WAYNE Bennett insists he will not change after being branded a ‘disgrace’.
The Australian’s interviews before and after matches attracted criticism from people who said he should be promoting rugby league.
But the England boss is adamant that he will keep on doing what he has been doing for the last 40 years.
That is take charge of a side and try to turn them into winners – and he is not interested in what people think or say.
Bennett said: “I’ll tell you about promoting rugby league.
“You can talk to any marketing department and they don’t want you to be goofing off and talking it up when your team’s getting beat every week because they won’t sell it to you.
“The end result for what we all do is about how the team is performing on the football field. I’m a football coach, that’s what I am.
“My job is to get get the best out of those players and give you the best entertainment they possibly can. When that’s in place, what you say away from the game is really immaterial. That’s been my philosophy all my coaching life.
“My players and my teams are my priority and always will be. I’m not interested in cheap talk and I’m not interested in thinking I can promote the game by something I say.
“I started coaching in 1977 and they were bagging me then, and nothing’s changed in 2016.
“There’s been a lot of water under the bridge for me, and I am what I am. I don’t compromise myself or what I feel at that particular stage in time. It’s okay.
“I’m not reading it or looking for it – I wouldn’t know what papers it’s in over here. I don’t read your papers. I attend press conferences and you don’t have many more back home than we’ve had here.
“If I had a choice I wouldn’t do press conferences. It’s not what I want to do – I want to coach, that’s what my priority is and what it will always be.
“Talk is cheap. I see lots of guys doing interviews and they’re just wasting your time and space. They don’t make any sense and they’re just playing the game. I can’t play the game unfortunately.”
Bennett’s task this week means he has to get one over on his homeland if England want to reach the Four Nations final.
Aussie fans are being fed a diet of Wayne Bennett v Mal Meninga as the two coaches square off, with the latter accusing the former of undermining him.
But Bennett, who will welcome James Graham back into his side, is not getting drawn into a war of words.
He just wants England’s players to prove they have what it takes mentally to beat the world champions.
Bennett added on the Meninga claims: “I haven’t read it so it doesn’t worry me. He hasn’t said anything to me about that. I saw him on Tuesday and spent some time with him.
“I didn’t undermine him, but if that’s what he believes then that’s his prerogative.
“I don’t know if we have the self belief to beat Australia, but we’re going to find out.
“There’s lots of fallacies in what we do and that’s a fallacy – how do you tell if someone has self belief?
“They could talk tough and look tough but not play tough. It’s like losing – how do you tell if someone’s a good loser or a bad loser?”
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