A group of the greatest English rugby league players in recent history will be central to a new roadmap for the future of the game in this country, the Rugby Football League have revealed.

The governing body’s new CEO, Ian Nolan, has wasted little time in putting together a review of the national team’s fortunes in both the men’s and women’s games after both suffered historic early exits from the Rugby League World Cup.

For the first time ever, both the men and women failed to reach the semi-finals of the tournament, and are heading home early – leading to major calls for change across the sport in England.

And now, a group of modern-day icons will be asked for their thoughts.

RFL to form England inquest panel

Three of the greatest forwards to have represented England or Great Britain in the Super League era have been invited to be part of the panel.

Ex-Lions captain Paul Sculthorpe and the great Adrian Morley are included, as is one man who was involved in the last men’s team to beat Australia, current York Knights assistant coach Gareth Ellis.

The trio will be joined by Jodie Cunningham to offer a perspective on the challenges facing the women’s game, too.

The panel has been put together by Nolan, with the goal to launch an in-depth discussion on the state of the pyramid and the pathways system for the English game.

It will be tasked with trying to formulate new ways to increase the player pool in England and the United Kingdom, as well as looking at how the game is played. It has been coined ‘One Game, One England’.

RFL CEO refuses to make excuses over England exit

Nolan admitted there are no excuses that can be made for the early exits of both teams, and says the focus of the panel will be trying to ensure the national teams have the best chance to succeed at the next World Cup in 2030.

He said: “In this World Cup, Brian McDermott and his Men’s squad have delivered two wins from their three games and shown signs of genuine quality. The 82-0 win over France was as emphatic as anyone could have hoped for and the opening 20 minutes against Papua New Guinea on Friday was similarly impressive.

“Sadly, we couldn’t quite maintain that level throughout, but we still emerged with two wins and were unfortunate, in many ways, to not prosper versus Tonga in our opener.

“There are plenty of mitigating reasons why we failed to reach the knock-out stages, many of which were out of our control, such as travel itineraries and format of the competition, but we can’t use these as excuses.

“Likewise, we were also criticised for what happened with the TV rights and the tournament going behind a paywall. We had no control over who the rights were sold to. However, television is an important element of capturing the imagination of the next generation.

“This analysis of our national game will be all encompassing, including how we can influence media rights, balancing reach and revenue, and attracting new audiences. But on the pitch, we must look at why we have consistently struggled to make our mark on the world stage for more than half a century; this isn’t just a recent problem.

“With ‘One Game, One England’, we have already been in consultation with the Super League clubs for some time with regards a new talent and performance strategy around pathways and academies. This will be finalised by the end of the year and the panel will add further value to that aspect of work.”