Mike McMeeken quick to appreciate influence of Castleford Tigers' coach Daryl Powell

The talented second-row was arguably the surprise pick in Wayne Bennett’s 31-man elite performance squad which met yesterday for the first of six schedule training sessions at Hopwood Hall College in Rochdale.

They practiced under England assistants Paul Anderson and Paul Sculthorpe as the national side started preparations for the mid-season Test with Samoa and World Cup at the end of the year.

However, it is not long ago that 22-year-old McMeeken – who originally hails from Basingstoke – was on a dual-registration with part-timers London Skolars.

He eventually caught the eye with London Broncos but it was since he moved to Castleford –who also have Michael Shenton, Zak Hardaker and Luke Gale included with England – ahead of the 2015 campaign that the ball-handling back-row really came to prominence.

Asked how Powell has aided his development, the six foot five inch forward said: “Massively. I’d say I was half the player I am now when I first signed for Cas’.

“They have helped me hugely in my career and I look forward to improving it even more with them in the coming years.

“It’s great having four Cas’ players here, too; it’s massive recognition for the club and hopefully we’ll get a few more in over the next few seasons.

“It was a huge honour to be selected for it and it was a good and enjoyable first session today.

“It’s been good to get a bit of familiarity on the field with the play, a bit of structure going, while everybody is seeing each other’s faces and getting their combinations right.”

Uncapped McMeeken admitted his elevation has come earlier than expected.

However, he knows he has fierce competition given England have Wigan duo John Bateman and Liam Farrell, Leeds Rhinos pair Brett Ferres and Stevie Ward, Warrington’s Ben Currie plus NRL-based Sam Burgess and Elliott Whitehead all in the mix.

Furthermore, untried Joe Greenwood hopes to get the nod, too, having left St Helens at the weekend to take up a three-year deal with Gold Coast Titans in the NRL.

“I was delighted when I got the call-up,” said McMeeken.

“I didn’t anticipate it happening for a few years.

“I’ve obviously got a lot more to continue working on and I plan on doing that this year.

“No position in the England squad is going to be easy to get into but back row is hard in particular.

“I’ve got six, seven eight top-quality back rowers in front of me at the moment.

“But it’s healthy competition; it’s nearly week in week out that you play against an England back-row in Super League.

“You aim to be better than them at each match when you go up against each other.

“That’s how you get consistency.”

On that note, when Castleford host Leeds on Thursday night, McMeeken could face Ward, the 23-year-old who was an unused member of Bennett’s Four Nations squad last autumn,

Tigers, who have won their opening two games, are being heavily tipped to challenge for Super League this term and win their first-ever championship.

They were outstanding when prospering at Warrington last Friday, stunning opponents who beat Brisbane Broncos in the World Club Series just the week before.

“Potentially I think we have the ability to win some silverware this year,” said McMeeken.

“It’s down to us to keep that consistency week in, week out, making sure we improve all the time.

“At the moment we’re in good form.

“It’s only week three and we need to take it a game at a time but personally I think we can.

“And in our squad, too, we have lot of competition so I can’t afford to have a bad game.

“We have some real top quality back-rows like Jesse Sene-Lefao and Oli Holmes, who is coming back soon.

“It’s a local derby on Thursday and always a tasty encounter with Leeds.

“I live around Cas now and know how passionate they are here.

“It’s good; it feels like I’m at home now.”

If he carries on at this current rate, too, he could soon make England home as well in making his Test debut and following fellow Londonders Tony Clubb and Dan Sarginson onto the international stage.