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."

Wheelchair rugby league Ashes: Jack Brown on sacrifices for England