George Williams could captain England... if he was "more vocal"

George Williams has been urged to turn up the volume – to thrust himself into the mix to become England captain.
George Williams playing for England. Picture: SWPixGeorge Williams playing for England. Picture: SWPix
George Williams playing for England. Picture: SWPix

Coach Shaun Wane admits his ex-Warriors stand-off could be considered to replace Sean O’Loughlin as skipper.

But he wants the 26-year-old Wiganer, who is now at Canberra, to convince him he can be more of a vocal presence if he is to lead the national team into the World Cup later this year.

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“If George was more vocal he’d already be a leading candidate to be captain,” said Wane.

“He is a very, very smart player, but he is very, very quiet.”

Wane, who handed Williams his debut – and the No.6 shirt – as Wigan coach, revealed he even tried techniques to encourage Williams to talk more.

“We actually had training sessions at Wigan, where only George was allowed to speak,” said Wane.

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“It killed him! It was awkward, it was uncomfortable, and he was well out of his comfort zone.

“But he had to do it, and that was my way of stressing to him that we needed him to talk a lot more.”

Williams left his hometown club more than a year ago to move to the NRL, where he impressed in a Canberra side which fell one hurdle short of a Grand Final appearance.

Yet despite earning some rave reviews from pundits and fans, Wane believes there is more to come from him.

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“George did okay last year, but I know George very, very well,” said the coach.

“And he needs to, and can do, a lot better – no question about that, in terms of his involvement.

“Over the next few days I’ll be speaking to all of the NRL players individually, and it’s going to be straight between the eyes.

“There’s no bigger fan of George Williams than me.

“But he also knows that I’m never happy with anybody, and I always want more.

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“He’s an absolute case in point of that. He’s doing okay at Canberra, but I watched some game they were raving about... and I must have been watching a different game.

“I see things a lot differently to some, and I’m not getting overly carried away with what Canberra think about him.

“He’s obviously in a great team over there, but he can do a lot more.”

Wane also mentioned Sam Tomkins, Jonny Lomax, John Bateman and Paul McShane as other candidates for the captaincy.