Kevin Walters insists Australia will be ready for another gruelling Test match next weekend when they take on England at Headingley.
The Kangaroos won the Ashes on Saturday as they took a 2-0 lead in the three-game series with a 14-4 win over England at Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool on Saturday afternoon.
However, while England didn’t manage to get over the line on the day, the tourists were certainly made to work for the victory as Shaun Wane’s side dialled up the intensity after underwhelming in the first Test at Wembley.
The two sides meet in Yorkshire on Saturday for the third and final Test of the autumn and England will be determined to avoid the whitewash, with a 3-0 defeat set to have a damaging impact on their preparations for next year’s World Cup.
As such, although the series has gone, Walters still expects England’s best on Saturday and as a result he hasn’t quite decided whether he will mix up his side and give minutes to those players who haven’t played in the series yet.
Australia boss on his England expectation
“This was an old style Test match and a lot of these guys haven’t experienced that now they have, it’s one to put in their book and put away for the future,” Walters said after the game. “Next week could be a similar sort of game so we’ll certainly be ready for it.”
Asked whether Australia will change things in terms of selection, Walters added: “I’m not sure on that just yet. We’ll get through tonight and I always like to enjoy the win, dissect it.
“We’ll have a good night tonight and then tomorrow we’ll start thinking about next week at Headingley.
“It would be nice to reward some guys, I feel like it’s been a great connection amongst all the group, particularly our training and preparation has been really good and part of the reason is the players we’ve been training against have been very astute in the way they’ve prepared as well. It would be nice to give some guys some reward.”
On winning the series, Walter said: “We were expecting a very tough series and we’ve got that. Last week went under the radar a bit in terms of how tough the game was.
“I know the players were pretty sore for a few days post game and that tells me that the English side are very tough and ready to go. A bit slower today the game but defence is the thing that wins the big games and that was the case today.”
