Bulls' Australian signing Brad Mackay reports exclusively for T&A readers from the squad's training camp in Lanzarote

ST HELENS' emphatic defeat by Melbourne Storm was not what the British game needed.

After we finished our training on Saturday we managed to catch the last half of the World Club Challenge on television.

It was very disappointing that Saints weren't able to put up a better shout. It was very one-sided and it can't have done the game in England much good.

Not that we have had much chance to sit about reflecting on the result with Matthew Elliott keeping us working hard.

I have to say the trip is turning out to be a very worthwhile exercise.

Matthew is a really thorough coach and he is making sure that every aspect of the game is catered for.

On Saturday we had more work in the gym before we did some serious work in the pool, although it did provide us with some light entertainment.

We were doing some pool running when Jamie Peacock suddenly got cramp in both legs. He had to be pulled out by three of the other guys.

There was that much splashing about that it looked like a shark attack!

The weather was not as hot over the weekend. It has been a little cloudier and that has been more conducive to the type of work that we are doing.

We have done some hard ball work and, although it's warm, it has not been as humid as it was on the first couple of days.

We took it easy on Saturday night. Matthew had spoken about the need to look after our bodies and ourselves at work and the guys just had a couple of quiet beers.

There wasn't too much happening after we had watched the Saints game.

We had the morning off on Sunday and took the time to relax by the pool. When I say we had the morning off, Mattthew still had us hard at it by 11am.

It was full steam in the gym again before we worked hard on some specialist attacking drills. We tried various combinations and also worked on different drills for various parts of the field.

The backs were in the pool again after that and for once I was glad that I'm a forward!

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