Well Australia nearly got beaten by South Africa in 2019 so that plan could have backfired on LA!
It’s different now. Australia have faced England and Jamaica in the last two semi finals at the major events recently, and were defeated by those teams in the round play in each tournament.
You are right though, it is a big test for SM and the team management. She has had hurdles in the major tournaments that she has managed well though and finished on top. I agree as well there may have been some complacency there due to the success the team has had with digging themselves out of holes in the past.
By “we need more information”, I think she means they need the analysis and data to understand why they turned the ball over 5+ times in a row on their own centre pass and why they kept making silly errors when they gained the ball in defence. Eg why was Paige Hadley so far out of court and being passed the ball?
To me, not enough emphasis has been placed on blooding new players and with Weston and Bruce coming into this series under injury clouds, why weren’t Ervin or Ellis exposed more in the England series? Why didn’t she look Horjus in the England series to build some form of combination? Why did Dwyer get barely any court time against England?