England’s exit from the Men’s Rugby League World Cup was confirmed on Sunday, exactly 12 months to the day after their Rugby League Ashes challenge officially ended.
On 1 November last year, Australia won 14-4 in the second Test at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium to secure a series victory.
That defeat, and the one that followed in the third Test at Headingley seven days later, set in motion the chain of events that led to Shaun Wane’s departure as head coach. He left in January, McDermott arrived in April.
McDermott – with no mid-season international or warm-up matches to fine-tune a style of play – has produced improvements.
England were good in patches against Tonga, were as ruthless as they needed to be against France and were doing everything required of them for the opening 20 minutes against Papua New Guinea before losing their way completely.
McDermott wants to stay on for the 2030 World Cup and, given the right preparation time, could well bring further progress.
He is, however, fighting with one hand tied behind his back.
Australia’s NRL is king in the rugby league universe: the seven-year, A$5.3bn (£2.78bn) television contract it signed in July is evidence of that. The three-match State of Origin series, staged in June and July, dominates the calendar at the point Europe might try to squeeze in an international window.
It means that if England want to play the southern hemisphere sides – as they must in order to keep improving – they can only do so in October and November, and even then work around the southern hemisphere’s Pacific Championships.
That makes it even more important that English domestic rugby league finds a way to bridge the quality gap between itself and the Australian game – to ensure Super League players are facing the best week in, week out.
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