Who do we think will be picked for Eng?

I suspect Hardaker, Handley, Oledzki, Bentley, Smith and Leeming will be in contention.

Who is eligible for the other nations?

I noticed Tetevano for Cook Islands and Fusitua for Tonga. Then there is Martin for PNG and Gannon for Aus

Think Oledski only cert…….

Isn’t Bentley Irish qualified and playing for them? Oledzki and magbe Leeming for England, don’t think anybody else gets in.

Bentley can play for either England or Ireland. You can’t represent 2 different Nations in a World Cup year, but as I don’t believe he’s played for either this year, he qualifies for both until he represents one Nation or the other.

Oledkzi is a certain starter for England.
Myler, Handley, Bentley, Smith and Leeming all have a chance of making the squad.

I think England Knights have a game or 2?
Handley, Smith, Bentley, O’Connor, Gannon, Walters for England Knights (delete any that make the full squad)

Gannon and Handley will not play again this season

Are any Leeds players eligible for Wales, Scotland or Ireland?

Not sure of the exact ancestry but Tez played for Ireland so it's possible that Jarrod could be eligible?

Bateman could be missing most of WC.
Opens door for Bentley?

Liam Tindall is our only player in the England Knights squad.
Personally I can’t see the reason for over looking Smith, Bentley or O’Connor unless they’re in a full International World Cup squad (you could add Gannon to that too but perhaps he’s not been selected due to concussion/injury)

Bateman is in both England squads so he can serve his ban quicker, is that a first? Who knows what criteria the rest of the squads will be picked on.

Bans should be club games not Internationals

Agreed. I’m happy to be corrected, but I can’t think of another sport where a domestic ban would keep you out of international games, or maybe more accurately can’t think of where it has happened recently. Obviously there are probably exceptions for serious offences.

What's happening in the NRL, are they going to have players serving bans in squads for 2nd tier competition, are their governing body overseeing bans with the same conflict of interest as the RLF?

Tawdry as it is this is exactly the kind of thing the Aussies would do (and have done) so, even though it's not a good look, I'm ok with it.

The more important question is whether Bateman should be in the England squad at all but we know how obsessed Wane is with his Wigan boys

Also, RLWC I don't mind you sending me emails but please don't send ones where 'Headingley' is misspelled in the title. We've only been playing RL games there for 127 years.

oh just let him off altogether like they have done with Knowles. Rugby League is totally corrupt and I really couldn't care less if England go out at the first stage, can't support a team with the likes of Tomkins in it anyway

Yep. The NZ game against Leeds counts towards JWH's ban

Slightly different in that bateman has been chosen in a squad for which he'll never play at the expense of another player who could.

Didn't some irish squad players in previous years have dubious irish ancestry,or do l have that wrong?

Bentley has already played a few times for Ireland but as this is RL that may mean nothing. It wouldn't surprise me if the RFL let you play a half for each country in the same game!

I’m going to go with -

England - Hardaker, Handley, Oledzki, Smith, Leeming.
Ireland - O’Connor, Bentley
Cook Islands - Tetevano
PNG - Martin

With all those possibly selected on top of injuries and having a small squad, how are we fulfilling a fixture v NZ?

When the fixture was announced I don't think anybody at the club thought we'd be contesting a Grand Final.

Yeah I just wonder how we're still going to do it.

Same as last time, with the reserves/youth team.