Gareth Hock admits he would be unable to resist the lure of a recall to the England side if he was asked to do so by Wayne Bennett.
Hock has not played for England since 2012 – and acrimoniously exited the national side’s squad ahead of the 2013 World Cup – but he is in some of the best form of recent years of late after thriving in a new-look role of prop.
That led Leigh coach Neil Jukes to declare Hock should be in contention for England – something his captain, Micky Higham, reiterated in Monday’s League Express – and Hock says he couldn’t turn it down if he was offered a chance to play for his country again.
“If England rang me up, you can’t say no, can you?” Hock said. “I had that little blip a few years ago but things have changed massively since then.
“I’m just going to keep taking it week by week and see how things go.”
Hock has thrived in the front-row in recent weeks – a stark contrast from how he began his career.
“It’s weird,” he said. “I signed for Wigan as a scrum-half and I’ve ended up at prop. It’s a bit tougher but I’m enjoying that new role in the middle and leading from the front.
“You just have to get stuck in. You can do a bit of ball handling and it’s nice to get over the whitewash.”
Leigh head to Wakefield on Thursday looking for a fourth win of the season – but a first away from the Leigh Sports Village.
And he admits it will be a tough encounter. “We said we had to stay out of that bottom four but deep down we all knew we could get fifth. I don’t see why not. We’ve played the best now,” he said.
“It’s going to be tough at Wakefield. They play well at home. We’ve watched a video and it should be a good game.
“We’ve trained well this week and, if we stick to what we’ve done in training, we should come out with a victory.”