Australia were holding out last night for Shayne Hayne, the leading Australian referee, to take charge of the Gillette Four Nations final against England after a day of politicking over the appointment for Saturday’s encounter at Elland Road.

Hayne was named at the international player awards in Leeds yesterday as referee of the year, but a three-man appointments panel from England, Australia and New Zealand was split down country lines as to who should officiate on Saturday.

Tim Sheens, the Australia coach, said that he was unhappy with refereeing standards in the tournament. The referee for Australia’s group games against New Zealand and England was Steve Ganson, the leading British official, who has been nominated for the final by Stuart Cummings, the RFL director of officials.

Robert Finch, the Australia referees co-ordinator, has backed Hayne for the appointment, which left the casting vote to Ian Mackintosh, of New Zealand, who threw a spanner in the works by opting for Leon Williamson, his countryman.

Despite the stalemate, the RFL insisted that an appointment would be made today. In all likelihood it will be Hayne, who in the past month has refereed only the Four Nations match between France and New Zealand and Sunday’s European Cup final between Wales and Scotland. England are happy to abide by whichever decision is made. “We’ve been asked our opinion and we’ve passed that on to the people who make those decisions,” Steve McNamara, the assistant coach, said. Australia, though, have been more forthright about Hayne’s appointment. “There’s obviously some politics involved here,” Sheens said. “We just want the best referee.”

According to Cummings that is Ganson, whom he described as the form referee and most experienced at international level, while he said that Hayne was more familiar with the two-referee system that is exclusive to the NRL. Geoff Carr, the Australia Rugby League chief executive, countered: “I guess the view of the Australians is they’ve seen a bit much of Ganson. They had him two games in a row and there were some issues there.” Australia’s preferred second choice is Thierry Alibert, the British-based French official.

McNamara hinted that Kevin Sinfield would be retained at hooker after his man-of-the-match performance in Saturday’s 20-12 defeat of New Zealand, although the Leeds Rhinos captain was named in his more familiar position as loose forward of the year at the international awards ceremony.

Gareth Ellis, the West Tigers and former Leeds forward, was named at second row in the international team of the year and a third England player, Ryan Hall, on the wing. Hall, 21, of Leeds, the engage Super League top tryscorer this year, was also named rookie of the year.