Cullen enters running for Lancashire coaching job

The Warrington coach, Paul Cullen, says he would be proud to take charge of Lancashire in this year's Origin Matches if, as expected, he is asked to do so.

Cullen is in line for the job after the Great Britain coach, David Waite, and St Helens' Ian Millward decided not to oversee the county side this season.

"I spoke to David a number of weeks ago about whether I would be involved, either with Ian or by myself,'' Cullen said. "I would be very, very proud to continue my connection with Lancashire after being assistant to Ian last year.''

Cullen does not feel that the appointment would distract him from his work with Warrington, who have won two of their first three games in Super League. "Having a working relationship with those senior international players can only be a great thing for me,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Cullen will not take the Warrington captaincy away from Lee Briers, despite his arrest for drink-driving after Sunday's game in London. Briers was banned from driving for 18 months yesterday but Cullen said that any action from the club would be kept in-house.

Warrington expect to field an unchanged team on Sunday against Hull, who will still be without their goal-kicking winger Matt Crowther. Better injury news for the Humberside club is that Warren Jowitt has had a successful pelvic operation which should cure his long-running injury problems.

The Wigan chairman, Maurice Lindsay, has called for the overseas quota to be cut to two players per club. It is to be reduced from five to three by 2005, but Lindsay believes it should come down further in order to foster young British talent.

Halifax's Cumbrian forward Paul Davidson was relieved to discover yesterday that he did not suffer a broken arm in Sunday's game at Bradford.

Cumbria's three professional clubs – Barrow, Workington and Whitehaven – all want to host the county's game against New Zealand A this autumn.