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

Seriously, EVERY form???

Well that is the end of Cuthbertsons England aspirations then. No place for an offloading forward in his boring system. Come to think of it probably no place for any Leeds players. We are far too flamboyant

just getting rid of McBanana makes England a better side regardless of who came in. He was the weakest of weak links in our international side. Bennett will need to select a decent assistant to be his eyes and ears in the UK

Anybody is better than McNamara I guess......but this will definitely sound the death knell for 'good old fashioned GB flair' in favour of ever more greater convergence of styles, but with in depth inferior personnel.

Bennett was a great coach. Key is WAS. This sort of appointment is at least 10 years outdated.

I too think we need to move on from McNamara but i would have liked to see us stay with a British coach. Bennett is a great coach no doubt, but he is 66 years old now and certain to have us playing an Australian style with inferior players in which to do so. Also, how much is he willing to invest in this? Will it be a role he will be taking whilst staying with the Broncos? I assume he knows pretty much nothing about the players we have here in SL. Although on the face of it this sounds like a huge coup i feel in the long term it could be a backwards step, and i can't really believe i'm saying that!

Its ridiculous to suggest bennett has lost it as a coach. He made teh GF last year and the broncos are favourite to win. Everyone who has been coached by himhas nothing but good things to say. His assistant (and presumably successor) will be a key appointment and will play a much bigger part than lowes did etc given they will be his SL eyes and ears

Probably use his mate Tim Sheens as his eyes and ears over here.

Fair point, only a fool would argue his record. I can assure you i'm not doing that, i'm just a bit dubious for now. I hope he proves me wrong and wins us the 4 nations this year but as a long suffering England fan i have seen far too many false dawns to get sucked in yet ...joking apart, we have as good a squad as we have had in many a year now so finding the right man to take us through this period is vital. I also agree that should Bennett take charge, having the likes of a McDermott, Wane or Powell as his sidekick is of huge importance.

"Anybody is better than McNamara".

Last winter, England came within a dubious VR decision of beating Australia on their own soil for the first time since 2006 (as GB on that occasion). Had it not been for the need to win the game rather than kick a late equalising penalty they would have drawn with NZ away from home. They've just beaten NZ in a home series. McNamara's recent record stands comparison with any England coach of the last 30 years IMO. He's certainly not suffered the horrific blowout losses in big games that were the trademark of the likes of Kear or Tony Smith before him.

Not quite sure how people are leaping to the conclusion that England are somehow a team of world-beaters being held back by McNamara's coaching, or that "anyone else" could do better.

Not sure anybody IS stating that are they? I personally can't think much further back than that awful manisfestation of his stamp on his team at the Olympic Stadium in London. Ughh! Yes we won the series, but god it was a boring brand of rugby. Wayne Bennett can only be relied on to produce more of the same I'm sure; but maybe - hopefully - with more victories.

Bennet is a great coach, but we are in danger of going down the David Waite route of a team of loose forwards, pick the best 13 players then try and sort them into positions, and boring safety first rugby. Would have preferred Brian Mac or a coach who encourages open play.

I don't get where the idea of Bennett being a completely safety-first automaton comes from. NZ hardly played that way when he was heavily involved with them, and he has two of the flair players in the NRL at Brisbane in Milford and Parker and he lets them play heads up.

My only problem with this appointment is that if England do knock Australia off their perch they'll see it as being entirely down to the Aussie genius in charge rather the outstanding group of English players that have developed over the last decade.

What is disappointing if this is true is why can we not develop true international class coaches here?
His appointment would mean that the England cricket, RU & RL teams are all coached by Aussies & of course the count cricket champions are also coached by an Aussie.
All our technical staff need to take a long hard look at themselves to see why they are falling short.
It seems that it's only in cycling that we have a truly world beating coaching set-up led by an Englishman.