
Wakefield Trinity full-back Max Jowitt has thrown his hat into the ring as an Ashes contender.
Incumbent England number one Jack Welsby is two weeks into what is expected to be a four-month layoff with a knee injury suffered playing for his club St Helens.
That leaves him facing a race against time to be fit for the opening Test against Australia at Wembley on Saturday, October 25.
England coach Shaun Wane has only a limited pool of potential full-backs to select from, but Jowitt, 28, is one of Super League’s form players in that position and Welsby’s injury could open the door for the record-breaking Wakefield Trinity man to earn a first call-up to the full international side.
“It is 100 per cent in my mind,” Jowitt said of that possibility. “Even before the news about Jack Welsby, it was one of the targets I’ve set myself.
“You want to have your name thrown around England; if you’re not reaching for that, there’s no point really playing – you want to be playing at the top, top level.
“To hear my name mentioned is a bit surreal, to be honest, but I need to keep my head down, focus on what I am doing at Wakefield at the minute, just try to perform week in and week out and stay consistent. Then hopefully that can come later on.”
Wakefield Trinity man would grab England chance ‘with both hands’
Jowitt, who can also play in the halves, made his Trinity debut in 2014 and was Championship player of the year during Wakefield’s promotion-winning campaign last season.
He scored 26 tries and 198 goals as Trinity won the 1895 Cup, Championship leaders’ shield and Grand Final, becoming the first British player to total 500 points in a single campaign. Despite playing outside the top-flight last term, he reckons he is ready to step up to the highest level.
“I’d like to think I have got enough experience in Super League and I’d never turn down an opportunity like that,” he added. “If that opportunity came knocking, I’d grab it with both hands.”
Jowitt has a chance to showcase his England credentials tomorrow (Friday) when Trinity square up to champions Wigan Warriors at DIY Kitchens Stadium, Belle Vue.
Looking ahead to that game, Jowitt said: “They are a big pack, they come at you fast and hard.
“On the back of that, they’ve got plenty of speed on the edges, which is difficult to deal with, but I feel like if we go into the game with the right mindset and try to nullify their threats, we have got a really good chance of beating them.
“The team we’ve got now, I think people might be thinking ‘I am not sure who to pick to win this game’. A couple of years ago it would have been a definite Wigan win, so we want to make it as uncomfortable as possible for them.
“We are coming off the back of a couple of close losses and we need to be turning them into wins if we want to be in the top-six at the end of the year.”
🙅🏻♂️ 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙐𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙!
Daryl Powell has named the same 21-man squad as we prepare for the challenge of the Super League Champions, Wigan Warriors!!
🎟️ https://t.co/hdJjJpbNDU#UpTheTrin pic.twitter.com/ZxUg5uFgLq
— Wakefield Trinity (@WTrinityRL) June 18, 2025
