Rugby League: Tri-nations Series: Webcke Paddles His Own Canoe

When Australia's players were given a few days off after their win against Great Britain two weeks ago, all but two of them decamped to Prague on a trip whose cultural value could be summed up by the website through which it was booked - praguepissup.com

But not Shane Webcke. The elder statesman of the tour party, a 30-year-old Queenslander who has long been established as the best prop in the world, joined the trainer Billy Johnston and stand-off Scott Hill for a spot of extreme hiking in Scotland's far north-west.

"I think most of the boys would say I'm a bit different," Webcke explains. "When we're swapping DVDs between ourselves on tour, no one wants to borrow mine. I guess I've always been a bit of an old-fashioned bloke. It's not that I try to be different, I just enjoy different things. If I'm going to have a drink, I'd rather go to a little old pub somewhere - that's a bit more how I think."

Webcke and Hill had the last laugh on their team-mates, anyway. The Kangaroos did not enjoy Prague, with their complaints summed up by the young wing Luke Rooney, scorer of the last-gasp try that broke Britain's hearts in Manchester. "None of us liked it," he said. "There was nothing to do."

In contrast Webcke returned to the squad's Leeds base rejuvenated for tomorrow's rematch against the Lions in Wigan, having confronted his fear of heights. "I thought extreme hiking meant long-distance, not going up a bloody mountain," he admitted. "I was shitting myself - but it was still a good, challenging thing to do. We were in Applecross, a very remote little place up on the peninsula, and it was wonderful. The people were really good, and we had the most beautiful food I've had over here. It was sensational - fresh and very well cooked."

Despite his reservations about the English diet, Webcke feels at home in Leeds. This is the fourth year out of five that instead of relaxing at the end of the season - which would mean returning to the Royal Hotel, the pub he owns in his home village of Leyburn on the Darling Downs - he has subjected himself to a British autumn and winter. He is a mainstay of the teams who retained the Ashes in 2001 and 2003 after winning the 2000 World Cup.

But he reckons that the current squad have a tougher task in maintaining Australia's 34-year domination of the international game. "There ain't a player in this team who doesn't have a huge fear of failure, because Great Britain at the moment - they're a bloody good side," added Webcke - his surname reflecting the German background of his father's family.

"I sat in the dressing shed after the Manchester game and thought again, 'How did we do that?' We do have a group of guys who will go to the end. That is the strength of the Australia side, we have the belief that we can win from anywhere, and I guess that comes from playing State of Origin footy and also the NRL [National Rugby League]. But you can only go to that well so often before you come up dry.

"The British need to think a little more about just how good they are rather than whether we have an edge. They certainly have a side that's capable of beating us, and they'd do better to think about that rather than how close the gap is. They don't realise how good they are. I think they get obsessed that we sit around laughing at them, thinking we're better than them. But in the last four Tests we've needed a bit of luck to get up by the odd point."

Webcke reveals that he still has hopes of playing in the Super League, although he adds a couple of provisos which offer further evidence of his character. "I would never come over here unless I had something to offer a club. And to that end I'd think very long and hard before deciding which club I would come to. I don't see the point of coming to one of the stronger clubs after spending all my career at home with the [Brisbane] Broncos. I'd rather come if there was an opportunity to help a club on the way up."

The Broncos fell short of the grand final this year, although that was no fault of Webcke's. Even Wayne Bennett, his club and national coach, admitted this week that he was stunned when his prop defied medical expectation by playing in their semi-final against the North Queensland Cowboys less than a week after a knee operation.

"If it had been a soccer player in this country it would have been headline news for a week and filled up five of the 20 pages I read every day," noted the famously laconic Bennett.

Webcke does not view it as such a big deal. "I suppose it could be questioned why you'd want to do something like that, but if you feel part of that team, you want to have a crack at it," he said, adding matter of factly that he played in the 2000 grand final with a broken arm.

One of the enduring images of the Tri-Nations series thus far was of Webcke being taken around the head by a high tackle in the game against New Zealand at Loftus Road but shrugging it off and continuing to charge forward even as the referee penalised the Kiwi.

He was outstanding, too, in that last-gasp win at the City of Manchester Stadium, and must be a leading contender to win the golden boot which will be awarded on Monday week to the best player in the world.

That suggestion brings a chuckle. "Front-rowers don't win that, mate, tell me the last one who did. It's the playmakers who make our game. We have our role, but it's drudgery compared to your half-backs." Webcke may yet be surprised.