Warrington duo, Ben Westwood and Ryan Atkins have pulled out of Steve McNamara's England squad, alongside South Sydney forward, Sam Burgess. McNamara has called up Ben Harrison and Stefan Ratchford of the Wolves, and Wigan's Liam Farrell. READ MORE ON THIS STORY....

Warrington duo, Ben Westwood and Ryan Atkins have pulled out of Steve McNamara's England squad, alongside South Sydney forward, Sam Burgess. McNamara has called up Ben Harrison and Stefan Ratchford of the Wolves, and Wigan's Liam Farrell. READ MORE ON THIS STORY....

Still begs the question of what on earth does Goulding have to do to make the squad if they pick Ratchford to replace Atkins in front of him.

They're both head and shoulders ahead of him in attack. IMO.

At the very top level (i.e. against Aus and NZ) they would both get completely walked over. And they are 3rd and (probably) 4th choice right centres. Not good.

Bet the above players wouldnt be pulling out if this was a Tri series against Australia/NZ. I dread this years internationals, England will breeze it and will be over hyped in the media ahead of the World Cup. Then comes the embarrassment.

Centre is Ratchford's 3rd best position and he doesn't always look comfortable in that position. Never an international centre IMO. Goulding should be in over Cudjoe and Ablett IMO, he's formed an excellent partnership with Charnley, why not use it for England!? Watkins, Atkins and Reed are all above him but with 2 of those out surely he should have been in at least the 24 man sqaud!?

For as good as Sam Burgess is, he is offered injured... (injury prone?)

Ratchford is there to cover Tomkins, when he pulls out.

I'm really looking forward to watching Watkins in action and hope he impresses because he's the best hope we have for that centre berth. I'm guessing it's going to be the Leeds pair of Watkins and Ablett at centre and I have no problems with that. I thought Goulding was unlucky to miss out in mid season but like much of our side he ran out of steam towards the back end of the year whereas Watkins and Ablett hit top gear.

I'd try a couple of things in this series of I were McNamara. We're going to win the thing with ease so we may as well use it as an excerise to look at some options. I'd try Hardaker at fullback for starters and put Tomkins alongside Sinfield in the halfbacks. We need to have a look at a back up option at fullback for Tomkins and a halfback pairing of Sinfield and Sam could really give us a nice balance going in to the world cup if needs be. We know what Sinfield does and doesn't do well and vice versa with Tomkins and as a pair I believe they bring a good package to the table.