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According to captain the England captain, England were delivered a brutal "reality check" as Australia secured the prestigious series.

Australia's decisive 14-4 win at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a commanding series edge, making the upcoming Headingley encounter a meaningless fixture.

Shaun Wane's side had come into the series holding aspirations of inflicting Australia to their initial series loss since 1970.

Recently, they had enjoyed a 3-0 series win over the Tongan side and a success over Samoa. But as the historic rivalry resumed after a long break, the English were failed to take the next step against the world champions.

"No excuses from us. We've had enough training periods to execute properly on the field, and I don't think we've managed that," the captain stated.

"Credit to Australia. They were good in defense. But we've got loads to work on. We're probably not as prepared as we thought we were going into this series.

"This serves as a valuable lesson for us, and there is much to enhance."

Australia 'Turn Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been heavily outplayed in an sloppy showing at the national stadium, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the core regions of England's north.

During an energetic opening period, England caused turnovers from the Australians and had superior positioning and ball control, but crucially did not make it count on the points tally.

Tellingly, England have now scored just one try over 160 minutes, with player Daryl Clark powering through late on in the defeat in London.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have racked up six so far - and when blunders began to affect the hosts' play just after the break, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be heavily penalized.

Initially the playmaker crossed, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, the home side were down by double digits.

"Proud for the majority of the game. In my view for most of the match we were competitive," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after half-time hurt us severely. The first try was avoidable and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"We're devastated. So proud the squad had a go but so disappointed with that after half-time, which hurt us heavily."

Although the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under a year from now, the team's primary concern will be on attempting to salvage honor, avoiding a series whitewash and eliminating the mistakes that irritated Wane.

"I hoped to see more thrown at Australia. I wanted us to apply sustained attack in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our attack where we could have put them under greater stress. We need to stop each of [tries] better.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no detriment to them. They arrive and are clinical when they get a chance, and we weren't, but defensively we can and should do better.

"The Australians will be determined to win the series whitewash and we need to be equally determined to make it a competitive series. I've said that to the players. This must become our primary goal. It's going to be a tough week but whoever desires it the most will get the win next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Increase in Domestic Competition

The English side have participated in a similar number of Test matches to Australia since the last World Cup in 2022.

However Wane thinks that the caliber of the NRL - and quality of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and QLD - deliver a superior foundation for competing at the highest level of the global stage than what is on offer in the UK.

The England coach commented that the congested domestic league fixture list allowed no time for him to coach his team during the season, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can narrow the difference to Australia before heading to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"The Australians participate in a large number of internationals in their league," he stated.

"We play ten to fifteen a year. We need highly competitive games to improve the competition and boost our chances of succeeding in these types of matches.

"I couldn't even train with the players. We never trained together in the campaign and despite having the complete support of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the shoes of the head coaches that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's a pity but it's not the reason we got beaten today."