Betts: Bennett is committed to England

Assistant coach Denis Betts says Wayne Bennett remains committed to England despite his Dubai camp being scrapped.

England‘s pre-season camp in Dubai was cancelled after opposition from Super League coaches.

Betts, one of Bennett’s assistants, said the Australian is focused and unfazed.

“He’s massively engaged,” Betts said.

“He wants this to work. He knows about the politics and all that goes around it, he understands that he can’t control that.

“His whole philosophy is, if we carry on doing what we’ve done, we’ll end up with the same situation.

“He wanted to do something different, he wanted to give something different to the players, he wanted to try and mix it up a little bit.”

Betts said Bennett is already looking ahead to the World Cup in England in 2021.

“He wants to win but I think what the Four Nations gave us was an understanding of what it takes to win a World Cup,” the Widnes coach said.

“We know when the next World Cup is and how can we manipulate our domestic season to give us the best opportunity, especially when it’s in this country, so that we’ve got the best players in the best shape to be able to go after it.

“And we can plan that now if we’re smart. He wanted to change the way we approach this World Cup but he came in at a time when everything was already written down.”