Russell needs to coax best out of fair dinkum Scots

It is one of the quirks of Scotland's squad for rugby league's Lincoln World Cup this autumn that some of the most highly-qualified players in the whole tournament will be captained by a player who is no longer sure of his place at the bottom club in Super League.

It is one of the quirks of Scotland's squad for rugby league's Lincoln World Cup this autumn that some of the most highly-qualified players in the whole tournament will be captained by a player who is no longer sure of his place at the bottom club in Super League.

For Danny Russell, selection as the leader of the clan came as welcome light relief after a miserable season with the Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants. He will be the appointed chieftain of a group which includes Australian internationals such as Paul McGregor and Graham Mackay, one of the world's best full-backs in Tim Brasher - if he gets here - and the man voted the best in Super League last season, Adrian Vowles.

Russell admits it could prove a daunting squad to lead, but the Scotland coach, Shaun McRae, has shown his faith in Russell's leadership abilities. "It's a great honour, especially when you look at the players who are available," says Russell, an Australian whose grandfather hailed from just about as far north of the Border as it is possible to go - Wick.

By a far-fetched coincidence, Russell's grandparents and those of Vowles both emigrated to the same one-horse Queensland town, Charleville. "It probably means we're related. We'll have to have blood tests," he says. Having at least played for Scotland, Russell almost counts as a local, but, in the face of the inevitable criticism of a squad without a single Scots-born player, he argues that rugby league pedigree is moreimportant than their precise origins.

"When the game was developing in Australia, their first international team was full of Scots, Irish and English-born players," he says. "In a sense, it's gone full circle. I'm sure that kids here developing an interest would rather have a good side to support."

With or without Brasher, the Scots should have a team capable of competing with Ireland, the New Zealand Maoris and Samoa in the World Cup's most unpredictable group. If Scotland reach the quarter-finals, and a likely showdown with either England or Australia, it would be a major achievement. It might not do much, however, to guarantee Russell's future at club level.

If the new Huddersfield coach, Tony Smith, takes after his brother, Brian, there will be a major clear-out this winter. In fact, it has already started, with the Irish hooker Johnny Lawless among those released. In a sort of international hookers' musical chairs, Smith has signed England's Paul Rowley, as well as the Australian Ben Kusto.

"I'm under contract for another year, but I don't know what's going to happen," says Russell. "I don't think he wants three hookers." That could mean that both Russell and Lawless might be trying to earn themselves a new deal at a new club on the basis of their World Cup performances.

The same applies to Mc-Gregor, who has not played for a year following a shoulder reconstruction. His club, St George-Illawarra, have releas-ed him, so he will definitely be one of the second-generation Scots looking for a new home.