Almost immediately after Wigan Warriors were crowned Super League Champions, the focus shifted onto England with Wigan, Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves players named in Shaun Wane’s squad.
Now some important details about the series has been confirmed. This includes the fact that Golden Point will not be utilised meaning games can end in draws.
Furthermore, there will be a minor change to the Match Review Panel. This is because a Tongan representative will be added to the panel to make it fair.
The panel has had a good year with many happy that the number of bans was reduced this year.
Ahead of the series, Shaun Wane spoke about his squad who he will be hoping can avoid joining George Williams in being suspended:
“Yeah, they’re very, very talented and playing an unbelievably good competition which I watch a lot and great athletes, it’s going to be a massive challenge for us and I admire a lot of their players and I’m really impressed with the type of players they are so and that’s going to make it more exciting for some of my young players as well.”
Asked about acknowledging the size of the task ahead, he said:
“We found that in the World Cup last year against Samoa, it’s a massive test and we fell short last year. We learned a lot of lessons and we’re up against another really talented team of unbelievable athletes so it’s game on.”
In terms of improving on last year, Wane added: “We’ll found out on Sunday, I’m very very happy with the squad I’ve got, I’m really excited about the young players what I’ve picked seeing how they go and see how they perform in a really really pressured environment against players what are 10 and 20 kilos heavier than them, so I’m gonna find out a lot about my players in the next few weeks.”
Opposite number Kristian Woolf meanwhile had his say on the squads including the St Helens absentees:
“As I said before, I know how good some of those players are. It’s not just Johnny, Jack Welsby is an outstanding young player and I know what Al Walmsley can do and Tommy Makinson, Morgan Knowles, there’s some exceptional players there and there’s some at the likes of Wigan and right across the competition.
“So, as I said before, I’m really happy with the squad that we’ve got. I think it’s a really exciting squad and a really well-balanced squad as well; and when I’ve seen the squad that England named this morning and the strength of that and the strength of the depth in that squad, as I said before, it just got a little bit more exciting. I knew it would be exciting. We knew it would be a really strong squad but it’s great to see it on paper and great to see some of those names in it.
“Obviously, there’s my own involvement with Tonga and being in St Helens and having guys like Will Hopoate, Konrad Hurrell, Ignatius Paasi, there’s a fairly strong link there and has been for a few years now.
“When the tsunami came along, we obviously put our hands up and wanted to be a part of trying to put some smile back on people’s faces back in Tonga and I was really proud of the efforts there and not just the efforts of the club but the efforts of the whole town. It was outstanding how many people came in to want to donate and want to be a part of that and want to get behind that, so it just sort of showed that connection and really strengthened that connection.”
