Series over, Ashes decided: but still so much to play for – not least for the head coaches of both nations at Headingley on Saturday afternoon.
We know that Australia are heading back Down Under with the Ashes still safely in their possession. The brutal truth is that in reality, that hasn’t really looked under threat at all across the last fortnight.
But how things play out in Leeds in the third and final game could well tell us a lot about the futures of both Shaun Wane and Kevin Walters. Neither are what you would categorically call under pressure, but both have interesting narratives surrounding the prospect of them leading their respective nations in the World Cup.
Let us start with the victorious coach in Walters. Before the Kangaroos had even boarded their flights to come to England, it had been reaffirmed in no uncertain terms that Walters didn’t just have to win the Ashes to stand a chance of being Australia coach in 2026. He had to dominate it.
It’s abundantly clear via his team selection this weekend that he knows that is what the remit is. Do not be fooled into any churlish stuff about him paying the ultimate respect to England in the third Test – Walters knows he has to win this series 3-0. 2-1 will likely not be enough to keep the gig.
So while the Kangaroos are not going to be playing with too much pressure on their shoulders on the field on Saturday, there is enough on Walters to make it interesting.
Then there is Wane and England.
They do need a performance. Not just for the coach – we will get onto that shortly. But to show that the gap is at least holding firm between themselves and Australia, rather than widening – which is exactly what it has felt like of late.
If England lose 3-0 on home soil, nobody will take that harder than Wane. The players are adamant he should stay, but the noise will intensify if it is to be a whitewash.
You wonder what the powerbrokers make of the decision to stay away from the publicity in Leeds this week too, with the Kangaroos taking centre stage instead and winning plenty of admirers. Wane will not care about that, and nor should he: but England do have a duty to the public at times like these.
But Wane deserves a modicum of sympathy for the shambolic build-up time he has been afforded. Ask any club CEO or executive at the RFL, and they wouldn’t hesitate to tell you how great a moment this series was supposed to be for the sport.
So if that were true, why have England been treated like second class citizens within the British game? No warm-up games, no training camps: the last time they were on a field of any kind together before this series? Last year’s second Test against Samoa. That is nothing short of embarrassing.
England were, in hindsight, doomed to fail from the start with that kind of amateurish build-up offered to Wane and his staff.
It is important context that must be factored into any decision on his future. But it won’t quieten the noise from the public if the hosts flatter to deceive again on Saturday afternoon.
Dead rubber? Not a chance.
