EVENTS over the past week have left me bemused.

Warrington Wolves hooker Danny Walker was captain of England Knights, the national second team if you like, against Jamaica on Friday.

Shaun Wane must have liked what he saw, because two days later he named the 22-year-old in his senior England 20-man squad for the Test match with France in Perpignan this weekend.

I offer my congratulations to Orford-native Walker, it's an achievement to be proud of even though he hasn't made the 17-man cut for matchday. It's a huge credit to him, his family and all who have contributed to his progress in the sport.

He's proving to be an outstanding role model for other young Warringtonians.

But, when all this is considered, what I don't understand is how Walker couldn't even get on the bench for The Wire in their final game of the 2021 season.

You may recall that was the play-off 'nilling' at home to Hull KR, a side that crept into the knockout rounds in sixth place.

And we have since learned that the man in the hooking role for Warrington that night, one of the world's best in Daryl Clark, was carrying a glut of serious injuries.

I understand he wasn't the only one, too.

So it doesn't add up, that a rising talent so highly thought of by the international coaches was sidelined by Steve Price for the big night – especially considering he'd had a fine season and worked some of his magic on a number of occasions during the year to get the team out of a hole.

I highlighted in our match blog at the time that it was a big call.

When it was decided Clark needed to come off the field against the Robins, England full-back Stefan Ratchford was asked to do the dummy-half role. I appreciate that was also a way to get Matty Ashton on the paddock, with him then slotting in at the back, but surely Walker was the man best-placed for such a key job down the middle.

Another player left out of that all-important play-off tussle was marquee man Blake Austin.

He was sacrificed from the halves weeks earlier to make way for the arrival of George Williams.

I get it that three into two doesn't go, but why would you not have a potential game changer at least available on the bench to come on and mix things up if Plan A wasn't working?

My thoughts are that Austin was hard-done by in the end because I felt his form was pretty good before he was dropped.

Of course, the inclusion of Walker and/or Austin may have made no difference one iota on a night when The Wire stank out the place with awful ball control and errors.

The weeks have moved on, but the answers have not been forthcoming.

Head coach Steve Price has returned to Australia without broaching the subject again to help Guardian readers – Wire fans – understand what went wrong.

Nobody within Warrington Wolves has been able to explain publicly why players' abilities to hold on to the ball had gone AWOL on that particular night. It was one of the worst performances of the season when it mattered most.

Were players distracted, because of injuries or team selection or the imminent widescale coaching and squad changes that started to be announced back in April? Is that why their concentration levels were below-par?

We might never learn what was going through players' minds collectively on that frustrating night but we must live in hope that internally Wolves' chiefs understand the issues behind a third successive play-offs exit at the first hurdle, so that new boss Daryl Powell is forearmed as he sets about putting his stamp on to matters for 2022.