Announcements

SAINTS duo Tommy Makinson and Luke Thompson have been named in this year's Rugby League World XIII line-up.

The announcement is the latest accolade for winger Makinson, who won the Golden Boot award earlier this autumn for his performances in the England Test series against New Zealand.

Prop forward Thompson, who also impressed in the series, is also in the line-up.

The Saints pair are the only two Super League players in the line-up, with Elliott Whitehead the other English representative.

The line-up was selected by a combination of journalists and supporters.

For the first time, supporters were asked to vote in the World XIII, while 11 journalists selected their top five players in each position.

Five points is given to their top pick, all the way down to one point for their fifth choice. The twelfth vote was a combined effort of the members of the TotalRL.com Fans’ Forum.

The full World XIII line-up is listed below, along with the top five picks for each position.

2018 World XIII

1 James Tedesco (Australia)

2 Tommy Makinson (England)

3 Latrell Mitchell (Australia)

4 Joseph Manu (New Zealand)

5 Valentine Holmes (Australia)

6 Luke Keary (Australia)

7 Cooper Cronk (Australia)

8 Luke Thompson (England)

9 Damien Cook (Australia)

10 Andrew Fifita (Tonga)

11 Boyd Cordner (Australia)

12 Elliott Whitehead (England)

13 Jason Taumalolo (Tonga)

World Ratings:

FULLBACKS: 1 James Tedesco, 2 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 3 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 4 Billy Slater, 5 Kalyn Ponga

WINGERS: 1 Tommy Makinson, 2 Valentine Holmes, 3 Josh Addo-Carr, 4 David Fusitu’a, 5 Blake Ferguson

CENTRES: 1 Latrell Mitchell, 2 Joseph Manu, 3 Esan Marsters, 4 Joey Leilua, 5 Mark Percival

STAND-OFFS: 1 Luke Keary, 2 Cameron Munster, 3 Gareth Widdop, 4 Shaun Johnson, 5 James Maloney

SCRUM-HALVES: 1 Cooper Cronk, 2 Kodi Nikorima, 3 Daly Cherry-Evans, 4 Nathan Cleary, 5 Johnathan Thurston

PROPS: 1 Luke Thompson, 2 Andrew Fifita, 3 Sio Siua Taukeiaho, 4= James Graham & Jesse Bromwich

HOOKERS: 1 Damien Cook, 2 James Roby, 3 Cameron Smith, 4 Josh Hodgson, 5 Issac Luke

SECOND-ROWERS: 1 Boyd Cordner, 2 Elliott Whitehead, 3 John Bateman, 4 Tyson Frizell, 5 Tevita Pangai Jnr

LOOSE FORWARDS: 1 Jason Taumalolo, 2 Sam Burgess, 3 Jake Trbojevic, 4 Sean O’Loughlin, 5 Adam Blair & Luke Thompson