When we were told it was off, we all had a couple of weeks off, which we needed.''Fittler said he had expected a more hostile reception than the tourists have had "Everything has been pretty positive,'' he said. "I know how much the English love their footy and for Australia to come here gives their players the chance to prove their worth."There is a lot of talent in the top four or five teams, although I thought Great Britain might have brought in one or two of the younger players.''Fittler singled out Leeds scrum-half Rob Burrow, whom he saw on the recent under-19s tour to Australia. He said: "He's a real handful and he is going to be a great little player.''Fittler said he was relieved not to be facing his Sydney City team-mate Adrian Morley, who was ruled out of the first Test this week after X-rays on the arm he broke last season, and he questioned the ability of Great Britain's Australian-born coach, David Waite, to motivate his side. "Can someone be as passionate about coaching another nation against his own? I don't know. He'll do a good job for them, but it's not something that I would be able to do.''The Australian coach Chris Anderson also had a friendly dig at his opposite number and his very different approach to the job."His sides play some good football,'' he said. "It's just the way he puts it across that's a bit complicated.''Anderson predicted a "hectic'' game at Huddersfield on Sunday "It will be very physical.
They have nothing to lose and they'll throw everything at us.''Hull have signed Chris Chester from Wigan on a three-year deal after announcing earlier this week that they had pulled out of negotiations.. Two imported coaches of national sides are preparing to do battle this weekend against the countries of their birth. One is already a hero in his adopted land; the other is David Waite. Two imported coaches of national sides are preparing to do battle this weekend against the countries of their birth.
One is already a hero in his adopted land; the other is David Waite. The quirk of the international sporting calendar that throws Waite's Great Britain rugby league squad together with Sven Goran Eriksson's England, not just on the same weekend, but at the same hotel, invites all sorts of comparisons."The parallels are there, but we are just one year into a nine- year plan," says Waite, wary of any suggestion that he could win hearts and minds as rapidly as the Swede has done."The answer to that is winning. That's the only answer in international sport." He can, he knows, only win over the critics the way Eriksson has done by achieving comparable results – and, in rugby league, that means beating Australia."We know the task," he says "I'm very, very grateful to have a crack at it. I'm fortunate to be in the position to have a crack at the world's best."Waite should know all there is to know about the excellence of the opposition in the series that starts at Huddersfield on Sunday. In a different place, at a different time, he had much to do with nurturing it.As the coach in charge of developing young players at the Newcastle Knights, it was he who got a 15-year-old Andrew Johns the treatment he needed when he was having trouble running. Ironically, Johns will be running the show from scrum-half for Australia on Sunday. "An absolutely marvellous player; the most influential player in the game today," says Waite.Other Australians, like Adam MacDougal and Matthew Gidley, passed through his hands at Newcastle, while Trent Barrett was his prot? in the St George-Illawarra side he guided to the Grand Final a little over two years ago.
