England RL boss Shaun Wane may influence how Gareth Southgate deals with footballers
GARETH Southgate can inspire England’s rugby league players to World Cup glory – after experiencing how he can tell the footballers the brutal truth.
The national 11-a-side boss spoke to the 13-a-side stars at a recent squad meeting, with more sessions planned ahead of the Autumn’s home tournament.
But coach Shaun Wane revealed the exchange may be two-way – and the likes of Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling may soon be told in no uncertain terms what they should be doing.
Wane, set to be frustrated as a training session on May 3 looks certain to be cancelled because of injuries, said: “The meeting Gareth came to was very, very harsh and straight forward, very no nonsense.
“And he really loved how simple it was, how the players had no way of leaving without understanding what we expect.
“He really took that out of the meeting – how to be really open and straight forward in his messages and he enjoyed the way we did that.
“Gareth said things about his findings after being in big tournaments with England and dealing with not only the players but owners and CEOs of clubs.
“And when you consider football is our national game, the pressure on him to deliver was immense, like nothing we’ll ever go through and seeing how calm and knowledgeable he was was impressive.
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“I can understand now, having spoken to him many times, why he gets such a response off his players.
“And that’s something I can absolutely take into our World Cup campaign. I learned a lot and he said he learned a lot from being with us.
“Gareth’s going to come to other sessions and games in the World Cup. He spoke very well and we’re hoping to bring in many more speakers.”
Wane insisted it is up to St Helens hooker James Roby to reverse his international retirement by contacting him.
And he will see NRL-based players – who all received footage of Southgate’s speech - next month, including Brisbane’s Herbie Farnworth, who is back in the good books after upping his game, including learning the art of time keeping.
Wane added: “He’s a talent and a goods athlete. I can definitely see him playing in the World Cup.
“He’s got to meetings on time – people might think that’s nothing but to me that detail is everything.”