Quote JEAN CAPDOUZE="JEAN CAPDOUZE"This is all smoke and mirrors. It is highly unlikely that a single non-England player will be in any Great Britain side.'"
While that is probably true at present (though some of the Welsh lads playing in SL might appear in the squad by then) the reintroduction of GB would mean that players who had represented Wales, Scotland and Ireland via grandparents rule and then jumped ship to England to play the Aussies and NZ wouldn't need to do that anymore. They could qualify to play for GB by playing for their adopted nation and so would have less incentive to switch to England. They could stick with their adopted country and still get a chance to play against the big teams under the GB banner.
To use an example James Roby and Rob Burrow have only played for England/GB (when it existed). Both are hookers and squad regulars. Michael McIlorum played for Ireland, Daryl Clark played for Scotland. Ireland and Scotand never play the Antipodean nations except in World Cups. England play them most years. McIlorum and Clark will now not play for Ireland or Scotland and will instead compete with Roby and Burrow for an England place so they can play the top nations. Two of those four won't get a game for England, Clark is probably number 4 in the pecking order so he won't play in the World Cup as he would rather miss out now in hope of getting a Four Nations game next year or in 2016. So without GB to qualify for Clark doesn't play in a World Cup (his choice, I know) as England are his only option for top level RL. Scotland (and Ireland) are weaker as the likes of Clark, Brough etc would rather miss out now for England in the hope of playing v Aus next year.
If by playing for Scotland (or Ireland or Wales) a player can stake their place for an Ashes series squad without having to get past the likes of Roby, Sam Tomkins or Ryan Hall to do it then they will stick with and strengthen the other home nations teams. Maybe then Scotland and Ireland, like Wales did, can earn themselves a spot in the Four Nations when it is up here, then as well as making a claim for a GB place the likes of Clark could get a game against the very best for their adopted nation too without having to displace the England regulars in order to play in that game.
