Why Brown has taken financial hit to help England

Jack Brown was a Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup winner in 2008 and 2022

Jack Brown has made a big financial sacrifice to help England's bid to retain the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup next year - but you will not hear him complaining about it.

Nor will he grumble about having made England's job more difficult as they prepare for the forthcoming wheelchair Ashes series down under, because that is just how he wants it.

"We want to be playing the best, we want to be challenged and we want the sport to keep growing," he says.

The Halifax Panthers player spent five and a half years living in Australia, coaching wheelchair rugby league while picking up lucrative work as a welder in the Queensland mines.

The 35-year-old gave up the mining work and came home to West Yorkshire in April, rejoining the Panthers, because he wanted to play more regularly in the build-up to the World Cup.

It has already paid off, with the Panthers winning the Wheelchair Super League Grand Final last month to add to the Challenge Cup and League Leaders' Shield, completing a treble.

"I knew I would take a hit coming back," he says. "But back over here, there are other, more positive aspects of the lifestyle, with its connection with family and friends. You're a lot more around people."

Brown - who scored two tries to help England beat France in a dramatic World Cup final in Manchester three years ago - is vice-captain for the four-match tour of Australia.

England face New South Wales on Friday and Queensland next Monday before two Tests against Australia on 30 October and 2 November.

During his time down under, Brown coached Queensland to four successive victories over New South Wales in the Wheelchair State of Origin match - now known as the Wheelchair State Challenge.

He believes the standards of Australian wheelchair rugby league have risen over the past half-decade, and acknowledges that if England have a tough time of it down under, it will be partly down to his coaching.

"We like to be open, share everything with everyone," he says. "We do it at club level, we do it at international level. If we can help someone, you help them whether it makes your job harder or not."

Jack Brown helped Halifax Panthers win the Wheelchair Super League Grand Final in September

Brown is one of two non-disabled players in England's squad for the Ashes tour; he first took up wheelchair basketball and then rugby league to share a sport on an equal level with his younger brother Harry, who lost both legs to meningitis as a baby.

They were both part of the England team who won the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup in 2008, and were runners-up in 2013 and 2017, before Harry concentrated on basketball, helping Great Britain to Paralympic silver in Paris last year.

Wheelchair rugby league's international laws allow two of a team's five players on the court to be non-disabled, and Jack has become an England stalwart.

But he was not playing regularly in Australia because of strict eligibility rules.

"I was training with a lot of the top players over in Australia, but in terms of representation, the eligibility rules are quite strict over there, so it kind of filters down," he said.

"If you're not eligible for Australia, you're not eligible for State of Origin, and it continues on down."

It meant that throughout his time in Australia, Brown was only playing during trips home to England. And although he helped his country lift the World Cup in 2022, he did not feel it was going to work for 2026. Which meant a move home and giving up the lucrative welding.

"I was just doing a bit of workshop welding to start off with, but the aim was to try and get into the mines over there," he said.

"It had that team mentality around it, where you're going through really nasty periods of work and you're in some really bad places and some dirty places, and you've got to get through it together.

"It was a big decision to come back to England, because we had a lot of things over there and I've still got a lot of good, close friends over there.

"But I had to be realistic with myself. I was really lucky to be still alongside these players in the England side while I was over there and I think it was selfish of me to think that I could maintain that level with only playing one game a year."

And for Brown, international success means more than money.

"I've set up a couple of businesses with close friends doing driving and maintenance, so I've got my finger in a couple of jars but that's not the important thing at the moment," he says.

"My only focus at the moment is just making sure I can get to every training on time, get to every game on time and the work will just take care of itself. I can always make more money."

Wheelchair rugby league Ashes schedule

• 24 October: New South Wales v England (Sydney)

• 27 October: Queensland v England (Sunshine Coast)

• 30 October: Australia v England (Gold Coast)

• 2 November: Australia v England (Gold Coast)