Morley welcomes fresh blood

Morley: Smith was right

Tony has been pretty ruthless, with the backs in particular, but if you look at how they performed in the World Cup, it's not a total shock or surprise. They'll admit themselves they didn't play particularly well.

Adrian Morley
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Veteran forward Adrian Morley has welcomed the fresh new look to the England Four Nations squad.

Coach Tony Smith has overhauled his 24-man squad following a dismal display in last year's World Cup.

England won just one of their four matches in Australia and subsequently only 11 survivors have made it into the squad for the Four Nations later this month.

Leon Pryce, Rob Burrow, Ade Gardner and Paul Wellens were among the high-profile absentees as Smith welcomed a new generation of players ahead of the next World Cup in 2013.

Super League Young Player of the Year, Sam Tomkins, and runners-up Kyle Eastmond and Richie Myler have all been called-up, while Scott Moore, Ryan Hall and Sam Burgess also got the nod.

Four of the youngsters were in the side that beat France 66-12 in Paris in June.

"It's great that we've got a bit of fresh blood there," said Morley who will captain England in their warm-up match against Wales in Bridgend.

Ruthless

"Tony has been pretty ruthless, with the backs in particular, but if you look at how they performed in the World Cup, it's not a total shock or surprise. They'll admit themselves they didn't play particularly well."

Smith has dismissed rumours of a return for Leeds' centre Keith Senior, who announced his retirement from the international game at the start of the year, but insists he has not closed the door on the other World Cup casualties.

"The door is never shut on anybody unless they retire or bow out of the game," he said.

"As you see in the Australian squad, Nathan Hindmarsh has been recalled after two years so the same thing could happen at this level as well.

"All the young people we've chosen we think are ready for the next step. We're building for the future as well but we feel they're ready for the experience now.

"Some of them got a taste in the mid-year game and did a particularly good job. They deserve to be there. They bring a new freshness to the team which rejuvenates some of the old faces."