New England coach Wayne Bennett is to have a full-time assistant, the Rugby Football League (RFL) has decided.

Widnes coach Denis Betts was appointed in April as a part-time assistant and Bennett had also retained the services of former St Helens fullback Paul Wellens.

The veteran Australian is set to have a right-hand man based full-time at the RFL’s Leeds headquarters at Red Hall.

“We have no one specifically in mind,” a RFL spokesman said. “It will be an all-year-round appointment.”

The RFL has advertised the role, setting a deadline for applications of Friday week, and says the appointment will include a fixed-term contract to the end of the 2017 World Cup.

Bennett, succeeding Steve McNamara in February, has also appointed two members of his Brisbane NRL backroom staff, Jeremy Hickmans and Scott Barker, to his growing England team.

His first match will be against France in Avignon on October 22, a week before England open their 2016 Four Nations Series campaign against New Zealand in Huddersfield.

Bennett has opted to ditch St George’s Park as the squad’s training base and will use a selection of venues near to where the matches are being played.