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Australian hooker Cameron Smith - Source: ONE Sport -
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England assistant coach Steve McNamara claims Australia should just cop it sweet if local official Steve Ganson is appointed to control Sunday's Four Nations final, pointing to the same tourist treatment given the Lions at last year's World Cup.
The battle for the whistle at Elland Road was again a hot topic of debate at Tuesday's press conference in Leeds as rival coaches traded barbs over the relative merits of leading contenders Ganson and Australian Shayne Hayne.
Australia's push for Hayne gained momentum when he was named the international referee of the year at a gala dinner in Leeds on Tuesday, but just what impact that has on the selection panel remains to be seen.
Their decision is likely to be handed down Wednesday (NZT), but McNamara said Australia had no ground to complain after claiming England's World Cup campaign - in which they won just their opening game against Papua New Guinea - had been crippled in similar circumstances down under.
"I think people forget we got four Australian refs last year at the World Cup in all four games," McNamara said.
"Even when we played Papua New Guinea we got an Australian ref.
"We've been through the other side of it as well and just got on with it.
"There is a difference in interpretations, there's no two ways about that, and we felt that last year we struggled to come to terms with some of those situations.
"I suppose with Australia, what goes around comes around and they're in our country now and our patch, so I suppose they have got to (put up with it) as we did there."
The Australian camp believes the fact they had to put up with Ganson's idiosyncrasies when the teams met in Wigan just over a week ago gave them the upper hand in nominating Hayne to control Saturday night's final.
"It's not a matter about a neutral referee, it's about a good referee," Australian coach Tim Sheens said.
"I don't think the refereeing standard has been great.
"I'd obviously be in favour of the Australia ref - since we played England under an England referee, I don't see why England should whinge or worry about us playing under an Australian referee.
"That's out of my hands, we'll wait and see what the powers that be do."
Hayne has played only a minor role so far this tournament with only the New Zealand-France game under his belt, and the English claim the use of the two-referee system in the NRL makes him less suitable to be the sole official this weekend.
