WIGAN Athletic chairman Dave Whelan is never short of an opinion.

Writing earlier this week in his MEN column, Whelan had a swipe at the England soccer boss Fabio Capello.

Whelan maintains England should always have an Englishman at the helm. He no doubt thinks the same should apply with the England rugby league team who are about to head off to Australia for the World Cup.

They will be led in to battle by a man called Smith but this Tony Smith in question is an Australian who will be very much in the spotlight.

He has taken out British citizenship but that won't appease the Sydney hacks who will follow his every move from the moment he steps off the plane.

Smith is a good coach with a fine record but the fact an Aussie is coaching England doesn't mix with many traditionalists within the rugby league heartlands.

Smith can sometimes appear smug and has been criticised for seeming to lack the kind of passion needed to make the English lads feel 10 feet tall - especially when they play Australia.

His voice drones and he always looks like the smartest kid in the class, the one who found the end-of-term exams the proverbial piece of cake.

The World Cup will be the biggest test of his skill and character and Smith may well have to put his thinking cap on more times than he envisages.

It's about time more English coaches were given the chance to shine not only at the highest level but also at club level.

Not one single English coach is in charge of an RL club in Australia yet our game continues to be flooded with an Antipodean influence.

The World Cup will soon be upon us but it has hardly stirred the imagination as yet.

Marketing has been disappointing and not many school children have been spotted swapping cards for commemorative sticker books.

Could its lack of profile be due to the fact it will be covered on satellite television? If this was the rugby union World Cup, a totally different picture would be being painted by now.

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