Williams and Lomax for me, with Gale in reserve.
And if Trueman continues the season like he's started it...

If Wane were to pick his starting wingers for an upcoming match he would be insane not to pick Makinson and Johnstone. With maybe Ash Handley if fit in reserve.

Lomax looks great at Saints but, has he ever looked good enough for England ?
Unfortunately, he will be feeding off scraps at international level and for me, isn't the right choice for England.

I'd be delighted to be wrong though

He's got much more experience playing at half-back now than he had previously. All his previous games (bar one) for England have been at full-back too.
I think he's a better player than he was the last time he played for England back in 2018. He'll have been playing regularly at half-back for Saints for three more seasons when the WC starts.

My biggest worry is Hodgson; looks great for Canberra, but has never been anything other than poor for England.

Makinson and Johnstone are the best two wingers at the moment. Think Hall, Handley and McGillvary are ok backup. Eden is too prone to brain farts under pressure IMO.

when he was at kr and hudds I like his style of play and I personally would of had him in my team, cas has certainly got the best from him

He's a fantastic winger, but a dreadful full-back. As soon as he has to think or make a decision, he's prone to ballsing up in quite a big way.
When he needs to do something instinctive or just run as fast as he can, he's great. As soon as he thinks about doing something other than running or putting the ball over the try-line, he's in trouble.

To be fair, it doesn't even need to be under pressure.

I agree about Hodgson.
Bennett certainly saw something different than I did.
Lomax, great for a Saints side that "wins every week" but, playing for England is completely different.
Mind you, we havent had a decent HB pairing for 30 years.

The worrying thing is that our pack has been excellent for the last 4/5 years but, there are plenty of changes to be made and whoever we have in the halves will need to be playing behind a competitive pack.
Assuming that some of the Kiwis stay with their Tonga preference, we may be ranked 4th.

Another semi final loss ?

Hopefully not - I have tickets for the final.
My main worry is injury. Beyond a good starting 17, I don't think we have much to compete with the Aussies, whereas they can pick two or three players in every position who are international standard.
Lose a couple to injury and we'll be picking players who wouldn't even get a club game in the NRL, let alone who can compete with a team of the best.

Let's see if TJ can actually play 20 games in a season before we start getting too excited about his international prospects.

Oh dear