Full Great Britain Lions squad is named

Four players from the 2019 Betfred Super League champions St Helens have been included in the full 24-man squad for Great Britain’s first appearances on the international stage since 2007.
Alex WalmsleyAlex Walmsley
Alex Walmsley

Lachlan Coote, Jonny Lomax, Luke Thompson and Alex Walmsley have been rewarded for their contribution to Saints’ first title-winning season since 2014 and are joined by two members of the Salford Red Devils team they beat at Old Trafford last Saturday , Jackson Hastings and Josh Jones.

They will fly to Sydney on Wednesday as part of the second group of Great Britain players to head Down Under, where they will watch England play in the Downer World Cup Nines at the weekend before moving on to New Zealand.

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Great Britain face a Tongan Invitational XIII in Hamilton on Saturday, October 26, New Zealand on Saturday November 2 (Eden Park, Auckland) and a week later in Christchurch and Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby on Saturday, November 16.

Four members of the Saints Grand Final winning team were unavailable because of injury – Morgan Knowles and James Roby, who had withdrawn from contention before the weekend, and Tommy Makinson and Mark Percival, who were injured at Old Trafford.

The other seven players added to the 11 members of England’s World Cup Nines squad whose GB selection had already been confirmed are Blake Austin, Chris Hill and Joe Philbin from Warrington Wolves; John Bateman and Josh Hodgson from Canberra Raiders; and Oliver Gildart and Zak Hardaker from Wigan Warriors.

Austin, Hill and Philbin join their Wolves team-mates Daryl Clark and Jack Hughes in the 24.

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Bateman and Hodgson complete a trio of Canberra Raiders with Elliott Whitehead, who is in the Nines squad and Gildart and Hardaker will join their 2019 Wigan team-mate George Williams, who is also in Sydney preparing for the Nines ahead of his move to join Bateman, Hodgson and Whitehead at Canberra in 2020.

In total, 17 of the squad played in Super League in 2019, with seven from the National Rugby League.

Graham is the only member of the squad who has previously played for Great Britain, winning five caps in 2006-7.

“It’s very emotional for me," Graham said of the prospect of leading Great Britain for the first time.

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"It will have a history and tradition, and it’s something that resounds with the fans and our sport. They will be four incredibly difficult matches, but the difficulty rating was always going to be high. It’s a challenge for us, but as a group I think we’re going to grow into that challenge.”

Of his squad selection, coach Wayne Bennett said: “It was pretty tough actually, with a lot of players in contention. A couple of guys got injured and that has taken a bit of the pressure off and given a couple of other guys opportunities.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good squad which is more than representative of the best players in the game in England and Australia.”

The full squad is James Graham (of St George Illawarra Dragons, community club Blackbrook), Blake Austin (Warrington Wolves, Doonside Roos), John Bateman (Canberra Raiders, Bradford Dudley Hill), Tom Burgess (South Sydney, Dewsbury Moor), Daryl Clark (Warrington, Fryston Warriors), Jake Connor (Hull FC, Siddal), , Lachlan Coote (St Helens, Windsor Wolves), Oliver Gildart (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks), Zak Hardaker (Wigan, Featherstone Lions), Jackson Hastings (Salford Red Devils, Western Suburbs Red Devils), Ryan Hall (Sydney Roosters, Oulton Raiders), Chris Hill (Warrington, New Spring Lions), Josh Hodgson (Canberra, East Hull), Jack Hughes (Warrington, Golborne Parkside), Josh Jones (Salford, Blackbrook), Jonny Lomax (St Helens, Orrell St James), Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield Giants, Deighton Juniors), Joe Philbin (Warrington, Culcheth Eagles), Luke Thompson (St Helens, Bold Miners), Jake Trueman (Castleford Tigers, West Bowling), Alex Walmsley (St Helens, Dewsbury Celtic), Elliott Whitehead (Canberra, West Bowling), Gareth Widdop (St George, Kings Cross), George Williams (Wigan, Wigan St Patricks).