Would sooner have McDermott, I think Powell really struggles when he gets to the business end of the season or a big game situation.

The last time an English/British coach came so close to winning a world cup was in 1992 IIRC where we lost 10-6 in the final. For me Bennett deserves another shot and i'm happy he's stayed on as coach. We may not like some of his selections but it was those selections that got us as far as we did.

This is why I said on the previous page that past success should be a requirement. If he hasn't yet been able to show he can win or even play well in the biggest of games at club level then how's he going to do facing Australia in a WC Final or test match???

As for Bennett I wouldn't mind him continuing if he left his club role (which he won't do). If he could get that close whilst having the distraction of a club to coach imagine what he could've done if he dedicated himself to the role full time and spent quality time over here watching and in contact with the players more closely.

It seems Bennett has needed convincing to continue to be coach having read a few articals.
Having a job like this should be an honour and shouldn't need much thinking about.
Makes me wonder how much his heart and passion is in the job. Hopefully he won't have a change of heart before the next World Cup... buildings toward it from now is vital if we are to take the next step and win it.

I thought that was down to the referee in the semi-final

Why should Bennett be full time? Its quite simply not a full time role. I'd like him to take more of an interest in SL himself so he can make his own decisions on the squad, but realistically even if he did that the squad that went to the WC wouldn't have been much different to what it was. What we really need is more quality players. We have one half decent halfback who ended up playing fullback to cover a gap, and only one centre Bennett rates.

Made too many errors that in the end would have been the difference between winning the WC in over 40 years and not. Didn't take the strongest squad with some glaring omissions, didn't play the best players that we did have (or in the case of Taylor didn't even get a proper shout) and some not even in the correct positions to the point it nulllified one of our most potent attacking threats
For the most part we were boring as fook too.
It's a poor and short sighted selection, no doubt he had a bigger wedge thrown at him to persuade him to carry on.

Still, 200% better than SM, people keep saying that SM did this and that, no he didn't, that was others elsewhere, he was gash and wasted a great opportunity with players at their peak - Burgess, Graham,(who has faded IMHO) Lockers and a few others whom aren't as good now as they were under SM.

For me, Powell's next step should be to coach a club side that comes with expectations upon it. In a way, he's worked himself into that situation now at Cas but I'm not sure he's equipped with the players to come up trumps. Give the GB job to McDermott or Wane, say, and let Powell step into their shoes for a few seasons.

No that's just what the dummy spitting Tongans think.

Personally I don't think that much coaching happens at international level and I'm not sure how much of a philosophy you could impose on players who play a different way for their clubs. With that said, I would like England/GB to play a higher risk brand of football as they simply won't beat Australia at their own game.

What England/GB needs is a new coach to come in with a philosophy similar to that of Daryl Powell and pick the best 17 players who can play in that style, not simply the best 17 players available.

I don't know whether anyone will be willing to take that kind of risk since it also opens up the possibility of getting pumped by 50 points if you execute poorly playing expansively. But at the end of the day an L is an L and England/GB will continue to collect them against Australia playing the way they did in the WC.

Not at all, Fifita's try should have been given. The referee made a massive mistake not going to the screen.

No it shouldn't

Regards

King James

He has a responsibility to keep control of the ball. He lost the ball in the tackle. There was no stripping action whatsoever.

I think it's a good decision to retain Bennett.

Whist it's fair to say Bennett's knowledge of Superleague isn't perfect because he's based in Aus; The flipside of that argument is that other potential candidates, Powell, Wane, Radford, McDermott for example, don't have the NRL knowledge. Bennett does. I think that's key to the England role, in an International game where the sides we have to beat come from the NRL, we need someone with experience of that comp, who studies it, who knows the opposition (Aus, NZ, Tonga) inside out. Not only does he have that experience, but he knows how to win.

Yes, there were 2 or 3 selections for the world cup that were strange. I spent the flight home from Aus in December dissecting and over-analysing the WC, but despite those strange selections, we were still an ankle tap or a killer pass/kick away from winning it, on Aussie soil. I'm still gutted about it now, but ultimately he set the side up to win, and we should've won - I hold certain players to account for that more than I do Bennett.

For me he's the best coach in the world that is available to England. The more time he gets under his belt with our players between now & 2021 the better.