 Sinfield has won nine Great Britain caps |
Great Britain coach Brian Noble has named Kevin Sinfield and Paul Deacon in his 24-man squad for this year's Tri-Nations series. Both players were controversially omitted from last year's squad, while Deacon was not even in the 40-man training squad announced back in May.
Sean Long and Danny McGuire both miss out because of injury, while Mark Calderwood failed to make the cut.
Noble picked five uncapped players, including Rob Burrow and Nick Fozzard.
Gareth Raynor, Jamie Thackray and Jon Wilkin could also make their Great Britain debuts.
Noble has also left the door open for one more player to join the squad before Britain's first match against New Zealand on 29 October.
St Helens scrum-half Long has not played since suffering a fractured cheekbone in September, but could have played in the Tri-Nations if necessary.
"I spoke to Sean and basically he is probably available but the reality is that we need to hit the ground running," said Noble.
"He's comfortable with what we've said. The halves that we've picked in the team are probably more up to speed than Sean.
"Paul Deacon's form of the last six weeks has been pretty impressive. We need to pick our form players."
Notable absentees included Bradford winger Stuart Reardon and Leeds front-rowers Danny Ward, Matt Diskin and Ryan Bailey, all of whom played in last year's tournament.
Their Rhinos team-mate Calderwood, who finished the season as Super League's top try-scorer, was arguably the most surprising omission of all.
Reardon, Calderwood, Ward and Bailey are all included in Karl Harrison's 21-man England squad for the matches against France and New Zealand.
Hull's Paul Cooke was also thought to have a good chance of making the squad, but has missed out altogether.
Noble said he was particularly looking forward to Keiron Cunningham's return to the international scene after a long absence.
The Saints hooker has only played one Test in the last three years because of injuries.
"It's a huge boost," said Noble.
"I'm really, really excited about it. We all know he's a world-class player and we deserve to see him play on the world stage."
Great Britain already knew they would be without captain Paul Sculthorpe, Kris Radlinski, Terry Newton and Paul King because of injury.
Jamie Peacock has replaced Sculthorpe as skipper, with winger Brian Carney as his vice-captain.
The squad will fly to Spain for a four-day training camp ahead of their first game against New Zealand.
Great Britain squad for Tri-Nations:
Rob Burrow (Leeds)
Paul Deacon (Bradford)
Brian Carney (Wigan, vice-captain)
Keiron Cunningham (St Helens)
Nick Fozzard (St Helens)
Gareth Ellis (Leeds)
Stuart Fielden (Bradford)
Lee Gilmour (St Helens)
Martin Gleeson (Warrington)
Iestyn Harris (Bradford)
Richard Horne (Hull)
Mickey Higham (St Helens)
Paul Johnson (Bradford)
Jamie Thackray (Hull)
Adrian Morley (Sydney Roosters/Bradford)
Jamie Peacock (Bradford, captain)
Leon Pryce (Bradford)
Gareth Raynor (Hull)
Keith Senior (Leeds)
Kevin Sinfield (Leeds)
Chev Walker (Leeds)
Paul Wellens (St Helens)
Stephen Wild (Huddersfield)
Jon Wilkin (St Helens)
MMIX
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We all know he's a world-class player and we deserve to see him on the world stage
