So many of the current NRL stars have never sampled the special rivalry an Ashes Series between Australia and England creates.
2003 was the last full Ashes Series on the record, but a cluster of World Cups and Four Nations tournaments have recently taken precedence over a rivalry that is as old as rugby league itself.
After the Grand Final this weekend, a Kangaroo side will be named to play in the first Ashes series for 22 years.
And to that end, when Australia travel to the UK for the three tests this October, former Kangaroo and NSW Blue Ryan Hoffman, although well retired as a player, risks once again being a jealous spectator.
Hoffman, a Melbourne Storm team of the decade member alongside the likes of immortals-in-waiting Cameron Smith and Billy Slater, played for Australia on six occasions between 2008 and 2014.
He starred in the Centenary Test in 2008, played tests against the Kiwis, France, and in Four Nations tournaments.
Yet, in a unique quirk of fate, for one reason or another, he kept missing out on playing against the old enemy; England.
And, as a self-confessed ‘rugby league nerd and rugby league historian’, this was a frustrating pill to swallow.
“I was a kid getting up at 2am to watch Ashes games!” Hoffman told me on the Ashes Rugby League Podcast this week.
“I was getting up early to watch Challenge Cup finals and, those sorts of things.
“I remember watching those great games played at places like Old Trafford and Wembley.
“It would have been really special. It was a shame it never panned out.”
The rugby league gene was passed down to Ryan by his father Jay Hoffman, who played 111 times for the Canberra Raiders in the 1980s.
And in a sign of how the Australia versus England rivalry runs deep, his son tells a funny story about the 1990 Ashes series when a very young Ryan was six years old at the time!
“I remember 1990, what a second test that was” the 359-game veteran said, in reference to the iconic Ashes matches played out in London, Manchester and Leeds in October and November of that year.
“I remember we were living in Adelaide at the time and we had an English family next door. When Dad worked out England had beaten Australia (in the first test), he stuck his head out of the window and shouted Get those bloody pommy kids out of my pool.
“I was a very jealous spectator (of England v Australia matches) when I was in the Australian squad.
“I just never got picked to play against England, which is a huge regret.
“I played against the Kiwis five times and against France, once. I remember in the 2009 Four Nations, I got picked for the first test against New Zealand. We had a draw and then it was me and someone else who got dropped for the second Test.
“And the same thing happened in 2014. I got picked for the first Test against New Zealand, then dropped for the second one against England.
“So, it was a great regret because I had enjoyed playing Schoolboys against England a few years earlier.
“But the fact I never got to play a proper test match against England was disappointing.”
Hoffman, preparing to travel to England in a few weeks-time, has been there several times, and as he says, has clashed with the old enemy before – as a junior.
“I went in with the Australian Schoolboys in 2002 which happened to be the same year that I signed with Melbourne Storm” he recalls.
“We were actually the first Australian Schoolboys team to lose a series.”
That series, which gave English Rugby League huge confidence about the future, would see Hoffman make contact with future team mates and a coach from the club he would join in the future.
Hoffman then rattles off names who would go on to become future teammates at Wigan. One was Gareth Hock.
Asked if the games were feisty, Hoffman jokingly adds:
“Did we have a blue, or do we have about ten?”
When asked about his future teammate Hock he adds: “And Gareth Hock could throw ‘em!”
Mike Gregory, a Wigan born and bred former Great Britain captain, was the coach of that victorious England Under 18s side. Australian fans of a certain vintage may remember his length of the field try in the third test at Sydney in 1988.
That test win, which was the first British win in a decade, would inspire a love of rugby league for many in the UK, and the passion for the sport in the country is not lost on Hoffman.
He spent a year playing at Wigan Warriors in 2011, enjoying a Challenge Cup victory in the process.
When he first landed in the Old Dart, a trip to the local supermarket let him know straight away he wasn’t going to get it easy playing over there.
“Going to such a wonderful club like Wigan was the best decision I ever made in rugby league.
“All I ever wanted to do was play at Wembley in a Challenge Cup. To sign with such a historic club like Wigan, with a lot of expectation, it was just like going to another NRL club on the other side of the world.
“My wife and I had just got married and to live in a town like Wigan was brilliant.
“It’s a town that just loves sport so much and it’s tribal.
“On our first day in England, we got to our house and realised we needed some stuff from the shops. So, we went to the Tesco Supermarket which is where the old Wigan ground Central Park used to be.
“When we were waiting at the checkout an old lady next to me hears me talking.
“She asked me if I was the ‘new Australian’ to which I replied ‘yeah’.
“She then leant in and said ‘if you don’t beat St Helens, I’ll drive you back to the airport myself!”
As a result, Hoffman is very well placed to tell doubters what England against Australia means, especially in the UK. Memories are not short in British Rugby League.
“They’re going to be ready in a few weeks’ time without a doubt” he adds.
“And knowing Shaun Wane (England coach) the way I do, his mentality and the pride he has, he will carry that into the England team.
“England v Australia is the ultimately rivalry in all sports. It goes through everything. And that’s what makes it so special.”
He also has a word of warning for those who are expecting an easy Australian win.
“Australia is at a point where so many players have pledged allegiances to Pacific Islands nations which is great for the international game, but it’s also a time where Australia is not going to be as strong as it has been in recent years,” he said.
“So, it’s a great opportunity for England.
“Australia is still going to be very strong. They’re going to be very strong in the key position areas, such as in the halves, the hookers and fullbacks, so I think it’s shaping up to be a great series and England should be confident.”
And like so many other Australian fans going on organised trips to the 2025 Ashes, Ryan Hoffman is looking forward to being in England (and Wigan) again.
He just might stay away from Tesco.
Ryan Hoffman is going on the Ashes UK tour with Rugby League Coach and Born Travel.
All details here https://www.quotehero.app/quote/7aea21ad-4567-4564-a337-b8feb0145427
Contact Lee on admin@rugbyleaguecoach.com.au or rugbyleaguecoach on Facebook or Instagram with any questions about his Ashes tour with Ryan Hoffman.
You can listen to the full Ashes Rugby League Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.