Elliott Whitehead is eager to run out alongside his international teammates at the World Cup Nines at Bankwest Stadium this weekend.
Whitehead recently spent the past week away from football to refresh himself for this weekend’s tournament as well as the Great Britain Lions tour which starts later this month.
“It’s been a good week so far, I’ve caught up with the team now after joining camp a bit late and hopefully we can put in some good performances this weekend,” Whitehead said.
The Canberra second-rower is keen to out the disappointment of the 2019 NRL Grand Final result behind him this weekend however he admits that his Raiders teammates will take a lot out of the season that was.
“Obviously it was a shame with how our season ended but we’re looking at the positives, we achieved something that a lot of people didn’t think we could do, and we’ll take a lot from the grand final and hopefully we’ll be there next year.”
The Bradford junior is excited to play alongside his international teammates this weekend and is hoping his teammates from the Super League back home in England can show the Australian public what they have got in their arsenal.
“There’s some great talent in the England side, especially with the guys playing in the Super League. It’s a great chance for the players based there to come out here and show the Australian fans what they’ve got.”
Whitehead is also relishing the prospect of lining up with Canberra’s new signing George Williams in the England set-up.
“George is a superstar in his own way, he’s good at creating chances and this weekend will be a great opportunity to showcase some of the skills he’s got and no doubt the Canberra fans will be keeping a close eye on him.”
With this weekend’s tournament the sole focus for the week ahead, Whitehead admits that his attention will completely turn to the upcoming Lions tour at the conclusion of the Nines.
“We’ve been building over the last few years for this, there’s a lot of the English lads in the Great Britain team. We want to wear that Lions jersey with pride. We’ve got some hard matches coming up against Tonga and New Zealand as well as Papua New Guinea but as soon as we finish here at the Nines our focus will shift straight away to that first match against Tonga.”
“Pulling on the Great Britain jersey is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve now get the chance to play in that jersey, there’s a lot of great back-rowers in this side and ill be training really hard ti make sure I get selected.”
