LAST week, England head coach Shaun Wane named his 40-man training squad with the view of the international against France at the end of April.
Five Leeds Rhinos men were picked in the squad: Morgan Gannon, Ash Handley, Tom Holroyd, Harry Newman and Mikolaj Oledzki with Cameron Smith unlucky not to be included following a great start to the 2023 Super League season.
For Leeds head coach Rohan Smith, he believes that although it is great that those players have been selected for England, their priority at present is Leeds – and stars should prioritise club over country.
“You would have to speak to them but what I love about our squad, those guys and those who could have been selected, their priority is Leeds,” Smith said following the win over Hull FC.
“All they want to do is play for Leeds and then as a bonus if they can play for England.
“I know there are a lot of players who talk about England selection publicly but I think players should be thinking about what I can do for the club rather than being picked for a one off test match.
“These guys are always Leeds first in their mind and hopefully they then earn the right to play for England and we support that.
“They just love playing for Leeds.”
It remains to be seen if any of those five players will make Wane’s reduced squad for that international fixture against France, but all five can certainly put their point across in the next few weeks.
