England coach Steve McNamara's warning for Super League clubs

England coach Steve McNamara says Super League clubs must get their financial houses in order this season.

McNamara's former club Bradford Bulls nearly went out of business last season while Salford City Reds were rescued from the brink of administration.

McNamara told BBC Sport: "Clubs must understand they can't go chasing glory all the time. It becomes too expensive and you could end up without a club."

"It's something that we need to be aware of and keep an eye on it."

A recent BBC Inside Out investigation showed that the game's top flight clubs have a combined debt of £68.5m.

McNamara added: "Our clubs are run by people with a real passion and affinity for the game and that can sometimes cloud your judgement.

"As with all business and industry you have cash-flow issues at certain times and some clubs are a little bit more successful, better structured and better organised."

But while financial issues continue to sully the sport, the former Bulls player - who became England boss in 2010 - believes there are plenty of reasons for rugby league fans to be positive about in 2013.

"It's a really important year for rugby league," he said.

"We have Magic Weekend, the Challenge Cup Final and the Grand Final - followed by the World Cup, which gives us a fantastic opportunity both on and off the field and we need to make the most of it.

"Lots of hard work goes on by people within our game and those things are starting to get recognised with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Russell Crowe and Bradley Wiggins being involved.

"The World Cup will be a springboard for us, but once we've done a great job on that we must drive forward and ensure that the momentum continues."

England's World Cup campaign starts in October with a Group A game against Australia and their preparation begins with a game against the Exiles on Friday 14 June.

McNamara added: "The domestic game is our real strength as we saw with an exhilarating first round of Super League games which threw up some really interesting results.

"But we're developing our international game all the time and I think we're in a really healthy position."