The demolition of England in the final quarter last Saturday night was, from a home supporter's perspective, painful in the extreme while at the same time magnificent to watch.

With an hour gone, the green and golds held a narrow six-point lead at 22-16. Then Michael Shenton was knocked cold as he went to tackle Ben Hannent and, quite rightly, there was a long delay as the Castleford centre was attended to.

From that restart Australia slipped up a gear and gave a display as awesome as any we have seen in the last 30-odd years. It could be argued that the final scoreline of 46-16 does not give full credit to what had until then been a fine English effort.

But scoreboards don't lie; and the way Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston and Cameron Smith asserted their quality was breathtaking.

However, for that first 60 minutes England had genuine hope. Sam Burgess's opening try after 10 minutes showed great power, strength and no little skill, goaled by Kevin Sinfield, who was again a major influence in the number nine role.

Australia hit back through Brett Morris, Thurston goaling, before Kyle Eastmond's inch-perfect crossfield kick put in Peter Fox, but too far out for Sinfield's conversion attempt. The video ref Phil Bentham looked long and hard before awarding the equalising try by Inglis, which Thurston converted and then extended the lead to 14-10 with a late first half penalty.

England's hopes rose again 10 minutes into the second half when Sam Tomkins and Gareth Ellis combined superbly to send Burgess in for his second try, Sinfield's conversion giving a two-point lead. Tries by Slater and Morris, neither converted, gave Australia that narrow advantage – and then they turned on the gas.

Within 24 hours England coach Tony Smith had resigned, leaving the RFL with the stiff task of finding a successor who can build a team to realistically challenge for the 2013 World Cup.

Smith's decision to give youth its chance deserves praise and in Tomkins, Eastwood, Burgess, Ritchie Myler, Ryan Hall, Shenton, Fox and Shaun Briscoe there is a nucleus if they continue their development. Sinfield, Ellis, James Roby, James Graham and Ben Westwood should still be around – but whether the latter three can move up another gear is perhaps open to question.

Sadly, it is unlikely those venerable campaigners Jamie Peacock and Adrian Morley will still be around. They have sweat blood in the England and Great Britain cause down the years to no avail whatsoever.

Eastmond and Tomkins have the potential to be successors to the Tommy Bishop and Roger Millward pairing that tasted success so long ago; but without having players around them, who can also compete at the highest level, they may be doomed to the Andy Gregory/Shaun Edwards fate of so near and yet so far.

It was a disappointing end to what has been a fascinating season; it only feels like a matter of weeks since it kicked off back in February.