McNamara's England staff taking shape

Jeremy Hickmans, 36, who played for Hull KR and Keighley before emigrating seven years ago, is performance director at St George Illawarra and becomes the RFL's physical performance analyst.

He will work with England on a consultancy basis, linking up with McNamara early next month to help with preparations for the international against France at Leigh on Saturday, June 12, and will also be on board for the Four Nations series starting in October.

McNamara's first appointment was that of his former Hull and Bradford boss Brian Smith, the current Sydney Roosters coach, as performance adviser.

"Jeremy is regarded as the leader in his field in the NRL," said McNamara.

"Just as Brian Smith is keeping us up-to-date on all technical and tactical developments in the NRL, Jeremy will be doing the same on the physical performance aspects."

Hickmans said: "I'm a proud Brit and there's nothing I would love more than to help play a part in us beating France and, later this year, the Aussies and Kiwis.

"We will use all the latest development in sports science technology to put in place programmes that will keep the England player at the peak of their performance levels, during their time in camp and on matchday."