'You can't sulk': Leeds Rhinos' Mikolaj Oledzki on latest setback and England's hopes of RLWC2021 glory

Oledzki was 18th man when England completed their group campaign with a 94-4 thrashing of Greece in Sheffield last weekend.

Despite being a member of this year’s Betfred Super League Dream Team, the Leeds prop was not selected for the opening game against Samoa and his only appearance in the tournament so far came as a substitute against France in round two.

England are preparing for a quarter-final tie at Wigan and Oledzki vowed: “Whether I do play or whether I don’t, I am going to try to contribute in any way I can to help the team win, whether that’s on the field or during the week, helping prepare those 17 players.

“I know I have got a role to play, like every single player in that 24-man squad, to prepare our team to play Papua New Guinea on Saturday.”

Oledzki reckons at international level, nobody is guaranteed a place in the team and says he is benefiting from being part of the England set-up.

He added: “You wish you could be on the field, I would love to play every week, but there’s 24 world-class players in the team and you’re not going to get a chance to play every week, understandably.

“You can’t sulk, that’s the main thing. You have got to do your job, everybody has the same goal, to win the World Cup.

“I want to be part of that special group that wins it so I am going to do anything I can - anything that gets asked of me, I will do it 110 per cent.

“Being 24-seven around these special players and this special group is a great environment and a great experience for me and I am trying to learn and pick things up along the way.”

World Cup rules allow coaches to call on a named 18th man, if they lose three players during a game to head injuries.

That meant Oledzki warmed up with the team ahead of the game against Greece and had to remain ready throughout the 80 minutes, despite knowing he probably wouldn’t get on the field.

“It was pretty strange,” he admitted. “Usually, as the 18th man you won’t play. These rules are slightly different so you always have to be ready to play.

“There is always a chance so you kind of prep’ for the game like you are playing. It was kind of a normal week, getting ready and thinking I could play at any time.”

England scored 196 points in their three pool games, conceding 28 and Oledzki believes they are genuine contenders to lift the trophy at Old Trafford on November 19.

He said: “I think it’s about time people started showing a bit more, maybe I can say, respect for us.

“Everyone before the tournament was talking about Samoa, Tonga, Australia, New Zealand and we kind of went under the radar a little bit.

“Not too many people spoke about us and what we can do and what we are capable of. Hopefully in the last three games we’ve shown what we are capable of, but I don’t think we’ve been at 100 per cent.

“Maybe in the first game against Samoa we were, but against France we weren’t at our best and [last Saturday] was a difficult game mentally, a bit more challenging.

“The way we play, we try to be clinical and stick to the game plan and execute everything like we do in training and I think you can see that looking at the scoreboard.

“They have all been pretty dominant. It’s not that the teams we’ve played aren’t the best, it’s that we’ve got the ability to grind teams down and create chances for ourselves, being a good, clinical team.”

Papua New Guinea, captained by Rhinos’ Rhyse Martin, are likely to present England’s toughest test so far and Oledzki predicted: “It’s going to be a difficult game, a physical game. It definitely won’t be one of those scores we had last week.

“It will require a lot of grinding down and being clinical and relentless in defence and attack. It’s a challenge, we know it’s going to be tough, but we know what we have to do.

“It’s an exciting week, it’s the first play-off game and I don’t think it needs anything special, just what we’ve been doing, to a higher standard.”