There is perhaps no greater achievement than captaining your country. Following in the footsteps of Jamie Peacock, Kevin Sinfield and Ellery Hanley would no doubt be the pinnacle of any young starlet’s career.
Right now Super League is brimming with future stars and talented youngsters who will hopefully lead us to international success in the years to come.
With that in mind, here’s five Super League youngsters we think could captain England one day.
Jack Welsby
Few 20 year olds have the experience Welsby does. Not only does he know what it feels like to play in a Grand Final against a major rival, he also knows what it’s like to score the winning try in a title decider as he held his nerve in one of the tightest and most dramatic Grand Finals ever to deliver the crown to the St Helens faithful. He’s started this season brilliantly filling in at fullback for the injured Lachlan Coote. In the years to come I think that’s where he’ll settle. Fullback is one of the best positions to have your captain due to the fact they see everything and touch the ball a hell of a lot.
Jake Trueman
Like fullback, stand-off is a good place to name a captain due to the way they organise and control a game often playing the full 80 minutes. Trueman may be young but it feels like he’s been around forever. After bursting onto the scene with a hat-trick against Wigan, he was crowned Young Player of the Year in 2018 and has simply gotten better and better. He was unlucky to be left out of Shaun Wane’s most recent England squad. For me he’s the future England stand-off and his maturity at such a young age suggests he’ll be a great skipper.
Harry Newman
As will Harry Newman. The reigning Young Player of the Year progressed leaps and bounds last year becoming the complete centre. He showed real maturity in improving his defence and it is that attention to detail, eagerness to improve and willingness to understand previous mistakes that makes him a future skipper. He never shies away from the hard stuff and puts in a 100% effort meaning he could lead by example due to his work rate but also his ability to come up with a game-changing play.
Jake Wardle
Wardle is a similar case study to Newman. The pair are both brilliant centres and will one day likely line-up together for England. You might think centre isn’t the best place to have a skipper but the quality of the duo and the way they graft means they’d make fantastic captains. The mercurial quality Wardle offers from out wide would no doubt inspire his teammates.
Harry Smith
The odds were stacked against young Smith this year with the arrival of Jai Field at Wigan. However, he’s hung in there and been given his chance in the opening games and has simply been sublime. Few other youngsters have the rugby smarts and organisation skills Smith offers. These are attributes that make a good halfback but also a superb skipper capable of leading a team to victory. He clearly has mental toughness as well to bide his time waiting for his first team chances. One day he could very well lead England to glory.
