England head coach Steve McNamara heaped praise on captain Sean O’Loughlin after he picked up the Man of the Series award.
The England and Wigan skipper provided another influential display as England secured the Baskerville Shield following victory over New Zealand, with O’Loughlin scoring a crucial try at his home club’s ground.
When questioned about O’Loughlin’s credentials for the award, McNamara was assured in his response.
“Without doubt. He’s incredible in terms of his application and performances and he’s always consistent.
“He hardly fluctuates in terms of quality of performance. He’s the captain and he’s had to lead up tremendously well because that’s a young team out there.
“John Kear rolled the stats out with all the talk of who’s not playing for them, but they had 180 caps and we had 115. Their changes (for the second Test) took them over 200 caps so to lead a team like that is a tremendous credit to Sean.”
