jodie Broughton (Salford City Reds) Chris Clarkson (Leeds Rhinos) Paul Clough (St Helens) Mike Cooper (Warrington Wolves) Rhys Evans (Warrington Wolves) Liam Farrell (Wigan Warriors) Dale Ferguson (Huddersfield Giants) Mark Flanagan (St Helens) Lee Gaskell (St Helens) Josh Hodgson (Hull KR) Danny Houghton (Hull FC) Shaun Lunt (Huddersfield Giants) Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield Giants) Richie Myler (Warrington Wolves) Larne Patrick (Huddersfield Giants) Stefan Ratchford (Warrington Wolves) Chris Riley (Warrington Wolves) Matty Smith (Salford City Reds) Scott Taylor (Hull KR) Liam Watts( Hull KR) Joe Wardle (Huddersfield Giants) Gary Wheeler (St Helens) Elliot Whitehead (Bradford Bulls)
