By STEVE MASCORD
 IT’S fitting England will later this week set up camp in Perth. The West Australian capital, like Wayne Bennett’s just-named team, is out of sight and very much out of mind for rugby league followers on the east coast of the continent.
With only two games in Sydney during the World Cup, there was a fear the city’s famously parochial media would do its best to ignore the whole shebang.
But when Jason Taumalolo and then Andew Fifita decided to opt for Tonga instead of New Zealand and Australia, the outrage meter started behaving like a Geiger counter in Chernobyl.
Now Sydney fans who notoriously switch off rugby league at fulltime in the NRL grand final are aware of a World Cup involving Australia, New Zealand and Tonga.
How many other teams could they name? Well most would assume England was in there somewhere if they thought hard about it.
But with few English players involved in the NRL finals, the likes of James Graham, Josh Hodgson and Gareth Widdop seem as far away as Perth –Â is often described as the most isolated city in the world outside of Siberia.
The side named by coach Bennett has a few surprises from the point of view of this trans-hemisphere hack. We Got Issues remembers Sam Tomkins as a wondrously evasive, quick and skilful custodian who, while not a shining light at the New Zealand Warriors, was able to develop other skills when more tightly marked.
He’s paid the price for not getting on the pitch often enough in previous seasons, obviously. Stefan Ratchford and Johnny Lomax still have a lot to live up to, considering Zak Hardaker’s suspension-enforced absence.
George Burgess also seems a tad unlucky. The Australasian game is perhaps not as suited to him and brother Tom as it was three years ago but George seems a little unlucky.
Then again, the stats support Bennett.
Thomas made 2606 metres this year at South Sydney compared with George’s 1603. Tom also played more than 300 more minutes.
On the wings, I fully expected to see Joe Burgess and/or Greg Eden. In both cases, failing to show their best Down Under may have stained their reputations in the eyes of an Australia-based coach.
Conversely, Kevin Brown could well have benefited from his performance against Bennett’s Brisbane in February. Chris Heighington’s international resurgence in the autumn of his career continues while one would assume Chris McQueen lost his race to overcome injury in time for the tournament.
But England have a strong side.
Let’s not forget there are only two fulltime professional club rugby league competitions in the world (although lesser leagues now have a sprinkling of fulltime teams).  NRL players are split up over a dozen World Cup sides with even the best choosing tier two nations over Australia and New Zealand.
The cream of Super League – home of the current world champion club side- is in the England side.
The diffusion of talent among southern hemisphere teams should, by rights, mean England can’t fly under the radar in the Great Southern Land for long.
