Burgess and Graham considered for England captain

The England captain for the Four Nations will either be Sam Burgess or James Graham, with Sean O’Loughlin unavailable through injury.

England coach Wayne Bennett says he will make the decision this week before the players go into camp.

“The captaincy will be out of a couple of players, James Graham and Sam Burgess,” Bennett said.

“They’re the two in the category when it comes to the leading contenders but I want to talk to the chairman (Brian Barwick) and Nigel (Wood) when I arrive this weekend to see who it will be.

“I want to hold off and see their views on that before I decide who it is. We all know their qualities – they’re certainly the two leading contenders.”

Graham is the captain of his club the Bulldogs and previously served as England skipper on the 2010 Four Nations tour, following the loss of Adrian Morley, and led them in O’Loughlin’s absence against Samoa two years ago.

Burgess has led Souths this year in the absence of Greg Inglis.

“It’s great to have Sam back in Australia playing in our competition, let alone in rugby league at all,” Bennett said.

“He’s a huge player in our game irrespective of the country he’s playing in.

“It’s great to have him back in the English side from my perspective too – he’s inspirational and everyone looks up to him.

“I know how much it means to him to be back playing for his country.”

Bennett revealed that St Helens fullback Jonny Lomax‘s  selection is down to a recommendation from former Saints coach Nathan Brown.

Lomax was not included in the 31-strong of Super League-based players invited to meet Bennett during his trip to England in June after missing the first 11 weeks of the season.

“Nathan Brown tipped me off about Jonny Lomax a few months ago,” Bennett said.

“He’s had a number of injuries but I was tipped off that he was very good so I watched him with a bit of interested after that.

“What I saw was that, as he got more confident this year, he was playing injury-free – and in his last game against Warrington, I thought he was very good.”