England have named a 30-man training squad which features St Helens youngsters Jack Welsby and Lewis Dodd, plus Wigan Warriors’ Kai Pearce-Paul.
Shaun Wane will convene the group, made exclusively of Super League players, for a training session at Headingley on 15 March.
There are seven uncapped players, with Welsby and Dodd joined by Saints team-mate Matty Lees, and Pearce-Paul alongside Warriors colleague Liam Marshall.
Leeds Rhinos’ Harry Newman and Huddersfield Giants’ Jake Wardle are also included in the group having not previously represented England.
There is also a recall for Hull KR’s Ryan Hall, whose most recent of 38 England caps came in 2018.
Jake Connor and Gareth Widdop are among the big names to miss out, along with Jordan Abdull, Luke Gale, Josh Griffin, Ash Handley, Tom Johnstone, Toby King, Joe Philbin, Danny Walker and Joe Westerman who were all involved in squads last year.
The session at Headingley will be the first of several training sessions as Wane builds up to a home World Cup this autumn, with others pencilled in for April, May, July and August.
“It’s a massive year for us, a great opportunity that we must be well prepared for,” said Wane.
“We’ve looked at a number of things in putting this training squad together – form last year, performances in the All Stars and France games, pre-season training and discussions around up-and-coming young players.
“The players included for this first session need to look like England players and train like England players. We want something extra from them at this level.
“The younger players coming through are a real credit to Paul Anderson and Paul Sculthorpe on the performance pathway, club coaches and junior coaches too.
“To me it doesn’t matter whether you’re 17 or 37, if I think you can help us win a World Cup you’ll be in the squad.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of players and the ones not included at this stage know that they can still force their way in. It’s an open book and I see some of them coming back in later in the year.”
England training squad: John Bateman (Wigan Warriors), Daryl Clark (Warrington Wolves), Mike Cooper (Warrington Wolves), Ben Currie (Warrington Wolves), Tom Davies (Catalans Dragons), Lewis Dodd (St Helens), Niall Evalds (Castleford Tigers), Liam Farrell (Wigan Warriors), Ryan Hall (Hull KR), Zak Hardaker (Wigan Warriors), Morgan Knowles (St Helens), Kruise Leeming (Leeds Rhinos), Matty Lees (St Helens), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), Reece Lyne (Wakefield Trinity), Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield Giants), Paul McShane (Castleford Tigers), Tommy Makinson (St Helens), Liam Marshall (Wigan Warriors), Harry Newman (Leeds Rhinos), Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds Rhinos), Kai Pearce-Paul (Wigan Warriors), Mark Percival (St Helens), Stefan Ratchford (Warrington Wolves), Dan Sarginson (Salford Red Devils), Sam Tomkins (Catalans Dragons), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), Jake Wardle (Huddersfield Giants), Jack Welsby (St Helens), George Williams (Warrington Wolves)
