As Mikey Lewis beat Harry Smith to a spot in England’s halves for the opening Ashes Test, coach Shaun Wane has admitted compiling withering “lowlights reels” for every member of his squad – and screening many of them in front of the team in a deliberately “harsh” and “brutal” manner.
Wane named his 19-strong squad in alphabetical order on Thursday for Saturday’s opening encounter with Australia at Wembley Stadium.
And there was no room for Wigan’s 25-year-old veteran of six Tests Smith, meaning Hull KR’s Lewis – the 2025 Rob Burrow Award winner as man of the match in the Super League grand final – has won a spot at the scrum base alongside captain George Williams.
If England can stop Australia’s run of successive Ashes series victories at 13, Wane’s merciless psychological preparation will have been deemed a success.
He told NRL.com he had personally kept video dossiers of every player’s errors and poor play this season, cutting up as many as 40 savage blooper tapes.
“Every player, every player,” Wane said. “I suppose it does sound negative but they just weren’t English standard. I know them things I saw during the Super League season – if we do that on Saturday, we won’t win.
“It was harsh but at the end of it, if and when we have success, they’ll understand why it was so.
“That’s because I know the level of performance what we need to give out on Saturday so that’s why it was so brutal.”
Warrington’s Williams conceded that initially “some lads don’t like it … generations have changed in that sense: you’ve got to think about what you say before you get it out there.”
Explaining the process, Wane continued: “I’m my own analyst – I clipped it. It was a 40-man squad and then we had the NRL players involved.
“I spoke to Victor Radley about his game but just over the phone. But with (someone like) George, it would be – in front of the players – ‘this isn’t good enough’, ‘I like this’ and ‘I don’t like that’.
“It went on for weeks. We had on off-feet session twice a month or once a month. There might be efforts – when I think they should make an effort (on a video) and they don’t make it. Skill, accuracy of pass, contact in defence not being aggressive enough for England.
“Everything was based on England standard.”
Williams welcomed the scrutiny but admitted younger team-mates were initially rattled
“To be honest mate, I’m used to it. I’ve had him since I was 13. It’s something that’s really worked for me. I’m always trying to impress him, work to get better. He knew how to keep me humble,” Williams said.
“I’d think I had the best game of my life, come in at 19 or 20 having scored a hat-trick and Waney would have two clips of me saying ‘WTF George, what is this?’
“Some lads don’t like it but one thing you can’t argue with Waney (about) is at least he’s telling the truth.
“At first some people take it the wrong way but in the long run you see he’s only doing it to make you better and it’s not personal. Waney tells you the truth whether you like it or not, Most lads see the light. He sees how good you are, he wants you to be better.”
The players from the 24-man series squad to miss out are: winger Joe Burgess, centre Harry Newman, prop Morgan Smithies, utility Kallum Watkins and Smith.
From the incumbent side, which beat Samoa 34-16 at Headingley on November 2 last year, winger Matty Ashton, Newman, Liam Marshall, Smith, back rower Junior Nsemba, Radley, and interchange forward Luke Thompson are gone.
Each team will be afforded a captain’s run at the venue on match eve.
England (alphabetical)
John Bateman (North Queensland), AJ Brimson (Gold Coast), Daryl Clark (St Helens), Herbie Farnworth (Dolphins), Ethan Havard (Wigan), Tom Johnstone (Wakefield), Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees (both St Helens), Mikey Lewis, Jez Litten (both Hull KR), Mike McMeeken (Wakefield), Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds), Kai Pearce-Paul (Wests Tigers), Owen Trout (Leigh), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), Jake Wardle (Wigan), Jack Welsby (St Helens), George Williams (Warrington), Dom Young (Newcastle).
