The five captaincy candidates for England following George Williams’ ban

England are set to host Tonga in a three match test series however they’ll head into the first two of those games without skipper George Williams after the Warrington Wolves star’s shoulder charge against St Helens.

Williams had initially been hit with a one game ban for the Grade B shoulder charge but appealed to the Operational Rules Tribunal who adjudged him guilty.

On top of upholding the guilty charge they also added a further match to the ban on the basis of it being deemed a ‘frivolous’ appeal.

Consequently England are now without their captain for the first two tests against Tonga meaning Shaun Wane will be looking for another man to take the armband.

Williams has only skippered England once, in the mid-season international against France, having taken over from Sam Tomkins who had called time on his international career.

That means that for a second time in a year Wane must make a decision on who is worthy of England’s captaincy armband, a privileged role that has only been undertaken by 34 men previously.

One man that Wane may consider would be the only man in the current squad that has previously skippered his country, that being Wests Tigers’ John Bateman. The former Wigan and Bradford man is one of England’s star players and is currently plying his trade in the NRL for Wests, whom he has captained in his debut season.

Bateman has previously played under Wane at Wigan before securing his NRL move to Canberra and is the one man who has previously captained England, doing so against France in 2021, meaning he could reprise the role and could well be the betting favourite to do so.

Another man who is likely high up on the candidate list would be Liam Farrell, the current Wigan skipper after taking over from Tommy Leuluai ahead of the 2023 season. Farrell is another that has formerly played for both club and country under Wane and again brings bucket loads of experience.

He has just donned the Cherry and White for the 350th time, doing so over 300 times in Super League as well making him one of the older heads in a young England side. He’s also just earned another Super League Dream Team selection and is headed for the Grand Final, meaning he would bring form and a winning mentality to the role.

The last of the current Super League captains on the shortlist would be Kallum Watkins, the former Leeds Rhinos man took up the vacant captaincy role for Salford Red Devils heading into the 2023 season, a season in which he too earned himself a Dream Team selection as well.

Watkins has been in and around the England set-up for a long time and has experience at both centre and second-row meaning he’s a versatile option and certainly one that Wane could consider. Moreover aged 32 he’s playing some of the best rugby of his career in his reformed position of second-row.

The aforementioned candidates have all coincidentally been second-rowers but more obviously have had a wealth of experience, all aged 30 or older and each well into double digits for their England caps. One man who would buck that trend is Jack Welsby, St Helens star full-back who we’ve also seen Wane play in the halves previously.

One of the key reasons why Shaun Wane went for George Williams initially was because of his youth and the fact he’s likely a mainstay in the team for the next decade. Jack Welsby fits both those boxes too and the experience of skippering his country could be one that takes him to next levels, as it did former England skipper and full-back Sam Tomkins.

Perhaps a wildcard on the shortlist but one man who certainly deserves the plaudits and at least a sideways glance from Shaun Wane would be Jonny Lomax. He could potentially be a straight swap for Williams in the halves and he more than fits the criteria of leader given that he was one of James Roby’s trusted allies, often deputising as Saints skipper when Roby wasn’t playing.

The appeal for Lomax comes primarily down to his position as well given that he can orchestrate from the halves alongside the younger Harry Smith and could cut the same talismanic figure that Williams did back in April when the Warrington man scored a hattrick on his captaincy debut.

Wane will have plenty of options to consider before that October 22nd clash with Tonga although it is just ten days away and one of the key candidates, Liam Farrell, has a Grand Final to play before then which is something that could well impact Wane’s decision.