The RFL's Shaun Wane comments underline how major change is needed for England to succeed
The biggest surprise is that, really, none of this is even a surprise anymore. The body that is England’s performances in the Ashes hasn’t even gone cold yet and the appetite to do something about it has dissipated from those that matters.
Or at least that’s the impression you got listening to Rugby Football League supremo Nigel Wood dissecting the series and Shaun Wane’s future with the BBC earlier this week.
To be clear: this is not a defence of Wane or a suggestion he should remain as head coach going into the World Cup. There is an argument to suggest a change would be a fair call, just as there is probably an argument he should continue.
But in true rugby league fashion, it appears the most likely call is the one rugby league has made its hallmark; at a time when things need wholesale changes now and a wider shift in focus to instil a transformation in performance.. we’re just going to wait a little bit.
“We will review all of that, like we always do,” Wood said. “This isn’t a kind of public examination of any of the coaches. We will review that in the fullness of time when the reports are received like we do at the end of every international series.”
And that’s fine: to an extent. Until it was made clear that could take two to three months. So by January – or even February, when the new Super League season kicks off – Wane could still not know if he is going to be the head coach of England in a World Cup year.
This would be laughable if it weren’t so devastatingly familiar.
Wood, to be fair, did not appoint Wane in 2020 and is probably within his rights to take his time on a decision. But at the same time, did he nor anyone at the RFL watch what happened in the build-up to the Ashes, listen to Wane’s pleas for more opportunities to get the national team together and just decide to ignore them?
It doesn’t matter who the head coach of England is as things stand. Wane, Paul Rowley, Michael Maguire – even Wood himself. They are being tasked with effectively getting blood out of a stone, and turning water into wine given the level of appalling preparation they are being afforded.
It’s a tale as old as time for the sport in this country. Wood was keen to point out that Super League is embarking on, calling the expansion to 14 teams a ‘terrific opportunity’. The reality is that expansion to 14 teams probably hampers England’s chances of competing at the highest level even more.
With no disrespect intended to clubs at the bottom end of Super League, Wane was on the money last week after the Headingley Test when he pointed out one of the major differences between NRL and Super League talent is that the former get far more opportunities to play in Test match standard rugby league.
With three more teams coming up and the player pool arguably getting weaker, the best English players still in this country will be getting exposed to weaker standards of rugby league at club level, not stronger.
But that’s a side note here. Where the issues lie is that if you read between the lines, there is once again going to be no mid-season opportunity for England to play a game.
No mid-year training camp. No training sessions. Just the same handful of ‘off-feet meet-ups’ which Wane was given this year and expected to perform miracles with. Once again, this is not a defence of the England head coach – he made mistakes during the series without question – but he or anyone in this position is working with one hand behind their backs.
And the lackadaisical approach from the governing body to the national team is at the root of the problems. They pre-date Wood, but he has an opportunity here to show he’s serious about England being competitive.
Get it into the calendar that England’s train-on squad are afforded some time together. Heck, they could even go Down Under and play someone in a mid-season Test if we were that serious about actually competing in a World Cup. It’s not a silver bullet and wouldn’t guarantee success: but it wouldn’t harm those chances.
If Super League clubs are without their best players for one or two games, then so be it. The game has to decide what it wants: a strong England that could lead to tangible growth for Super League in the years to come, or a Super League that suffocates the life out of the national team.
Just a reminder: we are about six or seven weeks away from heading into a World Cup year. England have no plans, no preparation and seemingly no head coach locked in place.
How does anyone think things could discernibly change for the better in a year’s time with this level of attention to detail?
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