England coach unconcerned by bad blood between star duo
- Published
McNamara explains England Four Nations squad selection
England coach Steve McNamara is confident that Jon Wilkin and Ryan Bailey can put their differences aside for their country in the Four Nations.
St Helens' Wilkin hit out at Leeds prop Bailey for his post-match celebrations at Saturday's Grand Final.
Wilkin accused his opponent of behaving like a 'child', but McNamara is not worried about the bad blood.
"I can't see an issue with it but we'll speak about it when we get together," said McNamara.
Wilkin was scathing of Bailey's antics following his side's 32-16 defeat to the Rhinos, external.
Speaking to the League Weekly newspaper, external, he said: "I thought 16 of their players were possibly the most gracious people in victory and lovely fellas as well.
"But the way Ryan Bailey behaved - I'm embarrassed for him as a human being.
"He's playing a man's game but I've never seen such a child play a man's game before in my life.
"Watch the tapes - he celebrates, he whoops, he squares up to our younger lads. That's no way for a professional sportsman to conduct himself."
England will meet France in a warm-up game next week, before kicking off their Four Nations campaign against Wales at Leigh on 29 October (1430 BST).
They will also meet Australia (Wembley, 5 November, 1530 BST) and New Zealand (KC Stadium, 12 November, 1800 BST) in the end-of-season competition.
"I think Ryan Bailey has probably got under the skin of more players than anybody else in the competition and that's part of his attraction," said McNamara.
"Jon was obviously disappointed and things get said in the heat of the moment after a game.
"I remember playing with Graeme Bradley, who was probably the most hated man ever to play rugby league but, once people got to work with him, they had a different opinion of him."