England left in turmoil as Hock is sent packing

HUDDERSFIELD Giants’ Brett Ferres was the chief beneficiary last night after Gareth Hock was discarded from England’s World Cup squad in disgrace.
Gareth Hock.Gareth Hock.
Gareth Hock.

National coach Steve McNamara’s plans had already been dented by Saturday’s shock friendly loss against Italy and they were plunged into further disarray following the latest actions of the controversial Salford City Reds second-row.

Hock, who has already served a two-year ban for taking cocaine, will almost certainly never play for his country again after another apparent indiscretion.

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With their World Cup opener against Australia in Cardiff looming this Saturday, the volatile 30-year-old was sent home from England’s training base at Loughborough University after what officials described last night as “serious breaches” of team discipline.

Hock’s place in the 24-man squad is taken by Ferres, the highly-rated 27-year-old who helped Huddersfield to the League Leaders’ Shield this season and travelled to England’s recent training camp in South Africa as a reserve.

Most people thought he was taken there because of the continued concerns over the fitness of Wigan Warriors captain Sean O’Loughlin, the influential loose forward whose only two games in the last three months have been his club’s Challenge Cup and Grand Final victories.

However, it is the frustrating Hock’s latest blunder that has gifted Ferres an opportunity to impress.

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Many thought the ex-Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats forward was unlucky not to be selected in the initial squad after been named in the Super League Dream Team and having made his England debut against the Exiles in June.

A rangy runner with a great offload, Ferres has come of age since moving from hometown Castleford last summer and proved the scourge of numerous Super League defences.

It is thought McNamara opted for Hock due to his greater experience – he played in the last Great Britain side to defeat Australia back in Sydney in 2006 – and a combative style that had attracted NRL side Parramatta Eels to sign him for 2014.

However, after a much-publicised fall-out with his hometown club Wigan which led to spending this season on loan at lowly Widnes, Hock reneged on the deal to move to Australia citing personal reasons given his girlfriend became pregnant with their first child.

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Instead, he signed a lucrative four-year contract with big-spending Salford last month, but his international career is now in tatters.

The Rugby Football League banned Hock for two years after he tested positive for Benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, following Wigan’s home match against Salford in June 2009.

Initially, he returned impressively but, with Widnes this term, his blistering form has only been sporadic and many critics doubted whether he warranted a place for the World Cup especially given his capacity to explode for the wrong reasons.

He was banned for one game in March for using abusive language towards a match official and received a four-match ban in May for making deliberate contact with referee George Stokes in his side’s 36-0 win over Workington.

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He also received a five-match ban for committing a similar 
offence while playing for Wigan in 2008.

Traditionally, McNamara has stayed clear of such awkward characters in his teams as he tries to create a squad harmony that was blatantly lacking at the last World Cup under Tony Smith in 2008.

He gambled on Hock because of his innate ability to rattle opponents, but this has backfired.

However, it is possibly better now rather than later and, though he has lost three senior second-rows in the shape of Leeds Rhinos’ injured Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Hull FC captain Gareth Ellis, who announced his international retirement a few weeks ago, they are still well served in that department.

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Warrington Wolves’ Ben Westwood will return from suspension to face Australia at the Millennium Stadium and is expected to line up alongside South Sydney star Sam Burgess unless O’Loughlin is not passed fit and he will then move to the back of the scrum.

But McNamara also has Wigan’s Liam Farrell to call on and Leeds’s reliable Carl Ablett plus Ferres who, having played under the England coach as a youngster at Bradford Bulls, could yet provide his own X-factor.

A statement said: “As a result of serious breaches of team discipline that have fallen below the strict code of conduct as agreed by team management, Gareth Hock has been withdrawn from the England Rugby League World Cup squad with immediate effect.”

England have declined to elaborate on the circumstances behind Hock’s expulsion and say there will be no further comment on the matter. He won the last of his eight caps against France in the final of the 2012 autumn international series, but was in the England team that lost 15-14 to Italy, proving one of the better performers in a dire display. Ferres, meanwhile, played for England Knights in the curtain-raiser at Salford that day, scoring a try in their impressive 52-16 rout of Samoa.

He departed that night fully expecting to be told to go and enjoy his holidays, but instead, after Hock’s latest fall from grace, will get a belated opportunity to take on the world.