Former England, Hull KR and NRL star gives Ashes verdict with Shaun Wane prediction made

A former England, Hull KR and NRL star has given his Ashes verdict with a prediction made on Shaun Wane’s future following England’s 3-0 series loss.

In truth, very few outside of the England camp will have predicted anything else, but the fact Australia weren’t anywhere close to their best yet managed to complete a comfortable clean sweep will agonise England.

Reece Walsh lit up the first Test, Cam Munster worked his magic in Liverpool, and Australia punished England at Headingley, but to say Australia were anywhere close to their best would be false.

Whilst England stuck with them, they never once led in the 240 minutes and they didn’t offer much genuine threat with the only tries all series being a scoot from dummy-half that when the defender switched off, and George Williams score on Saturday after Jez Litten’s moment of individual brilliance.

A total of 18 points across three games highlights one of several deficiencies for England and former Hull KR and NRL man Josh Hodgson has now spoken about what England lacked, whilst also giving his verdict on Shaun Wane.

Former Hull KR hooker assesses England selection after Ashes loss

Looking ahead to next year’s World Cup, the former Hull KR man has called for each and every player to raise their standards, but suggested that Shaun Wane will remain in charge.

On changes and regrets, Hodgson told Fox Sports: “Probably tactically there’ll be some things they would like to change looking back at it, but I think it just gives them that level of understanding, how long the Australians can stay at such a high pace.

“It’ll probably give the English boys a bit of a thing to say, that I want to go to another level the following year. We’ve got a World Cup, and if we want to win it, everyone individually needs to go up a little bit more.”

Hodgson pointed to the sport’s smaller profile as a key reason why England lack depth, as he added: “It’s been a tough camp, but I think they’ll get a lot of lessons from this and I imagine Shaun Wane will stay.”

As for selection, Hodgson picked out a number of players who could have played more or weren’t even selected, including Jake Connor, though he sided with Wane to an extent.

“If you’re a coach, you’ve got to pick the team that you think’s going to do the job, and you can’t cater to everybody, because then if you get beat, you’ll be looking back with a bit of regret, so Shaun’s got to pick the team.”

Hodgson argued that Morgan Smithies should have featured in the first game, before naming Matty Nicholson, Luke Thompson and Connor as others, with Connor’s omission a “surprising one”.

Looking ahead to the World Cup, the ex-Hull KR and NRL man picked out one man who can step up for 2026:  “It’s going to be a big 12 months for us. Morgan Knowles coming out here to the Dolphins, I think that’ll help us.”

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