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Brian McDermott may have ended as many England careers as he has launched. The new head coach has picked a pool of 38 players who will train together in the buildup to the World Cup in October. He may have inadvertently handed a few players membership to an exclusive club. The surprising omission of Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella, the continued absence of quadruple-winning winger Tom Davies, along with the injured Wigan winger Liam Marshall and Catalans hooker Kruise Leeming suggests they will be joining the England one-cap club.
McDermott has picked 10 uncapped players, five of whom are middle forwards: Dean Hadley (Hull KR), Sam Walters (Wigan), Caleb Hamlin-Uele (Wakefield), Ben Talty (Brisbane Broncos) and Max King (Canterbury Bulldogs). All were chosen instead of Minchella and Owen Trout.
Trout started in Leigh’s 24-6 win against Warrington on Saturday – which put a big smile on Andy Burnham’s face – and, at 26, he will hope to go to the World Cup in Australia. In the unlikely event that he does not add to the cap he won in the Ashes last year, Trout will join an even more niche group: England players whose single cap came against Australia. The last player to join that group was Shaun Lunt, who was given his debut in Melbourne in 2010 but was never considered good enough to play for England again. Strange.
Minchella’s only appearance for England came in a friendly in Toulouse in June 2024 – a game that Shaun Wane, the coach at the time, missed due to illness. Wane clearly preferred Victor Radley and Morgan Knowles, both of whom are included again. Speaking before the World Cup pool was announced, Minchella said: “I understand where I am in the pecking order. It’s the position that’s pretty stacked and I’m probably not near the top. I’d love to play for England in a World Cup but I’m also not stupid enough to think I’ll be in there.” His pessimism was sage.
McDermott should feel empathy with the players he has left out. He has just one England cap, having played in a friendly against Wales in 2001. He did, however, play four times for Great Britain so his membership of the one-cap club comes with an asterisk.
The one-cap club has plenty of quirky stories. Leeming, who was born in Eswatini and has made two appearances for the Combined Nations All Stars, has played more times against England than for them. Wane gave single caps to a plethora of Super League stalwarts and emerging talents, especially when deprived of his NRL stars for friendlies. While Oliver Wilson, Tom Holroyd and Sam Wood are young enough to get second chances, the dream is fading for players in their 30s such as Niall Evalds, Liam Sutcliffe, Joe Greenwood, Joe Philbin, Joe Batchelor and Jordan Abdull. Philbin, who is moving to London Broncos after 12 years at Warrington, has had a bizarre international career: he has made five appearances for Ireland, two for Great Britain, two for England Knights and one for England.
With the majority of international matches played in tournaments or series, players tend to make more than one appearance even if they are only picked for one squad. The periods before and after World Cups are primetime for one-cap wonders, as the coach rests his stars or experiments with new players.
England games were few and far between during the second half of the last century, when the Great Britain side was prioritised. That’s why Ellery Hanley, Garry Schofield and Shaun Edwards made just a handful of England appearances even though they featured in 118 Great Britain Tests between them.
Fringe players were given chances when established stars were absent, often on Great Britain duty. Chris Charles had his moment against France in 2005 while Great Britain locks Gareth Ellis, Kevin Sinfield and Jon Wilkin were away preparing for the Tri Nations Series. “It was a bit bizarre really,” recalls Charles. “We’d finished the season at Salford and were having time away when I got a phone call saying I was in. I was in my late 20s by then so it was totally out of the blue. Representing my country was something I’d dreamed of since I was a young kid and worked towards all my career.”
Charles did not care that his chance came in a friendly that drew fewer than 3,000 spectators to Headingley. “It didn’t matter who we were playing or the circumstances,” says the former Hull KR forward. “I was in the moment, lining up to sing the national anthem for the first time, the hairs on my neck standing up. I was playing at the next level.” Charles was replaced by Wilkin for England’s next game and that was that. He’s back living in his home city of Hull, where his son Jack is playing for the Black and Whites.
Mark Gleeson, who came off the bench in that match against France, is one of 35 players whose sole England appearance came as a substitute. Gleeson may not be the only bathroom fitter in Wigan with an England cap but he is probably the only one who spent years living in a spiritual retreat.
At least the one-cap wonders made it on to the pitch. When Keir Bell was called up by Scotland for their World Cup qualifier against Wales in 2006, he was left standing on the touchline, waiting to come on for his debut when the final hooter went. He was never capped, but he still has a cool story to tell his colleagues in the Middlesex University admissions office.
Every England player is a one-cap wonder really: the RFL only issues one physical cap, which is presented the evening before a player’s debut. So, Sam Tomkins, who played 36 times for England, and his mate Sam Powell, who played a few minutes, have one cap each.
Charles, now a firefighter, has his on a wall in the family home. “I hadn’t realised you got an actual cap,” he says. “I left the cap and shirt in a drawer for a very long time, but eventually got them framed. Now it’s the only shirt I’ve got up, at the top of the landing. I look at it sometimes when I walk past, but I don’t talk about it. No one mentions it, but they can’t take it away from me.”
One more thing
Having smashed the attendance record, with 82,925 attending across two days, Super League will take Magic Weekend back to Everton next year, but it will be far earlier in the season, across the May Day bank holiday weekend. The league is prepared to compromise on the scheduling to secure a venue that has proved hugely popular with fans. The Hill Dickinson now joins a list of stadiums being considered for major events including, after a dozen years’ absence, the Principality in Cardiff.
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