JOE Westerman hopes to push his England claims in front of the man looking on from the opposition dugout – national coach Wayne Bennett.
The Warrington ace still has an international dream, even though his loose-forward position sees competition from Sean O’Loughlin and Sam Burgess.
And he can think of no better way of furthering his chances for a World Cup call than contributing to a miserable night for Bennett when he faces his Brisbane Broncos side tomorrow.
Then following it up with strong performances for the rest of the season, unlike last year.
Westerman said: “One of my goals is to play in the World Cup and I’ll only get that by playing well for Warrington every week.
“There’s no better place to do that, really, than when the England coach is watching from the stand.
“He’ll be there watching and if I play well, he’ll have seen it with his own eyes.
“The competition at loose forward is massive but I’m sure people will get picked on how they’ve played, not who they are.
“If I’m in form at that time and playing better than the opposition players, I’ll be hoping he picks me.
“Then there’s injuries to consider, so you never really know. If someone gets injured or if I’m playing better than someone, that’s how it will be.
“But there are such good English players out there, I’ve got to be performing well week in, week out.
“Last year wasn’t such a bad year for me but my consistency wasn’t where I wanted to be. I didn’t have a pre-season last year, whereas this year I’ve had a full one and feel really good.”
Much is being made of Super League v NRL as Warrington and Wigan battle against Brisbane and Cronulla.
The World Club Series has reduced from three games to two because of the Aussies’ reluctance to travel after winning the last eight encounters with Super League sides.
And Westerman admits that if he had the choice, he would rather win a major domestic honour, even though the Wolves are aiming to beat the Broncos.
The 27-year-old added: “People hype things up and this is massive for the game, but it’s not the be all and end all.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want to win a World Club Series game but if I got asked would I rather win this or at Wembley or the Grand Final, I’d probably say the latter.
“But our goal at the moment is to win this game.”
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