And rightly so. They are good centres, playing for big clubs.

It would not surprise me to see Joel Tomkins at right centre, with Atkins at left centre.

Meh. Still don't rate Atkins. I suspect playing in that team to be making him appear to be better than he is.

I remain underwhelmed by English centres generally. It says a lot that Joel Tomkins might well be the best option.

Ryan Atkins and Joel Tomkins would be my picks for England this season. Whether they would/will trouble the Aussies and the Kiwis is another matter but if you denied places in the England set-up on that basis we'd struggle to compete in a seven-a-side tournament.

Ryan Atkins at Hull last Friday surely went a fair way in silencing any critics out there?

Atkins last week was outstanding. Comfortably the best British centre in Super League. Although as you say, whether or not that accolade is enough to do anything at all against Australia & New Zealand is another matter.

'Playing for bigger clubs' shouldnt really give you an automatic place!

So you put Ade Gardner in over Ryan Hall with him been at a 'bigger' club?

By what criteria are St Helens a bigger club than Leeds?

Not saying they aren't, just interested.

Atkins seems to have improved this season. I'm less convinced by Shenton in this position after his move to Saints, but would still have him ahead of a lot of the up and coming centres at the moment. J Tomkins would get my call alongside Atkins as he has the raw attributes in size, pace and power. If he carries on playing at centre I think he could be the next Senior...

As for the rest, I think Yeaman is a bit over-rated and doesn't have the attributes to be a top-class centre other than his one-on-one defence. Welham looks great going forward but like Charnley at Wigan doesn't tend to defend very well out wide. I'd put Watkins in the same bracket too.

By his criteria.

HTH.

I'd probably play Tomkins and Ablett in the centres for England, but then again there are those on here who would believe I was Brian Noble or David Waite if I said that out loud...

Most successful I suppose

As a Hull fan you cant help but like Yeaman for his commitment. He is a full blooded player in defence and attack. However he isnt the kind of player who is going to win games, not against quality defences in the 4 nations anyway. If you want a safe option who will give 100% and not do much wrong either side of the ball and bash a few Aussies then hes the best we have. But if you are willing to sacrifice a few errors to have a gamebreaker in the team then go for Watkins.

It's interesting to see that fans from other teams have Watkins in an England team when his own fans see he's clearly not ready and has plenty to work on to do a job for club. If people like Watkins are near an England start the national player pool is worse than ever. Watkins has bags of potential but hasnt even had solid run at club level.