Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sat Jan 30, 2016 10:16 pm  

Wayne Bennett, former Australian Kangaroos coach, is set to replace Steve McNamara as the England RL coach.

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sat Jan 30, 2016 11:09 pm  

Seen that in the news also - Good!

Been a while since we seen the England team with a decent coach, hopefully he can make them play with confidence and be ruthless in attack. Interesting 4 nations coming up at the end of the year!

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:13 am  

And when England fail to win he'll be slated by people ignoring the facts that RL in this country is a minority sport with far less investment and capital than it's antipodean cousin.

[Bulliac]

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sun Jan 31, 2016 10:10 am  

roofaldo2 wrote:

And when England fail to win he'll be slated by people ignoring the facts that RL in this country is a minority sport with far less investment and capital than it's antipodean cousin.

It's best not to confuse people with facts....

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sun Jan 31, 2016 1:51 pm  

If this frees up McNamara, please let him return to Bradford and not look at a vacancy that's just cropped up elsewhere in the Championship!!

[Bulliac]

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sun Jan 31, 2016 2:13 pm  

Alan wrote:

If this frees up McNamara, please let him return to Bradford and not look at a vacancy that's just cropped up elsewhere in the Championship!!

Think he's currently busy with a coaching job in the NRL, though it does make me wonder if Bennett is going to come, and be based, over here? Always thought Macca's decision to stay over there whilst England coach was nuts, to be honest.

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sun Jan 31, 2016 2:53 pm  

McNamara's unique position is that he has gradually and brilliantly turned us from easybeats into genuinely one of the best and most competitive teams on the planet, while simultaneously never getting an ounce of credit for it.

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sun Jan 31, 2016 3:47 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

McNamara's unique position is that he has gradually and brilliantly turned us from easybeats into genuinely one of the best and most competitive teams on the planet, while simultaneously never getting an ounce of credit for it.

I agree. I think we can now honestly say we are one of the top 3 national sides.

[Bulliac]

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sun Jan 31, 2016 4:09 pm  

rugbyreddog wrote:

I agree. I think we can now honestly say we are one of the top 3 national sides.

Absolutely!

Sounds far better than being third behind the Aussies and NZ.

Actually, I think FA is correct. Trying to square the expectations of the fans and the logical position of England/GB in the world rugby rankings was always an ask too far, and McNamara has, within reason, come within an ace of it.

If only he can follow through and turn this country into one where all the boys grow up wanting to be RL stars, instead of soccer players, then he might even get some of that elusive credit. As it stands, we can't even staff one full time division with England qualified players, so the one thing for certain is our current position is unlikely to last and the glut of outstanding players we have will come to an end. Sadly, as things stand, I can't see soccer losing its grip, so whoever is in charge of England, we may have already peaked.

Re: Wayne Bennett - New England Coach : Sun Jan 31, 2016 4:19 pm  

Bulliac wrote:

Absolutely!

Sounds far better than being third behind the Aussies and NZ.

Actually, I think FA is correct. Trying to square the expectations of the fans and the logical position of England/GB in the world rugby rankings was always an ask too far, and McNamara has, within reason, come within an ace of it.

If only he can follow through and turn this country into one where all the boys grow up wanting to be RL stars, instead of soccer players, then he might even get some of that elusive credit.

He's left, so he won't be following through anything any further, but no, we don't need all the boys to do that we just need more, and a better percentage of the elite athletes. But, despite being very much a poor relation to soccer, we still do get a very large number of young kids playing our sport by choice, even if it is a tiny proportion of the whole. I suppose the trouble is, the reason is cultural, the environment they and their peers grow up in.

How you expand that I don't know, but I do draw encouragement from what has happened "darn sarf", and the incredible progress in London of rugby league at beginner and junior levels. But nobody hears about it or knows about it, apart from those involved.

Will it ever translate into the national team? I suppose statistically it will, but dribs and drabs.

Bulliac wrote:

As it stands, we can't even staff one full time division with England qualified players, so the one thing for certain is our current position is unlikely to last and the glut of outstanding players we have will come to an end. Sadly, as things stand, I can't see soccer losing its grip, so whoever is in charge of England, we may have already peaked.

I don't see why we can't consolidate the position; if we just keep doing same as (never a good plan btw) we would surely at least pretty much stand still, but if we keep going forard baby steps then why should our progress not gradually continue?

We won't begin to approach soccer as an elite in our lifetimes, and soccer does have the length and breadth, but then again what you overlook is that our elite league beats into fits already the support and finance of the overwhelming majority of soccer clubs in the country, most of whom draw attendances in the hundreds or not much more.

Soccer is pervasive due to its mega media domination, but that doesn't mean that at grass roots level tens of thousands pack the grounds.