Wigan Warriors forward Liam Farrell insists that being dropped from England’s squad in favour of two Australians has made the disappointment easier to deal with.
Farrell, who was part of England’s squad for last year’s Four Nations, was one of the notable absentees from Wayne Bennett’s 20-man squad to face Samoa for the final Test warm-up ahead of the World Cup, with the Australian-born duo of Chris Heighington and Chris McQueen selected ahead of him.
Writing for his regular column in Wigan Today, the 26-year-old admitted he was disappointed he had missed out, but the blow was softened when he discovered it was NRL players who had been given the nod ahead of him.
“A few people have asked me how I feel about missing out when there are two Australian-born forwards in the squad,” he said.
“Honestly – and for a weird reason – it actually makes it easier for myself that he’s picked a couple of Aussies instead of two other forwards from Super League. I’m not sure why.
“But I’ll not look into it too much. He’s gone with what he thinks is right – they’re eligible to play for England and he’s decided to pick them instead.”
