I WOULD like to start this week by offering a huge vote of thanks to England head coach Wayne Bennett for breaking his busy schedule to come to Odsal and entertain everyone with his views, analysis and stories about rugby league though a very long and successful career.

It speaks volumes that he would be prepared to do this immediately before the start of a vital international series.

Wayne’s public profile can be very enigmatic and there are occasions when his single word responses to the media raise ire and criticism, principally among those who earn their living writing about the sport.

I am not for a moment saying that Wayne gets it right every time, who among us does? But what I can say is that when approached to do the 'Evening with Wayne Bennett' he did not hesitate.

His positive confirmation was immediate, mainly because he knew the proceeds were going to support the Bulls Academy programme.

We should recognise that as a true great of the sport, Wayne is often asked and rarely accepts these kind of requests. His profile, particularly in Australia, is such that his time and thoughts are sought after by commercial and business partners and in common with many such people he can command significant fees.

That he chose to support our club, a club incidentally that helped produce four or five of his international squad, does him enormous credit.

Wayne has always been a controversial figure. Widely loved and respected by his players wherever he has coached, he is often nevertheless maligned publicly. His recruitment by the RFL was a significant coup. It is the first time a rugby league story made the headlines on both BBC News and ITV News at Ten. That is his media pull and attraction.

The UK media turned on him a little when he appeared to give Tanya Arnold little help on the side of the pitch in the Four Nations in 2016. Afterwards there was a great hue and cry about him “not recognising his responsibilities to the game”.

The BBC then created a special one-hour programme on Radio Five Live devoted to the subject and asking whether Bennett did enough to promote rugby league. Iestyn Harris, Brian Noble and others all pontificated, and I thought when was the last time Radio Five Live did an impromptu hour-long special on rugby league. The point being, such is Bennett’s aura that even when he is not trying he creates stories.

The big news is, of course, Bennett is leaving Brisbane Broncos at the end of next season after a second long stint as head coach.

He is moving on to South Sydney in 2020, and that can only be a great move for England RL with half of the national pack playing at that club for the next few seasons.

The row about the timing and playing of the Denver game reminds everyone that the Club v Country rows exists in rugby league like every other professional sport and Bennett moving to Souths puts him in the ideal position to manage the workload of his elite players. Hopefully it will be a win-win-win for club, country and players.

In the more immediate future I think Bennett and his England charges will have their work cut out getting past the revived Kiwis; GO the Kiwis. Michael Maguire, the former Wigan and Souths coach, was just the right appointment by the New Zealand board to instil some pride and discipline into the national jersey.

Their victory over the Kangaroos two weeks ago was far more convincing than the eventual two point winning margin represented. At one stage, 12 points ahead, the Kiwis had yet another “try” disallowed which would have put then 32-12 up, with 10 minutes to play. People will talk about the fact that the Australians are in transition and it is true with their great spine of Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Jonathan Thurston and Cameron Smith now finished and sat in the stands. Irrespective of this, in 40 years watching rugby league I have never seen a poor Kangaroo side and any victory is well deserved.

Therefore I’m going for a Kiwi win in the forthcoming series, sorry folks.

I think it will end up 2-1 and hopefully it will be a series of classics. International rugby league is having a good run at the moment and another great series of occasions will add to that. At the Bulls we recognise the value of a strong international game and have willingly released players to their respective national sides and they go with our blessing and our best wishes.

The same applies to John Kear, who is going around again with the Wales side.

The European National Competition doesn’t seem to grab the headlines like it should and maybe some players, or should that be some players Super League clubs are selective about playing given it is not a World Cup, but international footy is international footy and I salute all those players and coaches who put their hands up.

And so, to John Kear and Wayne Bennett, and all of our players answering the call of their nations, thank you for all that you do, and good luck over the next few weeks.