He doesn't know if Ricky Stuart should resign as Australian coach, but predecessor Wayne Bennett says he can understand the pressure the Kangaroos boss is feeling.
Stuart has come under fire following Australia's shock loss to New Zealand in last month's World Cup final and his allegedly abusive outburst at referee Ashley Klein in a hotel lobby the day.
Speaking on his first day at training with new club St George Illawarra, Bennett, who himself resigned as Test coach following the 2005 Tri Nations defeat to the Kiwis, said leading the Kangaroos was different to any other job in the game.
Asked if Stuart should quit, Bennett said: "That's not my call.
"It's a pretty lonely feeling coaching Australia, it's a different thing to coaching anyone else.
"The challenge lies in the fact Australia has got such an inevitable record.
"When you lose a game it's just a whole different feeling, you feel that you've kind of failed a little bit.
"It's not that you can't coach. If you lose a State of Origin game, that hurts enormously but Queensland coaches have lost Origin games before.
"Test series and World Cups, Australian coaches haven't lost too many of them."
The two coaches have endured a tense relationship since Stuart succeeded Bennett at the helm of the Kangaroos and declared he would bring the passion back to the Australian jersey.
But Bennett, an assistant with New Zealand during the World Cup, laughed off a suggestion he might consider reapplying for the Kangaroos job if it became available.
"No, I've had that job. I resigned because I felt that I didn't do a good enough job in that last tour.
"My priority is right here right now at St George."
