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

The Kangaroos' 14-4 victory at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a commanding series edge, making next week's Headingley encounter a academic contest.

The England team had entered the series dreaming of sending Australia to their maiden Ashes setback since the 1970s.

Recently, they had secured a dominant victory over the Tongan side and a success over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition returned after a two-decade hiatus, England were unable to make the leap against the reigning title holders.

"We're not making excuses. We've had enough sessions to get it right on the field, and it's clear we've achieved that," Williams commented.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved excellent in defense. But we've got loads to improve. We're probably not as good as we believed we were entering this series.

"So it's a valuable wake-up call for us, and [there is] loads to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been heavily outplayed in an error-strewn display at Wembley, England's were markedly enhanced on Saturday back in the rugby league heartlands of the North.

In an inspiring first half, the home side caused turnovers from the Australians and had all the field position and ball control, but crucially did not convert opportunities on the points tally.

Notably, the English team have now managed just a single touchdown over two full matches, with player the forward powering through late on in the loss in the capital.

Conversely, Australia have accumulated half a dozen across the series - and when errors began to creep into the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially the playmaker went over, and then so too did the forward. From being level at 4-4, England were 10 points adrift.

"Satisfied for the bulk of the game. I thought for 70 minutes we were solid," said Wane.

"The lapse for a brief period after half-time hurt us greatly. The first try was easy and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"The team is devastated. Extremely pleased the players had a dig but very frustrated with that post-interval, which hurt us significantly."

Although the next World Cup in Oceania is just under 12 months away, England's primary concern will be on trying to salvage honor, avoiding a series whitewash and addressing the errors that irritated Wane.

"I wanted to see additional intensity thrown at the opposition. My aim was us to build pressure in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. The issue is a minor refinements in our attack where we could have applied under more pressure. We need to defend both [tries] better.

"Credit to Australia - that is not a criticism to them. They arrive and are merciless when they seize opportunities, and we weren't, but defensively we must do better.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win all three Tests and we need to be just as focused to make it a competitive series. I've told that to the players. It has to be our obsession. It will be a challenging week but whoever wants it the most will get the win next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Elevate in Super League

England have played a similar number of Test matches to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in 2022.

However Wane thinks that the quality of the Australian league - and level of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and QLD - deliver a much better foundation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.

The England coach added that the packed domestic league fixture list allowed little opportunity for him to train his squad during the campaign, which will only raise additional concerns around how the national team can bridge the gap to Australia before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"They participate in a lot of internationals in their competition," Wane stated.

"England have ten to fifteen a year. We need highly competitive games to improve the competition and boost our prospects of winning these types of matches.

"It was impossible to even practice with the squad. We never got on the field in the campaign and despite having the full backing of everyone in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the position of the club managers that need to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the cause we lost today."