Wane will demand winning mentality from England side - Gareth Ellis

He’s out at the minute with an eye injury but he’s proven under Wane with his performances and influence throughout his time at Wigan.

I’m sure that will have a knock-on effect and carry on with England knowing that he’s his type of player and attitude.

It will be interesting to see if Lockers – who’s now 37 – would get the nod under Waney knowing that relationship.

It’d be a massive achievement if he did.

Obviously, though I’ve not spoken to Lockers, I’m sure he’ll be wanting to get back on the field after this injury and earn the right to be picked, not just because Shaun Wane is the coach and the partnership they have. I’m sure he’ll want to prove he is a worthy candidate but I do think he’ll be there or thereabouts.

Likewise, Wane will probably know how to get the best out of him and know what he wants from him and if Lockers goes like he has been doing for a long, long time now why not?

He’s like myself – in the latter stages of his career – but he’s been doing the business and I think it’s more the influence he has and influencing mentality.

I think that is something Wane will try and tap into.

I heard Wane speak last week about people singing and dancing that England made that World Cup final in 2017 – but he’d have been disappointed with that as obviously they didn’t win.

That’s the mentality he will bring to this England team; not to accept second best which we obviously have been for some time now.

Being the way that he is, he won’t be accepting defeat very lightly.

I’m sure the players that he will be picking will be players that don’t just perform well at club level week in week out but players that he knows have that winning mentality and are prepared to go toe to toe with Australia, New Zealand and teams that have been emerging these last few years such as Tonga.

It will be interesting, too, what he does at half-back.

I’ve been a big advocate of Lomax for a while now and I know speaking to some players, like Adam Swift, just how professional he is.

He’s someone who’s gone through some adversity to get to this point; he had some serious injuries earlier on his career and his reaction to that is to become the best Jonny Lomax he can be. He’s reaping the rewards now. I thought he was outstanding last year and probably my Steve Prescott Man of Steel and he’s started this season pretty well, too.

Against us the other week he was the difference in the second half; I think he has the potential to be world-class and I think it’s about time he was given the opportunity to show that in 
his favoured position, not full-back.

It will be intriguing with Wane as well whether he’ll go with regards to the Australians (Jackson Hastings, Blake Austin); being a proud, passionate Englishman will he carry on with that?

If not, it may give more opportunities to players like Lomax to be more prominent.

Some have asked if I’d like 
to be involved with England again.

It’s like when people ask will I play again next year; everything comes down to how I’m performing on the field and how I’m feeling as well.

I never say ‘never’ with anything; I’d love to have one more crack at the Australians.

I did think that time had passed but I’m here again playing again.

I’ve been playing all right but I still think there’s a lot of improvement in me which is how I’ve always felt; when I’ve been 20 years old to now at 38, I always crave to get better.

Those margins of improvement decrease the older you get but I’m more excited now about playing rugby than I was probably four or five years ago so never say never.

But there’s a lot of good players around and some – that we already know about – really stood up in that World Club Challenge and went to another level.

It isn’t my main focus. My main focus is playing well on a weekly basis for Hull FC.