THE prospect of watching the first Ashes Test for 22 years is a thrilling one, mixed with a little anxiety.

Anyone who watches the NRL regularly must have witnessed the rise in standards in that competition this season and the nagging worry is whether the England team, whoever is selected, will be able to stifle some of the brilliant attacking play we have seen in the NRL and State of Origin.

And what tactics will Shaun Wane urge his team to adopt?

Will he opt for an attritional five drives and a kick, with his players instructed not to take risks?

I suspect that may be playing into the Australians’ hands.

Or will he encourage his players to fully express themselves, spreading the ball and seeking any weaknesses they can find in the Australian defence?

That won’t necessarily secure victory for England, but it has often been the way we have beaten them in the past, even if it has only been in the odd game.

We should have a good idea when we see the team that Shaun selects.

If he selects a halfback combination of George Williams and Harry Smith, then I think we are in for a risk-free approach.

If Mikey Lewis is selected to start the match, then we may see a more unpredictable game.

I hope it’s the latter.

Given that Jake Connor wasn’t even selected in the 24-man squad for the series, I suspect it may be the former.

But if those are the tactics and we win the game, I will be among the first to congratulate Shaun.

At this level, as the former UCLA coach Red Sanders once said, ‘Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

And let’s hope for an attendance that forces Wembley to open up more of the third tier of the stadium so that it will look as full as possible for the game.

Ticket sales are slowly edging to 60,000, but we should never be satisfied with only being able to get Wembley two-thirds full.

I’ve not been a party to RL Commercial’s marketing strategy for this game, although they did take out a significant amount of advertising apparently on the London Underground, which must have cost a fair packet.

My view of that sort of advertising, aimed at commuters passing through busy stations, is that it’s useful for reminding people of big events that they might be inclined to support, but it’s less effective in generating interest where there is no empathy for the event being advertised.

Successful advertising for the Wembley Test needs to be much more targeted than that.

Meanwhile I note that 86,152 people were at Wembley yesterday (Sunday) for the NFL game between the Jaguars and Rams.

Will we ever see a crowd like that for a major Rugby League occasion at Wembley?

I’m not banking on it.

Refereeing alternatives

The first Test this Saturday will be refereed by an English referee, while the second Test will be refereed by an Aussie, with the referee for the third Test being the one who performs best in the first two games.

The two referees getting the gig are the respective Grand Final referees, Liam Moore and Grant Atkins.

I’m glad that Liam will be in charge of the first game.

In the past we’ve often seen English referees trying to demonstrate their neutrality by giving the Aussies the 50/50 calls.

I’m sure that Liam won’t do that.