England boss Shaun Wane wants more as he looks to make Ashes series ‘hell’
SHAUN Wane wants more as he finally has his Ashes chance – and for it to be ‘uncomfortable as hell’ for the Aussies.
England will face the Kangaroos in a three-Test series in this country for the first time since 2003 in the Autumn.
Wembley, Everton’s new Bramley-Moore Dock and Headingley will host matches in October and November.
But boss Wane wants to see more of Super League’s talent showing they are worthy of facing the world champions.
And he has told the competition’s best that at meetings he has with them.
Wane said: “My message to the players is very, very simple. ‘You need to look like an England player.’
“Having a good game for your team is not good enough. You must be better. You have to look like an England player and rest assured the players 100 per cent understand what’s required.
“I want better. I want 10 halves. We’ve got three or four really good halves in Super League but I want 10. Like Australia, they’ve got 10 to pick from. I want 10.
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“Morgan Knowles’ form is fantastic, but there are areas in this game that still need to be better for us to win a Test match at Wembley.
“And we can’t wait until three weeks before the series starts for good form. I want us to have a season where people in the England squad are performing at their best. They look like England internationals.
“Bruising? I’d be disappointed any other way and we need to make it as uncomfortable as hell.”
Warrington owner and concert promoter Simon Moran is playing a huge part in bringing the Ashes to these shores – but he is not leading it.
After playing roles in reuniting the Stone Roses and Oasis, as well as seeing his side play in Las Vegas, this may be his biggest challenge yet as until December’ confirmation, Wane’s men were heading Down Under.
Rhodri Jones, managing director of RL Commercial who hopes to sell out Everton’s 52,000-capacity home and at least 50,000 for Wembley, said: “Obviously, Simon’s got a very good connection and link with Wembley, with his Oasis and Coldplay activities this summer.
“We’ve taken some business advice, I guess, from Simon and his team. He’s helped us with ticket modelling, ticket pricing. He wants this to be a massive success.
“They’ll help us with how we market the games in London in particular. But yeah, he’s on board in terms of wanting to make this a success.
“It’s a step in the right direction. He’s been great, his brain works differently – he knows it, he understands it, he gets it. He’s an expert in his field, why wouldn’t we tap into that?
“We had the initial conversation about it and it was a bit of a throwaway question. Then when we started to actually talk about it, we thought there was a chance to approach the Australians.
“We put a request in to them to consider swapping the Ashes tour, we were obviously going down there originally, and they responded positively, at which point it was up to us to pull it together and try and make it work.
“We wanted it to be a lot quicker clearly, but it’s a real positive for the international game that Australia are coming here to the UK.
“It gives a real shot in the arm for the UK game.”
ASHES SERIES DATES
Sat, Oct 25 – Wembley
Sat, Nov 1 – Bramley-Moore Dock
Sat, Nov 8 – Headingley
All matches kick off at 2.30pm.