I think Tomkins looks a yard slower than he was when he left SL, I'm not sure he'll be as devastating from FB this time around.

Withdrawn from the NZ test series, just three days before the first Test.

Ludicrous that a third specialist full-back wasn't added to the squad as cover if his injury was really that serious, although England are hardly blessed with talent at the position.

Presumably Watkins will switch there should anything happen to Hardaker.

It's not the injury. He has done exactly what Zak did previously. Told he is not selected and took the huff.

I did consider that as an option, but if he does have an injury that needs sorting and wasn't going to be picked anyway it makes sense for him to get that injury seen to.

It makes them look slightly daft if he's pulled out having trained once and not making the friendly. Feel for him though, he's not having a great time of it in 2015.

Widdop, or Cudjoe would be more likely to move there, IMO.

Widdop was a FB at Melbourne until he realised he wouldn't get a game behind slater!

Having seen the McNamara interview on the EnglandRL twitter page, it strikes me that he was always going to pick ST over ZH.....

Joe Burgess would make a superb FB IMO

The squad was ill considered at best to begin with. This makes the coach's judgement look even worse. The full back cover looks as though it would be Watkins which is rediculous when you look at the centre options. There must have been considerable doubt over Tomkins when the squad was being chosen.

Very frustrating.

Someone who doesn't play FB week in week out will get murdered by a good short kicking game into the in goal.
Let's hope Hardaker stays healthy for the whole series.

Yes, i would go that way too.We have McGilvary to go on the wing if we do this so not much lost.If Watkins goes there its our real strike weapon at centre gone so that would be foolish imo.

Widdop will surely play fullback if Hardaker gets injured, with Smith or Gale going into the halves. The next genuine fullbacks in line would be Lomax and Ratchford but they're both out, so who's after that? Jamie Shaul?

You can't waste 3 spots in a squad of 23 on specialist fullbacks. I'm more bothered about the lack of props we've selected.

NZ don't have a good short kicking game, as we saw at Headingley. They've gone from the best halfback combination in the world (Johnson/Foran) to the worst.

Simply pointing out that 1 fit genuine FB is inadequate. Hopefully it won't matter and ZH will stay healthy.
Agree about the props. Bonkers.
The thought of Smith actually making his way onto the field makes me cringe.