Wayne Bennett is determined to make his role as England coach work, his assistant, Denis Betts, has said.
Bennett has attracted criticism from some Super League coaches over his plans to host a pre-season training camp in Dubai, which was eventually scrapped by the RFL.
But Betts has said that Bennett was simply trying to do something different – and he’s completely committed to helping establish England as a credible force in the international arena.
“He’s massively engaged,” Betts said. “He wants this to work. He knows about the politics and all that goes around it, he understands that he can’t control that.
“His whole philosophy is, if we carry on doing what we’ve done, we’ll end up with the same situation. He wanted to do something different, he wanted to give something different to the players, he wanted to try and mix it up a little bit.”
Betts also said that England’s disappointing performance in the Four Nations have given them a realistic idea of what it will take to be successful in this year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
“He wants to win but I think what the Four Nations gave us was an understanding of what it takes to win a World Cup,” Betts said.
“We know when the next World Cup is and how can we manipulate our domestic season to give us the best opportunity, especially when it’s in this country, so that we’ve got the best players in the best shape to be able to go after it. And we can plan that now if we’re smart.
“He wanted to change the way we approach this World Cup but he came in at a time when everything was already written down.”