Take a look at the forwards selected by Wayne Bennett for the upcoming four nations tournament.
Sam Burgess will captain the side and the 27-year-old is coming off the back of 11 Man of the Match awards in 23 NRL games and will be one of the key players this Autumn.
Backing up Slammin’ Sam in the props are twins George and Tom Burgess, with all three representing Australian side South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Both the twins have power and pace and will be looking to force their way into Wayne Bennett’s starting XIII over the course of the Four Nations.
The Burgess brothers were accompanied on the plane from Australia by Canterbury Bulldogs’ James Graham and St George Illawarra Dragons’ Mike Cooper.
31-year old Graham has been one of the first names on the team sheet following his debut in 2008 and comes off the back of an impressive season that saw him carry the ball 4,177 metres.
Cooper, who will re-join Warrington Wolves in 2017, featured 22 times for the Dragons in the past season and racked up an average carry of 117.8m per game.
Moving into the Super League props and Cooper’s new team mate Chris Hill ranked number one in metres made with 3,983m in 2016.
The 28-year old carried the ball 486 times as well, the third highest in the league as Warrington scooped up the League Leaders shield.
Scott Taylor heads into the Four Nations in fine form after maintaining an average gain of 8.25m as well as seeing his Hull FC side claim the Challenge Cup in 2016.
Heading into the hookers and two of the finest around will be available for England.
Daryl Clark’s 195 runs from dummy half ranks him in third place in that category in Super League as he starred for Warrington on their way to the Grand Final.
Competing for a place in the team with Clark will be Josh Hodgson, who currently plies his trade in the NRL for the Canberra Raiders.
His 16 try assists and eight Man of the Match awards saw him named in the interchanges of the NRL.com Team of the Year and he’ll be looking to continue that fine form on the international stage.
As well as others being able to switch to the position, Wayne Bennett will have plenty of options of natural second rows including a Wigan Warriors duo.
John Bateman can play at centre but can switch to second row and put in a shift, as shown in his performances for the Grand Final winners this season which included 61 offloads and 109 tackle busts.
The other is Liam Farrell who, despite his injuries this season, has made good metres and is a constant threat to the line. Coming off the back of a solid Super8s campaign, the 26-year old will be looking to add to his trophy cabinet this season.
Another player capable of playing in the back row is Elliot Whitehead, who has played for England four times previously.
The Bradford-born player heads into the Four Nations after a good season at Canberra Raiders, which saw him miss just two minutes of action in the 27 he played as they reached the NRL Preliminary finals.
Finally, Stevie Ward was a late call-up to the squad when he replaced the injured Brett Ferres and he’ll be looking to make his international debut during the Four Nations.
The 22-year old missed the first seven months of the season but returned for the last four matches of the Super 8s and will be looking to make up for lost time over the next four weeks.
