BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Kangaroos assistant coach Willie Peters believes the gap between Australia and England is not as far as some suggest, with the Australian spine the key difference in the Ashes.
The green and gold took out the Ashes with a 3-0 whitewash at the end of last year, the first since 2003, with Test victories in London, Liverpool and Leeds.
England or Great Britain have not won the Ashes series since 1970, and have not defeated Australia in any game since 2006. England managed to score just two tries in the 2025 series, with sole four-pointers coming from Daryl Clark in the first Test and George Williams in the third.
Hull KR boss Peters, who was one of coach Kevin Walters’ two assistants during the Ashes, feels the level between the two nations is not huge.
“I don’t think it’s too far,” he told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“There’s no doubt from me that the area Australia dominate, or are more consistent, is the spine. We didn’t change the spine.
“England changed their spine a fair few times throughout the series, therefore that’s probably an area… if you look at the guys that didn’t play for Australia, they could have easily come in and done the same job as the first-choice spine did.”
The Kangaroos selected fullback Reece Walsh, halves Cam Munster and Nathan Cleary, and hooker Harry Grant as their spine across all three Tests. England had Jack Welsby at fullback in the first Test, AJ Brimson in the second and third, with Mike Lewis replacing Brimson at Headingley when he went off injured early.
Mikey Lewis and George Williams were England’s halves at Wembley, with then Harry Smith partnering Williams at Hill Dickinson Stadium and again in the third Test, while Clark was the starting hooker in the first Test before being replaced by Jez Litten in the second and third Tests.
“I suppose the focus is developing more around that [spine players] across the league, because that was the difference for me,” Peters said.
“Australia have got two spines that could easily run a play or do a similar job, whereas England chopped and changed a little bit.
“The skill level in those guys and the connection of the spine for me, that really stood out.”
Peters feels the absence of Victor Radley for England, and his ball-playing ability at lock forward, was also telling.
“I’m a massive fan of Morgan Knowles, and I thought he was outstanding,” he said.
“But Victor Radley not being there, they certainly missed that link. Having that link play, we had Isaah Yeo as our link player and then Tommy Dearden would come on.
“When Isaah was out Paddy Carrigan can play a bit with the ball, but when we didn’t, that’s when our spine players stood up.
“Looking at the games, the England team or their spine didn’t connect as a trio. Whereas if you look at the Australian team, when they were moving the ball they were all connected together.
“Whether Yeo was on the ball or he wasn’t, it was all the spine players together.
“So Victor Radley would certainly have created some more opportunities with the ball, but if not, that’s when your spine takes over.”