“Every one” of Leeds Rhinos’ England-qualified players is putting a hand up for World Cup selection, their club boss Brad Arthur believes.
Rhinos had three players – Mikolaj Oledzki, Kallum Watkins and Harry Newman – on Ashes duty last year and Ash Handley, Tom Holroyd and James McDonnell were part of the train-on squad.
Last night’s 46-4 home hammering of Catalans Dragons maintained Leeds’ place at the top of Betfred Super League with a third of the season completed.
And speaking after the game, Arthur said a host of his players are showing the sort of form which could earn them a place at the upcoming tournament in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
Arthur was an unsuccessful applicant for the England coaching job which has gone to former Rhinos boss Brian McDermott, now an assistant at NRL outfit Gold Coast Titans.
McDermott has already confirmed Leeds scrum-half Jake Connor, who was snubbed by then-boss Shaun Wane last year despite being named Man of Steel, is in his plans.
Asked which players he would recommend to McDermott, Arthur said: “Every one of our guys at the moment who are English. They are all doing a good job in their positions.
“I think all our boys have put their hand up. It is only round nine so we have got to continue to do that every week.
“You find with these sorts of things, team selection, they come from the teams at the top and doing well.
“The more they keep doing their job and the better the team keeps performing each week, they will get their opportunities at the back end of the year.”
Leeds Rhinos stay top of Super League after thumping Catalans Dragons
Reflecting on the eight-try win against Catalans, Arthur felt it was a “pretty professional” performance.
He said: “I liked the way we built the game, the way we went about it was pretty professional.
“We were very good physically and we were right on top of our effort areas.
“We didn’t chase the scoreboard; we got a lot of work into them and we were happy to come in at half-time 16-0.
“We probably could have been a bit more in front, but I liked the fact no one was concerned about that.
“We had dominated possession and field position and we knew at some stage we’d get the rewards and we did. Hopefully they get a bit of belief out of playing like that.”
