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PETER SMITH: Old stagers still have a role to play for England
Eyebrows were raised when England coach Tony Smith named his 17-strong elite training squad.
Some established and obvious names were in there, but several key international players were conspicuous by their absence – particularly St Helens stand-off Leon Pryce.
That fuelled all sorts of conspiracy theories, that Pryce – probably the form player of engage Super League XIV so far – was being punished for his recent court case, or for England's World Cup failure last year, or that Smith was planning an overhaul of his international side ahead of this autumn's Quad-Nations.
In fact, there's nothing sinister or particularly surprising about Pryce's omission and he will almost certainly – injury permitting – be included when Smith names his squad to face Australia, New Zealand and France later this year.
As will, no doubt, several of the other 14 World Cup players who missed out in this selection.
The 17 players named last week aren't actually a competitive squad as such. That becomes clear if you look at the players selected and their favoured positions.
Smith was widely criticised for his handling of last year's World Cup campaign, but he hasn't forgotten that any team needs a full-back and more than one winger.
In fact, the elite training squad isn't the 17 players who will be on duty in the Quad-Nations or for next month's mid-season Test against France. It's a group of players chosen for extra preparation and as part of the RFL's involvement with the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The tie-in with WADA means the RFL have to provide the names of certain elite players who must be available at a specified time every day of the year for possible drugs testing.
Not all the elite squad members will be in the team which lines up against France. The shock selection was Hull winger Tom Briscoe, who is currently sidelined through injury and who could be out of action until August.
What Smith has done is identify a group of players he feels will be knocking on the door this autumn and in four years' time when the next World Cup takes place, plus enough senior men to satisfy WADA.
The likes of Pryce, Paul Wellens, Kevin Sinfield, Martin Gleeson, Gareth Hock and others, will be in the frame when Smith considers his team for the autumn internationals.
But presumably he feels that youngsters including Briscoe, Richard Myler, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Castleford Tigers' Michael Shenton and Joe Westerman and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats' Ryan Atkins will all benefit more from the extra preparation and improved sports science being provided for members of the training squad.
Selection is a vote of confidence for those players, but it comes at a price. The down side for them is the requirement to provide details to the drugs testers, something which has landed top athletes in hot water in recent years.
It's not always easy to say exactly where you'll be at a certain time a few days hence and the consequences of getting the tests wrong can be far-reaching.
And doing the obvious and notifying the drugs testers that you'll be at home in bed at 5am every day isn't a wise course of action, because you can be fairly sure the testers will turn up. They don't like smart alecs. It's noticeable that players from nine clubs are represented in that selection, with Huddersfield Giants, Celtic Crusaders, Les Catalans Dragons and Hull KR – the current form team – the only engage Super League members to miss out.
Supposed antagonism between Leeds and Saints players, who made up the majority of the squad, was blamed, at least partially, for England's World Cup flop.
Smith is presumably reacting to that to some extent, though Saints and Rhinos were the top two sides in the competition – by some distance – last year, so naturally they dominated the international selection. One member of the World Cup squad told this column a couple of days ago that reports of unrest between Rhinos and Saints players were "absolute rubbish".
Though others have told a different story, he said: "You spend time with who you're comfortable with. The Leeds and Saints boys did spend a lot of time together, but we all got on. That had nothing to do with it."
Whatever, clearly the more clubs who are producing international-class players the better. Relying on Leeds and Saints isn't healthy for the international side's long-term future and their chances of beating Australia, where the top talent is more evenly distributed.
Shenton and Westerman have both come through Tigers' Academy system and are on long-term deals and their inclusion is a credit to the work being done in junior development at Castleford.
By the time the next World Cup comes around, expect full-back Richard Owen to be in contention too – and Cas feel they've got several potential internationals in their lower grades, who have yet to make the Super League breakthrough.
It's good that Myler, arguably the most exciting young talent in the competition at the moment, is playing for Salford City Reds, one of its least glamorous clubs, though whether that's still the case in four years' time remains to be seen.
Myler, Shenton, McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Atkins – who was 18th man – were all part of the England fringe squad which played Wales at Doncaster last October, just before the World Cup party jetted out to Australia.
It's encouraging that Smith is prepared to give young players a go, but – while he may experiment against France – there probably won't be a huge number of new faces in the Quad-Nations squad.
The fact is, Smith will once again need to rely on the old stagers, because they are the best he's got. Others may have promise, but they aren’t quite good enough or ready enough just yet.
Smith chose a World Cup squad that most rugby league fans or pundits would have picked. He simply doesn’t yet have the pool of talent to chose from to make many surprises.
As more clubs realise the value of bringing young players through, that may change, but it’s going to be a long process.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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