There are calls for Shaun Wane, England coach, to be retained despite World Cup heartache

Andy Last, Andy’s assistant, suggested that Shaun Wayne should continue as England manager and build upon the foundation laid during the last Rugby League World Cup.

The second player is keen to be part the move forward, but rugby league chiefs have not given any indication as to when they will make that decision.

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He revealed that Wane, he and he had shared their feedback on what worked in the semi-final defeat to Samoa last year.

Many people see this as a failure. But Last, who mocked Castleford boss Lee Radford and was given a warm welcome by the Pacific nation – believes they must stay.

He said: “I hope Sean gets the chance to carry on the work he’s been doing and I’d love to be a part of it.

“We started in 2020, had a good year in 2021 and the World Cup – even though we didn’t win it, which we wanted to do – showed some real positives in terms of performance.

“There were no plans. We did an internal review. We discussed what was working well and what we needed to improve. However, I’m not sure when the decisions will be made.

“Maybe we had a bad forty minutes in the tournament, but at the end international sport you can’t afford to have any bad periods. You must go from the first minute up to the 80th minute.

“But I learned much from Sean and the other members of his coaching staff. But the most important thing was learning from the international players who are the best players.

“I get to know them over lunch and breakfast in the team room and we talk about different aspects of this game.”

Radford, who is a member of the Tigers’ team, believes that working alongside Radford has helped him to become a better coach.

Now he will try to instill that same mentality in his club team players. He was blown away by one man’s attitude.

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He added: “Chris Hill was putting himself in a real dark place on Monday, doing additions to his conditioning – and then following it up with a conditioning session at the end of our field session.

“He would have put himself in a vacuum to perform at the level he was doing. I would say he was the greatest player in the England team.

“What I take away is that the greatest players work hard. They are constantly adding to their game, always looking at the video, and trying to find that edge.

“There’s no secret to great players’ success, it’s the willingness to work hard and get better. This was an eye-opener.

“If I can use this experience to tell Castleford guys to keep working hard, sharpening and perfecting their craft and tools, that’s the best thing I’ll ever do.