This is an important point for me – people select two centres in their teams without considering whether they have played the entire season as left or right centre. The attacking and defensive reading of the play require a degree of time to adjust

For me, right centre is where we have the most quality – any one of Bridge, Shenton, Watkins, Laurence or J Tomkins could do a job... I would go for Watkins as he is the one for the future and having a good season

Left centre is more of a problem with Welham, Yeaman and Atkins the main candidates (although Bridge may have played some left centre)

If we were looking to the future, I would go with Watkins and Welham and if we wanted solidity and experience then Shenton and Bridge/Yeaman. I would go with the former

Tomkins
McGillvary
Watkins
Welham
Briscoe

I'm always surprised by the lack of recognition Ryan Hall gets when people start discussing potential England wingers, with names like Foster, Atkins, McGillivray etc being thrown around ahead of him.

Yes there can be issues with his front-on defence at times, but he's got probably the best scoring record at club level of any current England qualified winger, and has continued to score tries for fun this year with Carl Ablett as his centre.

Add to that his strength of carry when coming in to take work off the forwards and I'd have him in my England side every time.

Yes obviously Watkins would play in the right centre spot, just recommending him as a candidate for the centre role. He hasn't played the full season to show his talents but you can tell he is going to be a superstar, great pace of the mark and speed, i hope he proves to be one of England's biggest talents. BJB also looks a great talent in attack but at the moment he is questionable under the cross field kick. As a poster said, these two players have got a chance to show there quality at Wembley and prove they deserve a spot.

For me right centre is a crucial position as typically this is where the more skillfull handling type centre would play for example Gleeson, Bridge, Gasnier, Lyon or Gidley who are able to use footwork to get on the outside of a defender and are able to draw a winger in before flipping an "out the back" pass to their winger. As most players tend to be right handed, this is clearly easier for a right centre to do (left hand fend, right hand pass) which is probably why this occurs. Left centres tend to be a bit more of a power/athlete type player such as Inglis, Yeaman, Atkins, Hodges. This isn't to say that left centres can't be good right centres and vice versa.

With this in mind Michael Shenton has always struck me as a bit of a waste at right centre, as although he's solid and a decent athlete, he doesn't possess exceptional footwork or handling to take advantage of the right centre position in the way mentioned above, which is why ideally I'd want someone else in this position (Bridge or Watkins for example).

I like Hall and I would certainly have him as one of the squad wingers. I do think that he doesn’t take as much advantage of his size as you would want in both attack and defence but he is a good winger and certainly England quality (especially when you consider some of the recent English wingers)

But I do believe that in Briscoe and McGillvary we have two very athletic wingers who are good finishers and critically are strong when bringing their ball away from their own line – I would be very disappointed if we didn’t use them for England as they have the potential to be the best wing pairing we have had in a long time

Don't think he's up to it. Seems to have all the attributes but hasn't theguile for centre and there are better specialist wingers.

Atkins reminds me of the ‘British’ version of Jamal Idris, fantastic power but, he hasn’t got the football brain of a centre, but that said, he’s improved since he was at Wakey.

Maybe if moved into the pack, he’d go well in the 2nd row.

1 - Tomkins
2 - McGilvray
3 - Watkins
4 - Lawrence
5 - Briscoe

Viva la future.

I no I am being a bit pessimistic but the quality of three quarters in the British game is abysmal at the moment.

What I would give for the likes of Newlove,Connolly,Schofield and Lydon now.

I don't think he's improved it's just that he is playing with better players around him.

Whilst completely ignoring any defensive issues


Isn't it nice to have some actually fast threequarters to pick from for a change
Jones-Bishop
Watkins
Hall
Briscoe
Charnley
McGilivray
Lawrence
Welham (although he did nearly get caught by Nick Scruton)

are all pretty quick and athletic for a change instead of failed second rowers at centre and wing.

Don't know about how he compares to when at Wakefield, but he's improved a lot during his time at Warrington and is currently playing better than in his first season at Warrington last year.

That’s an interesting list and I remember watching them all play regularly

I would put Newlove into my all time GB 13 – an absolutely fantastic player. Schofield similarly was a great player and would complement any current team

What I am not sure about is Lydon and Connoly – both were athletic players but did they have the skills and talent to be something special. It can never be proven but I think both benefited from being essentially full time in a part time league. Put Shenton (fast with sound skills) in the Wigan team of the late 80’s early 90’s and would we be saying the same thing about him?

Gary Connolly was no legendary player I don't think. I remember the arguments about him having no attack and only being able to defend when he was selected for internationals.

Connolly only scored 1 try in 30 odd games for GB didn't he? Great defender but zero attacking ability at the highest level. I can't say I remember being that good for GB really. Always seemed like he couldn't be d.

Exactly what the England team needs this you are right.

I would rather show off the athletes we have. Show how tough this game really is.

Jamie Foster is not even the best young English winger at St Helens IMO.

The likes of Shenton and Atkins are IMO not in the same league as Connolly and Lydon.

I agree though about Newlove,probably GB/England's best centre over the last 20/30 years.

Sorry I forgot to say that Shenton and Atkins are probably in the same mould as the likes of Darren Wright and Andy Currier,really good club players but not good enough at International level IMO.

I watched Joe Lydon play a lot of rugby and I can't think of a single attribute that Shenton doesn't have. If Lydon was playing today I genuinely think he would be an average player. Connolly was physically stronger but again not a stand out player for me and would be good to average in today’s Super League

Lydon was bloody quick when he was young (Wembley 84 springs to mind). IMO Schofield in his late teens/early twenties was better than Newlove in the centres. Have a look at the tries he scored for GB in 1984 if you want proof - creating and supporting work of the highest order (two of his tries that series would be amongst the best you'll ever see). People remember him more as a stand off nowadays but when he had pace he was a genuine world class centre.

Its a shame Jack Reed seems likely to commit to Queensland (and therefore Australia). Long-term one of our younger players may end up being better (Reed looks like the sort of player who'll end up in the forwards as well), but right now he's a solid player and a far better all-round centre than anyone mentioned on this thread.

I hope our kids kick on. Atkins to me seems like a classic SL player - reached a level and makes hay in SL, but with obvious flaws in his game that ought to be ironed out but won't be because there's no pressure on him to get any better. Sadly I suspect most of the prospects being touted on here will end up the same.

I genuinley laughed at this post

We should make Nick Fozzard the face of RL

Atkins still needs improvement, no doubt, but he is now coming under increasing pressure at Wire if he wants to stay at centre. Kallum Watkins looks promising but was murdered by Rhys Evans when they faced up at the HJ. Evans too inexperienced right now ( plus he's injured ) but looks a long-term bet for England centre. Atkins is still a better attacking option than Shenton who is excellent defensively but contributes little in attack.

I think im right in saying that Evans has declared for Wales

Latest from Rhys was that he had declared for England (played England Under 18s last year). He has lived in England since moving aged 14 and learnt most of his rugby league at school in Warrington and with the Burtonwood club (in addition to the Warrington Wolves junior teams) but I think the main reason for declaring for England was the greater opportunities to play at the highest level.