Lee Smith is hoping for a touch of deja vu as he prepares to bring down the curtain on his Leeds career in Saturday's engage Super League Grand Final.
A year ago the 23-year-old centre lifted the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man of the match as the Rhinos gained a 24-16 win over St Helens at Old Trafford to retain their crown. He is 12/1 with Sky Bet to retain the trophy this weekend.
His outstanding performance, in his unaccustomed position of full-back in the absence of the injured Brent Webb, earned him a World Cup call-up for England and a repeat effort could do the same for the forthcoming Gillette Four Nations series.
Smith was widely thought to be unavailable for the internationals as he prepares to switch codes with Wasps but he revealed on Tuesday he remains keen to play for England and his new club would not stand in his way.
"I'm led to believe Lee is going to make himself available," said England coach Tony Smith.
"If he is contracted to rugby league to the end of November, which I believe he is, then he will be considered."
Smith paved the way for the recall of his namesake by ignoring Wigan centre Martin Gleeson when he made the latest additions to his train-on squad, a move he explained as a "changing of the guard".
Gleeson and Keith Senior have been the centre pairing for the national team for much of the last seven years, including the World Cup, and have won 69 international caps between them.
Ryan Atkins (Wakefield) and Michael Shenton (Castleford) were part of a youthful, new-look England team for the mid-season international against France but the former made himself unavailable in order to have wrist surgery.
With Hull centre Kirk Yeaman also sidelined through injury, Smith is short of options and Senior, who played well enough this year to earn a recall to the Super League Dream Team, dropped a hint yesterday he might be prepared to come out of retirement.
However, Smith says he has no plans to recall Senior to his side, saying: "As far as I know, he's retired."
Meanwhile, Lee Smith is preparing for a step into the unknown and admits Saturday's final will be packed with emotion for a number of reasons.
"After this, I move on to a new future in London," he said. "I'm off to do something new, we'll have to see what the future brings.
"Emotions are going to be high any way, with it being a final but I haven't really thought about it being my last game. It will probably sink in after the game.
"It would be great to repeat what happened last year but we'll have a tough 80 minutes out there.
"If we nail our game plan, we'll give them a tough game. A win would be a special way for me to finish."
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