Ellis impressed by 'worthy' Australia

Wednesday 28th October 2009

England's Sydney-based forward Gareth Ellis reckons Australia could field "two or three" teams that would all be competitive in the Four Nations.

The 28-year-old knows the Australian team as well as any of the England players having played against them for the Wests Tigers this year, and he believes coach Tim Sheens, his club boss in Sydney, has assembled the best of the best.

"It's a worthy Australian team," he said. "The thing with the Australian game is there are that many players to pick from and there is always going to be a difference of opinion."

He added: "You find there's some players who play State of Origin who don't play for Australia and the other way around because the selectors are slightly different.

"They could probably field two or three teams. What I've found is that every club has two or three superstars in their team and then there's those just underneath who are really good players as well.

"They seem to have a production line at all the clubs which is good to see from a rugby league point of view and I think England will eventually follow suit.

"It's starting to happen. It's a young squad this time around and some of them only made an impression in Super League in this last 12 months."

Ellis has not yet been asked to provide a run-down on the opposition and is happy to leave the preparation for England's one-off match at Wigan on Saturday with head coach Tony Smith.

"Tony knows pretty much what he wants to do and what he wants from us," he said. "I think sometimes it can detract from your own performance if you get too focused on the opposition.

"I think we all know what we're up against. There's some fantastic players in their side that can do a number on a team and we need to make sure we're ready for them."