Roos ready to roar on in Ashes without their captain

Ian Chadband | October 27, 2025

The Kangaroos are ready to ram home their opening-game supremacy in the Ashes with a vastly improved second-Test performance — even without their luckless leader Isaah Yeo.

There was much sympathy in the camp for the skipper, who’d called leading Australia back into Ashes combat after 22 years as the ‘pinnacle’ of his career, only for his big day at Wembley to be kayoed after just seven minutes with a “bad” head knock.

The collision with England’s Dom Young which forced him out will also mean the four-time NRL champ missing out, sadly, on Saturday’s second Test at Everton and the chance to lead the Kangaroos to a 14th-straight series win after the renewal.

But under the excellent stand-in captaincy of Harry Grant, Australia are determined to improve vastly on their opening 26-6 win, adamant there’s major improvement to come despite the convincing nature of their four-try victory.

“It was a bad knock that he got, but we’ve got good medical staff who’ll look after him this week, and we’ll see where he’s at in the next few days. He’s a tough hombre, so he’s not going to say too much,” said coach Kevin Walters, of Yeo.

It’s possible that, with an 11-day enforced absence after the category-one knock, the skipper’s series could be over, especially as he’s had a history of concussions over his career.

But Australia still overcame his absence comfortably with Reuben Cotter filling in seamlessly, as coach Kevin Walters predicted: “I expect us to get better in game two.”

Australia might have won even more convincingly if English referee Liam Moore hadn’t, as expected, slowed down the ruck speed Super League-style, which suited the home side.

“The rucks, yeah they were definitely slower than back home, but that was to be expected,” shrugged Nathan Cleary. “Everyone gets away with a little bit more, it’s definitely a different style to back home.”

But he reckoned the team had been helped by having Willie Peters, Hull KR’s championship-winning coach, as an assistant to Walters, guiding them on how to deal with the different interpretation.

And at Everton, there’s an expectation that with Australian grand final referee Grant Atkins on the whistle, the ruck speed will be faster, playing right into the hands of the Kangaroos’ superior attacking resources.

It was possible to already sense a hint of resignation in the home camp about the glaring gulf in quality.

England coach Shaun Wane must now surely have to give AJ Brimson a run after the Gold Coast man was left out as 18th man and home fullback Jack Welsby proved ineffective. Canberra’s Morgan Smithies is in line to be called in too.