Shaun Wane open to club return after focusing on England’s autumn World Cup bid

Shaun Wane is open to a return to club coaching after the World Cup, despite one of the vacant positions in Super League being filled on Tuesday.

The England boss insists he is fully focused on his country’s fortunes on home soil this autumn but that ultimately a return to day-to-day coaching remains appealing. Wane was initially linked with, then ruled out of the running for the Warrington Wolves job from 2022, which has now been filled by Castleford boss Daryl Powell.

The Tigers job remains open for when Powell departs at the end of the season, though nothing is distracting Wane from his ultimate goal. He explained: “If anything comes along great, if it doesn’t then I’m still contracted to the RFL and Ralph (Rimmer, chief executive) and the team there have been really, really supportive of me. I owe them and want to deliver a good World Cup.

“I want to make sure the team is well prepared, and I’m very grateful for what they’ve done. If something happens in club land over here or overseas then I’d definitely listen to it. The only thing I’m thinking about now is the World Cup, it’s my only focus at the minute.”

Asked whether the England job could be a part-time role, Wane answered yes – but that everything he does is on a full-time basis. He also emphatically dismissed the prospect of being a no.2 in Australia’s NRL.

“I tried it with Michael Maguire at Wigan and was a terrible assistant,” Wane added. He might have thought I was okay but I’m too opinionated, I need to be in charge. It sounds a bit arrogant that, but I’m not.”

Wane has named an unchanged 35-man England training squad ahead of his first session with his squad next week. It means the likes of Jake Connor, Jake Trueman and Gareth Widdop, who have all started the season impressively, remain omitted but with Wane insisting they can force their way in.

Widdop will next year be coached by Powell at Warrington, after he agreed a three-year deal to take charge from 2022. Powell said: “I feel like I’m moving from one special club to another. I think it’s important to get it out in the open now so I can focus on the year ahead and there’s certainty from both sides at this stage. Hopefully there’ll be an excitement at Warrington and an excitement at Castleford that I can finish off there in a really positive way this season.”

England training squad: J Bateman (Wigan), T Burgess (South Sydney), D Clark, M Cooper, B Currie (all Warrington), N Evalds (Castleford), H Farnworth (Brisbane), L Farrell (Wigan), L Gale (Leeds), O Gildart (Wigan), J Griffin (Hull), A Handley (Leeds), Z Hardaker (Wigan), J Hodgson (Canberra), T Johnstone (Wakefield), T King (Warrington), M Knowles, J Lomax (both St Helens), J McGillvary (Huddersfield), P McShane (Castleford), T Makinson (St Helens), D Manfredi (Wigan), H Newman (Leeds), M Percival (St Helens), J Philbin, S Ratchford (both Warrington), J Roby (St Helens), D Sarginson (Salford), R Sutton (Canberra), L Thompson (Canterbury Bulldogs), S Tomkins (Catalans), A Walmsley (St Helens), K Watkins (Salford), E Whitehead, G Williams (both Canberra).

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