Hall believes Bennett will mould England
Leeds winger Ryan Hall thinks that Wayne Bennett’s first Four Nations tournament as England coach was marked by “teething problems”, rather than by anything more pernicious.
Bennett’s first tournament seemed to divide opinion, with some decrying England‘s lacklustre onfield performances, and the coach’s somewhat terse media appearances.
Others, though, felt that Bennett’s reputation for ruthless professionalism was just what the England team needed and it will do the team good in the long run to conform to his plans.
“I enjoyed the England camp [in the Four Nations],” Hall told Love Rugby League.
“There’s always going to be some teething issues with the new coach, there always is.
“We’d had five or six years of Steve McNamara, and that’s a long time to have an international coach.
“People get their feet under the table a little too easily. I’m guilty of it myself, of getting quite comfortable.
“You get to know how things operate, you know that when you enter the camp on the first day and know what’s expected – that sort of stuff.
“But when you’ve got a new coach in charge, there’s always going to be some teething issues – the way to operate, the terminology he uses on a day to day to basis.
“There’s always going to be a bumpy ride there.”
Hall maintains the a difference of coach often means the team’s priorities have to be reshaped according to a new plan.
When it comes down to it, the players must listen to the coach, and follow his instructions, for the plan to work properly.
“If you go from coach to coach, they will all have their priorities for what they want to achieve in a game,” he said.
“They’re all be the same, but they’ll just be in a different ranking order.
“Some may rank possession or completion rates at number one. Some may rate chancing your arm a bit more, and play a bit more elaborately, and risk possession and completions – even though that will be in there too, just not as high up.
“It’s different orders of priority and aspects of the game.
“That’s all it was, really, we’re used to doing one thing with Steve McNamara, and we got into the rhythm of doing things like that.
“The focus has switched ever so slightly, but it’s not a massive switch – he’s [Bennett] not turned rugby league on its head!
“It’s only slight changes, but slight changes are all that separate Australia from England and New Zealand at the moment.
“They know their coaches’ priorities and they nail them – that’s why they are they’re the best team in the world.
“We didn’t quite nail what he wanted us to do.
“Especially in the Scotland game – he quite rightly had a go at us at half time for not doing what he’s told us to do.
“In the second half, we fixed it up and put some points on the board, but we didn’t start the game like he wanted us to do, and ultimately it made the game harder than it should have been.”