England coach Wayne Bennett admits he wants to coach the Kangaroos again

ENGLAND-bound Wayne Bennett has declared he still harbours “aspirations” to coach the Kangaroos again one day.

ENGLAND-bound Wayne Bennett has declared he still has an itch to coach Australia again one day.

Bennett flies out on Thursday to go into camp with the England team he will coach in the Four Nations tournament, starting his self-assumed mission to help the profile of international rugby league.

Bennett, who has coached Australia in two stints, wanted the Australian coaching job given to Mal Meninga late last year and admits he retains “aspirations’’ to head up the Kangaroos again.

Meninga is appointed through to the end of 2019.

“I wanted it but I didn’t get the job,’’ Bennett told The Courier-Mail.

FRIEND SHOWS LIFE AFTER CAM

Bennett wants to swap red, white and blue for green and gold. Jan Kruger/Getty Images.

“I have aspirations. It’s still there today - it hasn’t gone away. I love the green and gold and what it stands for.

“I didn’t get the job so the choice was there to be dirty on the world or talk to England, who’ve been at me for five years to do the job.

“There’s a lot of passion in this England side, I can tell you, and I thought, `Surely I can give them a hand and hopefully make a difference’.

“There’s a World Cup next year and there’ll be a lot of hype building and it’s very important to us as a sport. We are more cynical in Australia than anywhere and I want to show that if international rugby league means something to me it will hopefully mean something to someone else.’’

The direct route for Bennett, 66, to coaching the Kangaroos again would be to win a tournament or two in his two-year contract with his underdog England side.

Bennett said he was the sole selector of the 24-man England squad, which included eight players at NRL clubs, although he consulted some English judges.

He said the headline-grabbing match-up with his former Brisbane Souths and Canberra captain Meninga was “one of the reasons’’ he agreed to coach England.

England play Australia on November 13 at London’s Olympic Stadium.

Meninga believes Bennett will have something to prove. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Meninga told The Courier-Mail that Bennett would feel he has a “few points to prove’’ as England coach, something his former mentor said he disagrees with.

“I’m not out there to prove something - I coach the Broncos every day of the week,’’ Bennett said.

“Good bad or indifferent, we are talking about this series. We are in a hell of a competitive industry in sport now.

“When it’s all over, Mal and I will look each other in the eye, shake hands and we’ll have a friendship we’ve had for longer than 40 years.

“I’ve always been proud of what Mal has achieved. He’ll be competitive. I’ll be competitive. He knows I haven’t changed.’’