Smith: Aussie trip worth

The Wolves fly out to Sydney on Saturday with a 25-strong squad and full support staff for a training camp, culminating in a friendly match against actor Russell Crowe's South Sydney at Redfern Oval on Saturday, January 28.

The team play their first Super League match against Hull at the KC Stadium six days later, with Smith admitting they could be under the weather. He said: "We weighed it all up - a three-week training camp in Australia against the risk of arriving six days before the competition starts - and we're happy to take the three weeks and the experience our players will gain."

He added: "If it means that we're a bit jaded for the first game - which I doubt we will be - we'll see it as a real good challenge for us and we'll roll our sleeves up as we do when we encounter any problems.

"If it means we drop a game or two, we feel it's still worthwhile. However, we're not prepared to drop a game or two."

In addition to training in perfect conditions by swapping an English winter for an Australian summer, Smith feels the trip will have long-term benefits for both his players and coaching team.

"We're doing some real alternative things and looking at other sports," he added.

"As well as decent training and playing a game against South Sydney, we're also training with the Sydney Swans for a couple of days and training with some surf life-savers on the beach and there are options to train with Olympic swimmers and boxers.

"On top of that, all 10 of my staff will go into various organisations while we're there to learn and bring back experiences from other sports.

"So there will be benefits for the staff and the players even after this trip has finished."