England coach Wayne Bennett can bring success, even if they do not win this year’s World Cup
Number two Denis Betts believes things can come good in the long run
DENIS Betts believes Wayne Bennett can still bring success to England, whether he is there or not.
And he insists he is a better coach after working with him and the likes of Sam Burgess, even though they missed out on the Four Nations final.
England will play a mid-season Test against Samoa in Sydney to prepare for the Autumn's World Cup, which takes place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
But Betts believes bringing Bennett in, despite patchy performances last year, painful post-match interviews and the late cancellation of a pre-season training camp in Dubai, can come good in the long run, even as far ahead as the 2021 World Cup in England.
Planning for the future, not just this year, is the key – and his record of six NRL titles and a massive role in New Zealand’s 2008 World Cup success speaks for itself.
Talks over a new deal for Bennett, whose current contract expires after this year's tournament, are believed to be ongoing.
Assistant boss Betts, who also coaches Super League side Widnes, said: "Wayne wants to win, you don’t get to where he is without wanting to and what winning has done has given him the ability to ask people, ‘Do you know what you’re talking about?’
“Am I a better coach from being around Wayne? Of course I am. Am I better from working with Sam Burgess and James Graham? Of course I am.
“It’s not rocket science. Wayne’s got the credibility and also a real understanding of what the game is, that’s what I got out of it.
“He’s still massively engaged and wants this to work.
“His whole philosophy was, ‘If we carry on doing what we’ve done, we’ll end up in the same situation.’ He wanted to do something differently and to try and mix it up.
“We know when the World Cup is, not this one but the next one. So how can we manipulate our domestic season in the year leading up to the tournament to make sure we’re in the best shape possible to go after the World Cup?
“We can plan that now, if we’re smart. Wayne wanted to change how we approach this year when everything was written down – but he wants to be successful.”
Bennett will meet England staff and players next month when he is in the country with Brisbane Broncos for their World Club Series clash with Warrington.
And after seeing a pre-season training camp in Dubai scrapped at the last minute, a series of get togethers will be held over the course of the campaign.
However Betts, who will be assistant at the World Cup, is in the dark over whether he will be with England for the Samoa game.
Super League continues on that weekend in May but the number two is still waiting to hear which game he will be at.
He added: "It’s all still up in the air.
“It falls on a weekend when we play Hull at home so it becomes really difficult as we want to win home games and me not being here could be a big factor in that.
“That’s important to my chief exec at Widnes and my board here, so we’re still working that out.”
Meanwhile, Betts have suffered a triple blow with the new Joe Mellor, Chris Dean and Eamon O’Carroll will miss the start of the season with knee, biceps and shoulder problems respectively.
