" I want the quality of our players to get better. I want to beat Australia and I want to win a World Cup."
Monday 27 April 2020 22:50, UK
New England coach Shaun Wane has explained his ambitious plans for the national side and challenged his players to "blow him away".
Wane returned to rugby league after spending the last year working as high-performance coach for Scottish Rugby and takes over from Australian Wayne Bennett.
The decision to appoint Wane, and end Bennett's four years as head coach of England and Great Britain, followed a review into all aspects of last autumn's disappointing Great Britain tour.
Many felt Bennett was biased towards the NRL and did not know enough about the Super League players, preferring those who played Down Under to those based in England
Wane, who coached Wigan to three Grand Finals, a World Club Challenge and a Challenge Cup in his seven years at the club, was adamant that an NRL contract did not automatically get you into the England side.
"The best will play. I honestly don't give a damn where they are," said Wane on Golden Point Daily.
"I just want to pick the 17 best players who can beat Australia three times, it is who is playing the best at that time."
Wane believes England have the ability to beat Australia and go on to win a World Cup, but he needs to see more from them.
"I watch every game every week, I watch every player," added Wane. "There are certain things I want from my England players - if you want to play for England you need to be showing this, this and this.
"I'm hard to impress. My conversation with the players is 'We need to do better.'
"Being brutally honest, I need to be blown away. I know it is early days, but I need to see more players standing out.
"I just want us to improve, I want the quality of our players to get better. I want to beat Australia and I want to win a World Cup.
"I want us to play the English way. I am not knocking Wayne Bennett of the NRL - they have their way, and we have our way.
"We don't have 125kg players; we have 100kg players. We have other attributes and we need to make the best of that.
"I want us to keep on looking for that momentum at the play the ball. We need to be a bit smarter in the way we carry the ball - those are just really simple wins."
