State of the Nation: Wayne Bennett is left with World Cup mountain to climb

However, given that the revered Australian is regarded as the greatest coach the sport has seen means – despite failing to reach the Ladbrokes Four Nations final during an insipid first tournament in charge – he has a little leeway to prove his worth.

That said, considering an embarrassing episode just before Christmas, you would understand if the 67-year-old decided to ditch trying to turn England into a force and concentrated solely on his club, Brisbane Broncos.

One of Bennett’s main wishes for 2017 was to take around 18 Super League-based players on a 12-day training camp in Dubai later this month as part of preparations for the World Cup Down Under at the end of the season.

Granted, he initially got that wish – and a mid-season international against Samoa in Sydney in May – but then, after various Super League clubs voiced their displeasure, and despite it having long been organised with selected players already notified, the RFL cancelled it on December 22.

Apparently, following discussions with clubs, the England coaching staff and RFL reflected on all views and concluded the plans in place “would not deliver what was initially expected”.

You can understand some club coaches venting their frustration given the disruption the trip could have caused to their season and also the fact Bennett would only be on the trip himself for a handful of days due to his commitments preparing Brisbane for the new NRL campaign.

Nevertheless, having employed the sport’s finest coach to, hopefully, end a woeful record of not winning a major tournament for 45 years, you would think the governing body would back Bennett in whatever he sees fit. If, ultimately, he does fail to lead them to a first World Cup since Great Britain’s win in 1972, those who bemoan the continued lack of success can have few arguments.

Admittedly, last year was a poor return for his first campaign since replacing Steve McNamara.

In that Four Nations, they lost to New Zealand – by a single point having turned down numerous chances to go for a drop goal – and then, in far less dramatic fashion, were vanquished by Australia.

It left the English public underwhelmed by Bennett’s impact and given McNamara oversaw a series victory versus the Kiwis in 2015 before being perhaps harshly ejected, it is easy to believe the national side has gone backwards.

Granted, Bennett’s main remit is success in the 2017 World Cup and, on that basis, he does have time to prove his critics wrong.

But once more England have concerns over their half-backs with Bennett having tried four different combinations in as many weeks last autumn and, arguably, being still none the wiser.

The lack of guile and game-management there is only highlighted further when looking at Australia’s destruction of the Kiwis in the Four Nations final.

The kicking prowess of Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk was remarkable and England are left desperately counting down the days until the stellar 33-year-olds retire. That said, the same was uttered about their predecessors, Darren Lockyer and Andrew Johns – Australia just keep on reproducing brilliant half-back exponents.

It will be interesting to see what approach Bennett takes with Wigan Warriors loose-forward Sean O’Loughlin, the England captain who missed the Four Nations injured and will turn 35 before the World Cup is over.

Sam Burgess replaced O’Loughlin as captain and No 13 and, though England’s poster boy failed to light up the Four Nations on his return from rugby union, you fancy him to do so in 2017.

Furthermore, what to do with Sam Tomkins? Another absent with injury last autumn, he was lucky to be in the squad to start with given the Wigan full-back’s blatant lack of form following his own return from the NRL.

Jonny Lomax, the St Helens No 1, came in to make his Test debut during 2016 and quietly impressed while Zak Hardaker will look to shine following his move from Leeds Rhinos to Castleford.

At the World Cup, England open against Australia in Melbourne (October 27) before facing Lebanon in Sydney (November 4) and France in Perth (November 12) before the last-eight knockout phase, the final being in Brisbane on December 2.

All of the previous three finals, though, have been contested between Australia and New Zealand. The harsh reality is, whatever progress is made under Bennett during the 12 months ahead, they have a mountainous task to change that status.