Sky Sports pundit and ex-Great Britain international Brian Carney has slammed the action of England head coach Shaun Wane across the Ashes series, following England’s 3-0 whitewash.
In an explosive column written for the Super League broadcaster’s website, Carney described this – and the World Cup campaign in 2022 – as ‘catastrophic’, before saying the England team looked ‘paralysed’ by fear throughout the three-Test series against the Kangaroos.
His words come with pressure piling on England boss Wane over his future, despite him insisting he is the right man for the job.
“I don’t believe, I know I am,” Wane told the media when asked on his future after Saturday’s 30-8 defeat in the third and final Test at Headingley.
“The only people who I want (the backing of) is the players and staff, and I know I’ve got that.”
‘If Wane was embarrassed in 2020 about England not beating Australia in so long, he must be incandescent now’
Carney pulled no punches in his column, which was more than 870 words in its entirety.
The pundit wrote: “Shaun Wane’s own words have come home to roost.
“Wane in February 2020 said, ‘if I don’t get to a World Cup final and win, it’s a disaster. We haven’t beaten Australia for a long time and I’m embarrassed by that. And if we don’t beat them, it’s on me’
“In the end, Wane didn’t just set the bar, he fashioned the trapdoor beneath it. Those were his words, not anyone else’s.
“Fast forward to 2025 and Australia return for the first Ashes series in years.
“A golden chance again for the game on these shores to fire up the sporting public’s imagination. Instead, the Kangaroos left with a clean sweep and England barely left clutching the usual consolation prize of “effort”.
“Three defeats, three below-par performances, just two tries in 240 minutes of rugby league. If Wane was embarrassed in 2020 about England not beating Australia in so long, he must be incandescent now.
“At times, Wane’s passion seems to have curdled into obstinacy. He talks about ‘English grit’ as if it were a secret weapon, but grit without craft is just friction.
“His side looked rigid, predictable, and joyless. For a man who once demanded England ‘play without fear’, his team look paralysed by it.
“And by his own measure, the two most important campaigns of his six years in charge have been nothing short of catastrophic.”
‘In sport, as in politics, when your own words become your best critic, the argument is usually over’
Carney continued to use Wane‘s own words against him in his column, insisting the RFL must ‘know’ whether he remains the right man for the job heading into next year’s World Cup.
“He (Wane) ‘knew’ plenty of things, of course,” Carney wrote.
“He ‘knew’ the out-of-form players he picked would deliver. They didn’t. He ‘knew’ his spine was right – until he changed three of those four positions after one game.
“Now, it’s the RFL who must ‘know’.
“Do they double down on loyalty, or acknowledge that the ‘disaster’ Wane once warned of has already arrived and, by his own admission, it’s on him?
“Because in sport, as in politics, when your own words become your best critic, the argument is usually over.
“There are of course much broader issues at play in the game over here. Including their focus on the international game the RFL must decide if more of the same will deliver different results and if they are happy with keeping their fingers crossed for that.
“The alternative is to draw a line in the sand and make this period the cliff edge we refused to get pushed over. The next few months will be telling.”
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