{"id":215924,"date":"2025-10-21T17:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/215924\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T17:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:22:09","slug":"rugby-league-fans-disagree-over-shaun-wanes-biggest-ashes-selection-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/215924\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby league fans disagree over Shaun Wane’s biggest Ashes selection call"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

England will take on Australia in the first rugby league Ashes Test in over 20 years on Saturday<\/a> but fans are split on one key decision.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the fact it\u2019s the first Ashes series in 22 years that makes Saturday significant but also the fact that England and Australia have not met at the men\u2019s senior level since the 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final, a game that the Kangaroos won 6-0.<\/p>\n

Three of England\u2019s 24-man squad<\/a> played that day with Kallum Watkins, John Bateman and Alex Walmsley all hoping to avenge that defeat but whether they\u2019ll be selected remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

There actually doesn\u2019t appear to be too many guaranteed starters in Shaun Wane\u2019s side given the competitive nature of the squad and one of those key areas of competition is in the halves, with Grand Final winner Mikey Lewis looking to force his way in.<\/p>\n

To do that he\u2019d have to break up the established partnership of Harry Smith and George Williams with the latter being England\u2019s captain, though he\u2019s not had a particularly great 2025.<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Who should Shaun Wane play in the halves for the first Ashes Test?<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League asked fans which players should Shaun Wane start in the halves for Saturday\u2019s Test at Wembley against Australia, and it\u2019s fair to say there are plenty of differing opinions.<\/p>\n

There were lots of calls for Mikey Lewis to feature whilst plenty backed the incumbent pair. Several even argued for Jake Connor, the Man of Steel who was omitted from the England squad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Martin Figg: Lewis, on his day he is currently the best England half-back but he (Wane) will start Smith and Williams.<\/p>\n

Jeff Johnson: It should be Brimson and Lewis but he\u2019ll pick Williams and Smith.<\/p>\n

Alan Williams: Smith and Lewis but he won\u2019t drop Williams, so probably Smith and Williams.<\/p>\n

Desmond O\u2019Brien: It should be the current Man of Steel but you can\u2019t because Shaun Wane didn\u2019t pick him in the squad. Nuts.<\/p>\n

Paul Downes: Should or will? because if go on should then it should be Jake Connor.<\/p>\n

Tez Worthington: I\u2019ve given Lewis some stick this year but after the Grand Final saw a more mature display so it\u2019s Lewis and Smith for me with Williams on the bench, he\u2019s not played for weeks.<\/p>\n

Mark Abbott: Can\u2019t play Lewis and Smith together as they\u2019re both left-footed and play on the same side of the field, so Williams will play.<\/p>\n

John Wood: It\u2019s Williams and Smith.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England will take on Australia in the first rugby league Ashes Test in over 20 years on Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-215924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}