THE Gold Coast Titans’ player AJ Brimson has nailed his colours firmly to the England mast, having committed himself to contending for an England place for this year’s Ashes series and therefore forgoing any chance he might have had to play for Australia or even in the State of Origin series.
Brimson is able to do that because his mother was born in England.
And there are apparently several other NRL players who are considering the possibility of qualifying for England under the heritage rules because they were either born here (like KL Iro, the son of the great Kevin Iro) or they had parents or grandparents who came from England.
Brimson is a fine player, whether at fullback or at stand-off half and he would certainly be a potential contender for an England spot.
So should Shaun Wane select him?
I suspect that Shaun may be reluctant to select a player who has only just come out of the woodwork as a potential England player.
But the England coach’s job is to win the Ashes this year, and that means selecting a team that can beat the Aussies.
Shaun should therefore select the team that he thinks is most capable of achieving that objective.
Having said that, however, I can’t help thinking that the qualification to play for any country is too flexible.
In my view you should only play for a country if you carry its passport.
If you don’t, then I don’t think you are really committed.
But that isn’t how the system works and it probably never will be.
It will be fascinating to see who eventually does make that England squad.
