England rugby league coach Steve McNamara must be sitting in his training camp down under and thinking: ‘Thank goodness, this time it’s not me.”

Despite having a great 2013 World Cup, being denied a place in the final in the dying seconds of a last-four showdown against New Zealand at Wembley, the former Giants player was dogged by tales of disruption in the camp and having to leave out players and then drop others – all because of failing to meet the disciplinary standards he had set for his squad.

England head into the Four Nations tournament in Australia and New Zealand with the boot very much on the other foot.

They open their tournament at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Saturday against Samoa, and this time it is the opposition who are in disarray.

Members of the Samoan squad, which includes former Giants forward David Fa’alogo, have landed themselves in hot water over the weekend.

Reports from Brisbane have said that Tautau Moga, the North Queensland Cowboys centre, was arrested after a brawl in a club in the city’s Fortitude Valley.

Even more exciting was the revelation by coach Steve Parish, formerly supremo at Salford in Super League, who said: “A disagreement broke out at the Hot Gossip nightclub.”

For those of you in the same age bracket as me, this summons up some interesting images.

In a slightly surreal way this all paints pictures of South Sea Island rugby league players slugging it out while Sarah Brightman’s raunchy dance troupe wiggle away with Kenny Everett doing his ‘It’s all in the best possible taste’ routine in front of them.

But seriously it does rather take the focus away from an England side who will want to take things a step further down under and reach the final – so they can give it a shot in a one-off winner-takes-all contest at the Westpac Stadium, Wellington, on Saturday, November 15.

A win there could give our game a long needed confidence boost at international level.

England players having steadily been gaining kudos and the fact that we go into the opening game with five players who are arguably playing in their own NRL backyard in Sam Tomkins (New Zealand Warriors), Gareth Widdop (St George Illawarra Dragons), stand-in skipper James Graham (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs) and the Burgess brothers George and Tom (both South Sydney Rabbitohs) should give reason for some confidence.

Attention has also been brought to the fact that Australia are ‘weakened’ by notable absentees.

Coach Tim Sheens is without the services of full-back Billy Slater and goal-kicking half back Johnathan Thurston, who was the Dally M Medal joint-winner this season with Parramatta full-back Jarryd Hayne, who are both ruled out by shoulder injuries.

However, the problem with trying to discuss the Kangaroos being put at some kind of disadvantage by injuries always turns out to be somewhat erroneous, as their star turns are generally replaced with someone almost as good who has been sitting in the wings just waiting to get his chance in the Green and Gold.

It promises to be an interesting fortnight, and I have just a sneaking feeling that if McNamara can continue to keep the focus on playing rugby then his England side might just surprise a few people.