Exiles winger Pat Richards hopes the familiarity amongst the squad will help them in their preparations for Friday's rugby league International Origin match with England.

The Wests Tigers premiership-winner is one of three Wigan players in Brian McClennan's squad of all-stars, while he has also played with a number of the group in the NRL.

The Exiles squad was put together by a combination of McClennan's picks and an online vote by fans, and Richards believes the balance is right.

"The boys have got on really well, it`s all about coming together in a short week," he said.

"Everyone knows each other pretty well so we`re looking forward to it.

"Personally I played with Brett Hodgson at Wests and Parramatta, I played with Kylie Leuluai at Parramatta and Rangi Chase was at Wests and we all know each other.

"A lot of the guys have been over in England for some time now and everyone gets on and meets up anyway."

Richards has been joined in the squad by Warrington's former New South Wales centre Matt King, although he very nearly did not make the training camp.

After recovering from a knee injury in time to play, King had to send an SOS to his mother-in-law so she could be with his pregnant wife while he joined up with the squad.

"It was touch and go whether I was going to play this week," he said.

"My wife Kirsten is expecting our first child on June 15 and I was reluctant to leave her.

"Luckily, we arranged for her mum to arrive in the country from Australia this week to look after her, enabling me to be part of this special group of players.

"It would have been sad to miss out but I'm glad I'm here now. I'm just hoping the little one can be patient and stick to the due date!"

King was a Test and Origin centre when he made the decision to quit Melbourne and move to Warrington, and in doing so he gave up on his representative career.

At their peak or not, Australia do not pick players who turn their backon the NRL and for that reason, King is glad to be part of the Exiles squad.

"When I came to the UK to play one of the hardest things that you have to sacrifice is representative football," he said.

"You have to give that up when you come over to England but with the creation of the Exiles it is fantastic that all the boys have the chance of being part of a rep team once more.

"It is a real honour and a privilege to be part of the first ever Exiles squad and it is amazing how quickly you adapt to being in camp with the rest of the boys."

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