Yes, this was blindingly obvious.
He let England down before in his reckless days which was probably still a major black mark.

But, to Wane much, much worse, was walking out on Wigan. How dare he.

Indeed. Laughable

More fool him.

Who should be in instead of Cooper?

Cooper, Hill, Sneyd, McIlorum!!
WTAF!!
We'll get battered by Tonga and Samoa, never mind Aus and NZ.

It’s a really poor looking squad. He’s picked 1 centre with Kallum and Bateman as 2 and 3. Not that I can think of any other centres to pick.

At hooker I’d pick Ackers from those 2. What has Hodgson been up to down under?

That first game v Samoa is gonna be tough.

There’s the problem, like many positions we look so thin in quality. But he was poor in both games v Leeds.

1 centre
2 half backs
2 hookers
14 props/back row
Remind me what position Wane played?

At the risk of upsetting some of our St Helens regulars I find it really disappointing that Lomax is now unfit to play. Didn’t look that way on Saturday night. He's been playing with that injury for months when he could have either been rested or operated on. Instead he is out of the world cup. Further proof, if any more were needed, of the myopic nature of the clubs.

Zak Hardaker

Farnworth and Watkins will be the centres but both have had bad recent injuries and Watkins has been playing back row so…can’t wait to see Bateman in the outside backs again.

Also mcilorum, really…the cynic in me would suggest a Wigan bias.

Ryan Sutton assuming he’s not injured.

Failing that I’d have taken Havard, Matty English or Oliver Wilson before Cooper

I would take Cooper over Hill and if Sutton isn`t injured that`s another one I would have in over both Cooper and Hill.
Not sure what`s upsetting so many about McIllouram being in the squad either.
He`s been in the top 3 hookers all season.

The squad is just painfully average. I cant get excited about the world cup at all.

I agree Seth especially wrt the England squad
The plus points are watching the likes of Samoa, NZ and Australia.