Senior and Johnson in fight to face Australia

Great Britain have two minor injury doubts for Friday's Test against Australia here, after the centres Paul Johnson and Keith Senior failed to train yesterday. Wigan's Johnson felt ill and suffered from jet-lag after the long flight from Britain, while Senior, the Leeds player who will be coach David Waite's first choice in the centres, had a sore back, probably also a legacy of the journey.

"Everyone else trained and we expect those two to be fit as well,'' said the Great Britain manager, Phil Clarke.

That is good news on two fronts, with Keiron Cunningham and Andy Farrell, two of the players the Australians respect most, apparently over their problems. Cunningham had blurred vision and a nasty cut over his eye, following St Helen's game at Hull the night before the squad set out.

"He looked really sharp in training,'' said Clarke. "Faz [Farrell] trained fully as well as Lee Gilmour, so we're pretty close to having a fully fit squad.''

The British players climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge after arriving in the city. "It was a good thing for morale,'' said Clarke. "Without us wanting to be arrogant about it, it's a good place from which to look down on Australians. That's one Australian icon we've conquered; now there's one more to go on Friday night.''

Australia will go into the match with a hint of internal dissension, as the Queensland Rugby League has insisted that Chris Anderson will be sacked as national coach whatever the result of this Test and the one against New Zealand in October. The Queenslanders claimed they only agreed to Anderson's re-appointment if it was guaranteed that this would be his last season in charge, but the Australian Rugby League has denied that any such deal was made.

Anderson, who suffered two heart attacks during the Kangaroo tour to Britain last autumn, claimed to be unconcerned about the furore. "They're always upset, the Queenslanders,'' he said.

Anderson also admitted that he had tried to sign Martin Gleeson, the St Helens centre in line to make his Test debut on Friday, for his club, Cronulla. "He was just too expensive,'' he said.

One of Britain's greatest players of recent times, Andy Gregory, was responsible for the plane carrying media and supporters to Australia taking off late from Kuala Lumpur. The former Wigan scrum-half failed to arrive for his connection and his luggage had to be unloaded.