Warrington star George Williams says it would be "more than an honour" to be England's next captain.
With Sam Tomkins retiring at the end of this season, national boss Shaun Wane is on the lookout for a new skipper. And after an injury-wrecked start to the campaign, the Catalans full-back wasn’t included in his 40-man squad preparing for France on Saturday week. Stand-off Williams, 29, filled in for Tomkins in the friendly against Fiji last autumn and in the World Cup group game against Greece.
He would be the obvious choice - and for the 2025 World Cup - but Wigan captain Liam Farrell and St Helens’ Jonny Lomax could also be contenders. Asked if he’d like the job, Williams admitted: “It'd be more than an honour. I always say playing for England's the pinnacle but that (captaining) would be the top, top of anything you could do in the sport. I have done it twice before and I'll put my hand up. But I've obviously got to play well and when we go to meetings speak like I normally do to show I'm a leader. Hopefully it comes my way but there's some good candidates.”
Williams has carried his stunning World Cup form into Super League this term and will look to continue that when the early season leaders visit champions St Helens on Thursday. Warrington fired off eight successive wins before suffering a first defeat, falling 13-6 against his former club Wigan at a rain-lashed Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday. Williams, who last week ended speculation of another NRL move by signing a long-term deal until the end of 2026, had few complaints.
He said: “They were the better team all game. They held us in our own half really well, kicked well and they are always a good defensive side. With the conditions, they played a bit better than us. But it's a game of inches. It was a close one. No one scored in that second half apart from a penalty and drop goal. That sums up how close it was but credit to Wigan. Good on them. We'll get back to the drawing board.”
And the early Steve Prescott Man of Steel frontrunner is confident his side can quickly get back to winning ways. He said: "We do have things to work on. We've been getting our tyres pumped up a little bit and maybe that was a little bit of a reality check. But we are a way more resilient team than we were last year. We won a tough game in Catalans, had Wigan and now it’s going to be Saints so it's nice to see where we're at.
"We've loads of improvement in us. It’s about being consistent. And if someone had said we'd be eight from nine at the start of the year we'd have taken their hand off - and a leg!”
