Credit used up, rearranging the deckchairs & reality bites: latest England v Australia Ashes talking points

England’s 26-6 defeat in the Wembley opener has put Australia firmly on course for a 14th successive Ashes series win. Here’s five talking points.

1: Credit used up. Credit in the bank is all well and good, but it doesn’t win Test matches. Nobody should be surprised if players who are struggling for form with their club don’t play well on the biggest stage.

England full-back Jack Welsby was an example of that. He is a talented player, but went into the Ashes opener on the back of a tough year with St Helens. In fact, more players were selected from Saints (five: Welsby, Daryl Clark, Matty Lees, Morgan Kowles and Alex Walmsley), than the four sides who finished above them in Betfred Super League (four: Jake Wardle and Ethan Havard of Wigan, Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis and Jez Litten and Owen Trout from Leigh Leopards) combined.

2: Rearranging deckchairs. When Great Britain lost the first Ashes Test in 1986, coach Maurice Bamford stunned the media by immediately naming an unchanged side for the second encounter two weeks later. It’ll be even more of a surprise if Shaun Wane sticks with the same 17 at Everton on Saturday.

Unless there’s an injury, Wane can’t call up someone from outside his 24-man squad, but there are good options available. For example, AJ Brimson, who played for Queensland in State of Origin before opting to switch allegiance to England, would add some dynamism out of full-back; Leeds’ Kallum Watkins and Mikolaj Oledzki are both coming off a strong domestic season and the likes of Morgan Smithies (Canberra Raiders), Joe Burgess (Hull KR), Harry Smith (Wigan) and Harry Newman (Leeds) will all feel unlucky not to have played at Wembley.

But the worry is, whatever changes are made will simply be shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic. England can play better, but do they have enough improvement in them to turn the tide against an Australian squad who are superior individually and as a unit and will also raise their standard as the tour goes on? It’s not impossible, but is a huge task.

3: Reality bites. If England go on to lose the series, Wane will carry the can for his team selection and tactics, but that’s far from the whole story. As England coach, he has one hand tied behind his back. England didn’t have a mid-season international and the team boss has only a limited amount of time to work with his players - even less so for the NRL-based contingent.

Super League isn’t geared towards developing a successful Test team. There’s too many matches and not enough of them are of high enough intensity to prepare players for taking on Australia. A 14-team competition won’t help and neither will the new 10-player overseas quota.

Australia have a much deeper player pool. If England are to succeed, more has to be done to bring through talented home-grown youngsters, but that requires time, effort and funding. It’s easier and cheaper for clubs to import journeymen from Australia. The club game takes precedence, but unless and until the sport in this country recognises the importance of international competition, things won’t change.

4: Ref justice. England have a mountain to climb this weekend and an Australian referee won’t make things any easier. For all Australia’s predictable moaning about the ruck speed, they couldn’t have too many complaints over the way Englishmen Liam Moore and video official Jack Smith handled the Wembley encounter.

In a Super League game, the tourists’ opening try would probably have been ruled out for an obstruction - even if the officials didn’t spot the forward pass in the build up. The fact rugby league can’t manage to appoint ‘neutral’ referees to big games makes the code appear amateurish. And as for different laws and interpretations between various competitions, that’s confusing and ridiculous.

5: Inside information. Some players were selected on form, Mikey Lewis for example. However, Australia did a fine job containing Hull KR’s Grand Final player of the match and Man of Steel nominee. Lewis would probably have scored but for a smart intervention by Kangaroos outstanding full-back Reece Walsh, who got a hand to Jake Wardle’s pass, but he didn’t have an opportunity to display his attacking skills.

It was a smart move by Aussie boss Kevin Walters to appoint a Super League coach to his staff. Willie Peters knows Lewis better than anyone and has an insight into the competition as a whole. Australia would have been fairly certain of England’s side once the 19-man squad was announced two days on Thursday, but any doubt was removed when a picture taken in the changing room appeared on social media the day before the game, showing the kit laid out in playing order. Peak rugby league.