Jon Wilkin names five unlucky England omissions as Hull KR ‘harshly dealt with’

Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has named five players he believes are unfortunate to miss out on England selection – including three from Hull KR who would be ‘disgruntled’ at their omission.

Shaun Wane’s latest 32-man performance squad features six uncapped players, but it does not include a number of Super League’s form players in 2025.

And Wilkin, speaking on Sky Sports’ The Verdict on Wednesday, name-checked five of those who he felt were perhaps unfortunate – including three from the Super League leaders.

Rovers have the likes of Elliot Minchella and Mikey Lewis already in the squad, but Wilkin insisted there were more Robins who could have been realistically considered for a place.

“I think if you look at Hull KR, they’ve been so dominant this year, to have such limited representation in the squad I think is unfortunate,” he said.

“I think, if you look at Dean Hadley, Joe Burgess, Tom Davies, to not even get a look in, I think they’d feel a little bit disgruntled.”

Wilkin did not stop there. He admitted the decision to overlook Jake Connor at this moment in time is the ‘biggest story’ surrounding the squad, while also admitting another of his Leeds team-mates was unfortunate to miss out too.

Wilkin said: “The biggest story is the omissions from Leeds. Jake Connor is leading the Man of Steel leaderboard with some of his performances at half-back – and I suppose Kallum Watkins too.

“He’s one of the standout mid-season buys in recent years has come from a troubled Salford team to add all of his steel and experience and effort into Leeds.

“Kallum Watkins and Brad Arthur are a match made in heaven because the coach respects what Kallum does and Kallum does it week in, week out.

“I think the Leeds guys might feel unlucky, but Hull KR are probably harshly dealt with.”