England head coach Shaun Wane has insisted that the national team may never truly be able to bridge the gap to the likes of Australia while the Super League schedule continues in its current guise.
The hosts head to Headingley on Saturday afternoon looking to avoid a series whitewash in the Ashes, having been beaten in the opening two Test matches in London and Liverpool.
The disappointment surrounding the series will undoubtedly raise questions about Wane’s future ahead of next year’s Rugby League World Cup, but it has also prompted a debate about how little a priority the national team appears to be in England.
It remains eminently possible that this weekend’s third and final Test in Leeds will be the final game England play before next year’s World Cup. They may not even get a training session together, due to Super League’s calendar asking so much of players and clubs not allowing players to have more time with England mid-season.
Wane admits that schedule, in comparison to what Australia’s players are exposed to, has two major flaws. One is the amount of games English players take part in, while the other is the lack of intensity in many of them compared to the NRL and State of Origin.
Speaking on Thursday, Wane delivered a passionate plea to the governing body, saying: “Our players are playing 30-odd games.. reasons like that are going to hinder your performance at the end of the season.
“When you’re playing that many games and their players are playing 10 Test-like games with Origin and their finals series, that is going to be a massive advantage for them. If we want to nail our international calendar, we need to play teams like Australia more often on a more level playing field.
“Our players will be back in training in four weeks. They’re back in for pre-season. Their players will be getting nine or ten weeks off.
“They have byes through the season.. we play ten more games than them on average. It’s just really tough what we ask of our players. I get it, there’s a commercial aspect to it all. But they want us to turn up in a World Cup and just perform. George (Williams), for example, will get four weeks off. That’s it.
“They’re playing Origin. They’re playing ten games of Test standard. We don’t get together until the start of the World Cup and we’re expected to do something. I’m not moaning about it because that’s a fact – nobody can argue that’s not the way it is. If they want us to be better, we need to be together more.”
Wane is under contract for 2026 through to the World Cup, but he admitted he had been told ‘nothing’ about whether or not he will get a mid-season game next year, or whether he will be allowed more time with his squad.
He said: “I’ve heard nothing. I’d love to get all the players together for more than an off-feet session. I didn’t even have that.
“It’s been tough, but it makes me admire the players a bit more when you consider what we’ve had and what we’ve come up with. We don’t play enough intense rugby. There’s Hull KR, Wigan, our derbies.. but we just don’t play enough intense games.”
