England World Cup Squad NamedThe England squad to travel to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guineap for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup was named at lunchtime today and came hot on the heels of the news that one of its bright stars, Castelford’s Zak Hardaker, was definitely out of the World Cup and facing an uncertain future after failing a drugs test. England’s World Cup campaign kicks off with a game against the hosts Australia at 20:05 (UK) on Friday the 27th October at AAMI Park in Melbourne, followed by group games against Lebanon and France. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

England World Cup Squad NamedThe England squad to travel to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guineap for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup was named at lunchtime today and came hot on the heels of the news that one of its bright stars, Castelford’s Zak Hardaker, was definitely out of the World Cup and facing an uncertain future after failing a drugs test. England’s World Cup campaign kicks off with a game against the hosts Australia at 20:05 (UK) on Friday the 27th October at AAMI Park in Melbourne, followed by group games against Lebanon and France. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Well, at least Tomkins gets a full offseason.

Quite happy with that...Farell & Tomkins getting a full off-season!

I feel bad for Farrell that he has missed out for a 35 year old aussie. Would have taken a third hooker rather than Kevin Brown.

I can't see Heighington or Brown getting any game time in that squad. I think it'll be the kick up the 'arris that Sam, Faz and Joe Burgess probably needed. Surprised to see Lomax in there as he did nothing last season and lost his place to Barba. Happy for Ratchford though as he is a talent. Pleased for Roby as it must have been galling to see McShane's name put forward by Sky every game this season, though not mentioned on Saturday strangely.

All in all though I don't think anyone can feel hard done by though I think Danny Houghton is unlucky to be playing when we actually have decent hookers around.

Only two wingers in the squad!!

Ben Currie is a fabulous player BUT to risk him when he's only played a couple of games all season doesn't seem right to me.
I would have taken Sam Tomkins and certainly Tom Davies who for me has been the find of the season in the wing position.
I also think Kev Brown is very fortunate to be in there but to be fair he played well in that mid season test.

Any guy who scores forty tries in the season has got to be disappointed. So I would have thought that Eden would be ahead of Tom Davies. However McGilvarry and Hall have earned their places and rarely get injured so he would have been on drinks duty anyway.

Can't complain about the omission of Tomkins and Faz and in truth I think Williams is a lucky boy to be going as well.

Think the like of Brown is very very lucky especially when you consider Sneyd has been overlooked.

I also think Shenton and Eden can feel a bit hard done to.

At the end of the day though we have a coach who has been there and done it anything less than a final appearance will be totallly unexpeptsble though given the issues the Kiwis are experiencing.

Eden must be livid, he's had a fantastic season. I've seen a lot of people say that anyone would score tries on Cas' left side but many of his tries were acrobatic finishes in the corner or breakaways from his own half, he isn't just a fall-over-the-line merchant.

Can't complain with Hall and McGilvary though, you look at the outside backs that the likes of AUS, NZ, Fiji and Tonga have they are all absolute tanks! Those two are the only wingers we have I think that can cope with that physicality.

Joel Tomkins would at one time have been an England shoe-in.

Now he's not even a Wigan regular, and would be lucky to make the bench if we had a full squad.

I'm sure he's a lot richer for his stint in Union, but as a sportsman it clearly did him no good at all.

Good to see your Wigan myopia is as strong as ever. Lomax missed a good chunk of the season through injury but played really well on his return at FB. He was always going to lose out to Barba at 1 but is fully deserving of a place in the squad on merit IMO. There are others such as Brown, Heighington and Currie (injury) who are far more questionable.

For the record, I would have taken Tomkins and Farrell.

No myopia from this poster mate. I stated I was pleased for Roby didn't I? And like others on here I believe Tomkins has done nothing to deserve inclusion. It is possible to have an opinion without the cherry and white specs you know. I attended all of the four nations games last year and Lomax was average at best.

It's the balance of the squad I don't get at all. No cover at wing/centre seems crazy when you're taking 4 halfbacks. People will always have personal faves so the personnel will get questioned but that seems nuts to me.

I disagree. McGilvarry and Hall will play all games barring injury. They are not generally injury prone, so it's a fair bet they will play all 5/6 games easily. As for centre Ratchford and Bateman provide cover. Ratchford is probably a better centre than Shenton in any case, and Bateman lets no-one down (ever). It's only a 24 man squad and we will playing against some very physical teams so we need plenty of cover in the pack.

Have you seen the size of the wingers for some of these teams? Certainly questionable to only take two wingers and two hookers.