It has been a long time between drinks – 22 years to be exact. The Ashes were last staged in 2003, meaning more than two decades have elapsed without international rugby league’s greatest rivalry, a wait which finally ends on Saturday at Wembley. For Shaun Wane, the wait must have felt like an eternity.
If you were fortunate enough to be there when Wane was appointed as England coach in February 2020, it is easy to remember that he could not hide his delight that his first assignment was an Ashes series that autumn. Of course, within weeks the world had ground to a halt due to Covid-19 and the chance of taking on Australia on home soil disappeared.
Five years later Wane and England finally get the opportunity. The challenge remains as daunting as it was in 2003, with the all‑conquering world champion Kangaroos heavy favourites and hoping to continue their dominance. England, incidentally, are bidding for a first series win since 1970.
Wane and his players have spoken about fearing they would never get to experience an Ashes series, something many England greats across the past two decades have missed out on. And the public response has been huge too; Saturday will be the biggest attendance in England for an Ashes Test, with the subsequent games at Everton and Leeds sold out months ago.
Wane will unleash some new stars on the Kangaroos in a bid to end England’s wait for a win, with Mikey Lewis aiming to take his reputation as Super League’s most exciting player to the international stage. But there is undoubtedly an element of taking a step backwards and relying on experience to go toe‑to‑toe with the old enemy.
Nobody epitomises that better than a man who has had to wait eight years to pull on an England shirt again. At 35, Alex Walmsley is the senior statesman of this squad and while his inclusion is undoubtedly on merit after his performances for St Helens this season, there is no mistaking the fact that he is in to provide an element of having been there and seen it first-hand.
The 34-year-old Kallum Watkins is also involved for the first time since 2022, while Joe Burgess gets a first call-up in 10 years. Neither of those two have made Wane’s final 19-man squad for the opening Test, but their presence suggests Wane has consciously made sure this squad have the experience, as well as the ability, to deliver.
“I’ll be honest, I thought my international career was done and I think a few people did too judging by the reaction to the squad announcement,” Walmsley says. “I’m probably one of the only ones in this squad old enough to remember that 2003 series clearly. I’m a bit older than some lads now but hopefully not too old.”
But there is also another overwhelmingly deliberate tactic in Wane’s squad. The last time an Ashes series was played, Englishmen playing in the NRL were almost nonexistent. This year, nine of the 24 have experience of Australia’s elite competition with another, St Helens’ Morgan Knowles, heading there in 2026.
Some, like the Dolphins centre Herbie Farnworth – born in a village on the outskirts of Burnley and who rejected overtures from Manchester United as a child to take up rugby league – have lit up the NRL this year. Others, like veteran forward John Bateman, step on to the biggest stage determined to prove they can still take on the world’s best.
One new face is AJ Brimson, who has declared his allegiance to England despite previously representing Queensland in State of Origin. Brimson, whose mother was born in London and who has family in Windsor, may now get the chance to feature at some stage in Saturday’s opener at Wembley.
He says: “I’ve always loved England but I didn’t know if I was ever going to get the chance to do it. I’ve got to earn the respect of the players but the fans too. It’s a big thing, having an Aussie come over here and play for England. I know the task I have ahead of me but the excitement I have to represent England is huge.”
England Welsby; Young, Wardle, Farnworth, Johnstone; Lewis, Williams; McMeeken, Clark, Walmsley, Pearce-Paul, Bateman, Knowles. Interchange Brimson, Havard, Trout, Lees.
Australia Walsh; Nawaqanitawase, Staggs, Shibasaki, Addo-Carr; Munster, Cleary; Carrigan, Grant, Fa’asuamaleaui, Crichton, Young, Yeo. Interchange Dearden, Collins, Cotter, Koloamatangi.
Referee L Moore (England)
England great Sam Tomkins, who is with the squad as part of Wane’s support staff, ruffled some feathers this week by saying in a snippet captured by England’s social media team: “This means more to us than it does to them.”
Whatever the outcome over the next three weekends, life will probably continue as normal in the NRL. But for English rugby league, the chance to achieve something no group of players have managed in 55 years seems like an opportunity to shift the tectonic plates. Wane knows that: now it is down to his men to deliver and ensure we do not have to wait 22 years to see it again.
