BRIAN McDERMOTT has admitted that it is all about being careful ahead of England’s opener against Tonga on Saturday.
With the Super League and NRL campaigns only ending just over a week ago, and with a long-haul flight for the vast majority of the squad to reach Perth, the England boss is wary of doing too much too soon on the training field in the lead-up to the game.
“Some players haven’t done things for a number of weeks and some played last week so we had to be mindful of what we actually did there,” McDermott, who has named his line-up to face Tonga, said.
“The temptation is to do too much soon and given players have been on a really long flight with jet lag, we had to get over that.
“I can’t say too much in terms of what we’ve done because we’ve got to be really careful, but we have done enough.
“I think it’s more about us right now. We’ve got to be mindful of Tonga but a large percentage of my team selection is about how strong we would be.
“I think the back-rowers have got a high workrate and Victor Radley has been a great coordinator for the Sydney Roosters all year so by early reports he will do that for us.
“We were initially going to land in Perth on Sunday and we changed the flights to Friday, so that meant that having Saturday and Sunday allowed us to prepare a longer-term approach.”
McDermott also spoke about having six players to choose from on his bench, rather than four, with the tournament played under NRL rules.
“It’s a good addition, the extended bench – it allows you to have more variation positionally,” he said.
“You can’t be in a rush to select your fourth player because of injury etc. You wouldn’t normally carry a nine and a half(back), but you can do with this.”
McDermott also touched upon Wigan Warriors debutants Zach Eckersley, who will start on the wing, and Sam Walters, who is among the forwards on the bench.
“Zach Eckersley is quietly confident – he’s not the loudest guy in the group but he says what he needs to,” added McDermott.
“Sam Walters catches your eye when he plays. He is a giant and I’ve got to look up to him.
“For some of the young players like Zach and Sam, they don’t want to be a wallflower.
“They don’t want to be quiet but they want to be respectful and earn their stripes.
“Those two are getting it right when needed. They are vocal when needed, they take responsibility for owning things but when a few big dogs enter the room, they doff their cap and know their places.”
