SHAUN WANE had to be pushed by the RFL to name his 32-man squad that will prepare during the summer to face Australia in the Ashes series this autumn.
Sam Tomkins, who is the team manager of England, made that clear on Sky Sports on Friday night.
Shaun had to be persuaded to release the squad to the media and therefore the public in order to generate some debate about who should actually play for England against the Aussies.
So I’m not sure how seriously we should take the 32 names that were revealed last week.
Some of those players will be dropped from the squad long before Shaun names his 24-man squad that will actually contest the Ashes.
And other players who are not currently included will force their way into the squad.
Inevitably the main talking point in relation to international squads is not the players who have been selected, but the ones who have been left out.
And the main talking point was the absence of Jake Connor.
Connor responded by having a blinder against Hull KR on Sunday, playing a great part in the Rhinos’ stunning 14-8 victory.
After the game he was invited to join the Sky team in their studio at Sewell Group Craven Park and when Brian Carney asked him about his relationship with Shaun Wane it was clear that Connor didn’t want to talk about it and it made quite difficult viewing.
Jake is perhaps too honest for his own good.
Any other player in his position might have spoken gushingly about Shaun to try to patch up any problems preventing him from being picked for England. But instead Jake mumbled to the effect that he didn’t want to talk about it.
My other observation on the squad names released by Shaun last week is the age profile of the squad, with the oldest player being Daryl Clark at the age of 32, and the youngest being Harry Robertson, who at the age of 19 is the only teenager in the squad.
Whether some older players like Alex Walmsley, Kallum Watkins and Tom Burgess will be able to play well enough to force their way into the squad will be interesting to witness.