Sean Wayne’s own words are back.
Wayne said in February 2020: “If we get to the World Cup final and don’t win, it’s a disaster. We haven’t beaten Australia for a long time and that’s embarrassing. And if we don’t beat them, it’s my fault.”
In the end, Wayne not only installed a bar, but built a trapdoor underneath it. Those were his words and no one else’s.
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Wayne reflects on England’s first Test loss to Australia
And by his own measurements, the two most important campaigns of his six years in office were nothing short of disastrous.
England’s home World Cup, held in 2022 rather than 2021 due to the coronavirus, was supposed to be a moment for rugby league to reconnect with a wider domestic audience. The draw was intentionally kind, with neither Australia nor New Zealand appearing until the final. All roads led to Old Trafford.
Except, of course, England never got there.
They lost to Samoa in the semifinals. Samoa’s team, England, won the opening game of the tournament.
Many good judges feel that the semifinals were meant to be won. England entered the match as favorites to win the tournament, but they fell into a difficult situation.
According to Wayne’s 2020 logic, not winning the final would have been a “disaster.” How do I describe not even being successful?
Fast forward to 2025 and Australia are back in the Ashes series for the first time in years.
Once again, there is a perfect opportunity for a match on our shores to capture the imagination of the sporting world. Instead, the Kangaroos went away with a clean sweep and England just barely got the customary consolation prize of ‘effort’.
Three defeats, three below-average performances and just two tries in 240 minutes of rugby league. If Wayne was baffled by England’s long failure to beat Australia in 2020, he must be fired up now.
On Saturday, an hour after the final whistle, I watched Reece Walsh sign autographs pitchside. It’s a team that I’ve heard that Australians hate the British, but they have won the hearts of the supporters here.
Reece Walsh delighted fans with autograph
England’s rugby league team is not a collection of individuals sent out to win games. They represent the sport.
For some reason, they wonderfully welcomed cameras into their camp for behind-the-scenes documentaries, but at times appeared to be kept away from cameras, microphones, and enthusiastic fans. This is just my perception. Whether this was really the case will no doubt be revealed in reviews of the series.
The question is now up to the RFL to bring him back or let him go. Wayne’s contract runs until the end of 2026 and will see him compete in next year’s World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea. He hasn’t coached a club team since 2018, which is an eternity in rugby league terms.
In November 2024, Wayne expressed a desire to return to coaching the club at some point in the future, admitting that he regularly under-prepared for matches and hinting at over-competence, saying, “I feel like I’m underestimating myself.”
Names like Paul Lawrie, Matt Peat, Willie Peters, Michael Maguire and Brian McDermott are likely to come up in conversations about Wayne’s future.
Wayne’s scathing rejection of the Man of Steel award did little to help his cause. When asked about the 2025 winner, Jake Connor, Wayne balked, saying, “I don’t know who will pick, and that’s not a consideration for me.”
You don’t have to pick Jake Conner to honor the game’s most prestigious individual award. But reducing it publicly? That’s poor politics.
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Wayne has explained why he left Leeds Rhinos’ Man of Steel winner Jake Connor out of the squad.
How will the RFL sell the honor that the England manager treated with contempt? There are more than enough knowledgeable rugby league fans here. I met and spoke to them at Wembley, Headingley and recently at events in Hull, Keighley and Cumbria.
I empathize with their feelings. When selecting players for their national team, they demand more explanation than “bank credit.”
Wayne’s passion sometimes seems to get stubborn. He talks about “British guts” as if it were a secret weapon, but guts without skill is nothing more than friction.
His side seemed stiff, predictable, and joyless. For a man who once called on England to “play without fear”, his team seems paralyzed by it.
Asked recently about 2026, Wayne said: “I don’t think I’m the right person to manage England at the World Cup. I know that.”
Of course, he “knew” a lot. He “knew” that the players he selected who were in poor shape would produce results. they didn’t. He “knew” his spine was right — until he changed three of his four positions after one game.
Now, what you “must know” is RFL.
Will they redouble their loyalty, or will they admit that the “disaster” that Wayne once warned of has already arrived and, as he himself admits, is on them?
In sports, as in politics, the debate usually ends when one’s own words become the biggest critic.
Of course, there are broader issues at play in the game here. The RFL needs to decide whether doing more of the same, including a focus on international games, would yield different results, and whether it is content to continue in silence to do so.
An alternative is to draw a line in the sand and make this period the edge of a cliff that cannot be pushed off. The next few months will tell.
