Is he? I am sure I read some where it's a certain amount of time.

And he is good enough

didn't calderwood change from jock to pom a couple of weeks before the world cup finals

Congrats to Ryan Atkins for being announced in the elite squad!

Very much deserved i think, some people give him some stick on here but i think he proved on Saturday what he's capable of!

At 23, he's only gonna get better from here and hopefully it will be at Wakefield!

Congrats Ryan www.englandrl.com/

Congrats Ryan www.englandrl.com/

Looks like we'll be without Ryan against Hull then!

congrats to Ryan ..... wonder if he will be a rhino next year

Or a.........

Wildcat?

That's not the team. There's another 13 players to be added yet.

Yeah but there is a good chance he will play along with Shenton

Possibly. Gleeson may get the other centre position, for a bit of experience.

I hope not!

I think Shenton and Atkins could be a cracking partnership for England!

I think you're right.

I see Maurie Fa'asavalu in is the squad as well.

He wants to experiment a bit. They both deserve a shot at it

What a joke it is

f**king joke that is. Fair enough the Aussie's and Kiwi's do it (a lot), but it doesn't mean we have to as well. If anything, prop is one of our stronger positions.

Congrats to ryan atkins. Would love to see him in an england shirt that weekend.

I think shenton and atkins would be a good centre combination.

Could always do what the Aussies do and put centres on the wings.

i'd put James Graham on the wing if the best we can do is Calderwood.

If not picked for the centre position, i do actually think that Ryan would make a decent winger.

Hope atkins england selection rubs off for us.
He's gonna have to work a damned side harder for England to get in the squad than he's currently doing for us, but if he progresses as a result of it who cares!!!

I've been a constructive critic of Ryans in the past but this year MM weekend apart he has been one of the standout performers for our team. He's coming in looking for more work and he seems to have sured his defense up. Also he does tend to try and use his passing game a bit more, if anything too much, trying to force the pass when its not on.He is our main strike player and for me doesn't get enough quality ball to show what he can do. We should be looking at using him much more than we do like the wat Saints do with Gidley and Leeds do with Senior. This squad is a group of players who Smith wants to look at nurture and work closely with, its not guarenteed that any of them will play in the game with France (but obviously a lot will). Hopefully Shenton and Atkins will form a formidable partnership for years to come and it would be great if us and Cas could keep hold of them both for those years, even better if we signed Shenton too

I don`t see the point of Hull`s Tom Briscoe being selected, he`s out for at least 3 more months with a broken leg. Shaun Briscoe would be a better call, probably the form fullback at the mo, although I would hope that Smith is looking at Matt Blaymire as well we`re not blessed with many quality English fullbacks currently.

Delighted to see Ryan included though, well deserved on form this year.

Agreed. You would have thought Peter Fox or Shaun Ainscough would have been a better bet.