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Mal Meninga will blood three debutants for Australia when the Kangaroos take on England in their opening match of the Rugby League World Cup on Friday night in Melbourne, while Michael Morgan has been named as Cooper Cronk’s halves partner.
Plenty of speculation surrounded who would line up at five-eighth alongside Cronk in the tournament opener in the absence of the injured Johnathan Thurston, but it is Thurston’s North Queensland teammate Morgan who has been given the nod ahead of James Maloney and Cameron Munster.
In addition to the inclusion of Morgan, Dane Gagai will make his first international appearance for Meninga’s side in the winger’s jersey. Gagai became the first winger to be named State of Origin player of the series earlier this year.
“This is obviously a very important game in the context of the Rugby League World Cup and this squad of players reflects that,” Meninga said.
“Dane had a tremendous State of Origin series and deserves to play for the Kangaroos and it will be great to see him in the green and gold.”
Joining Gagai as the side’s debutants are forwards Wade Graham and Jordan McLean. Cronulla forward Graham played all three State of Origin games for New South Wales this year, while Storm prop McLean – who is moving to North Queensland next year – will make his first representative appearance since playing for Country Origin in 2016.
“Wade offers enormous impact for us while Jordan had a wonderful season for the Storm. Jordan was also extremely strong in the pre-tournament exhibition against Fiji and PNG.”
With the exception of the three debutants and Morgan in the number six jersey, the Kangaroos side has a familiar feel to it, with the Melbourne Storm ‘Big Three’ of Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Cronk forming the spine alongside Morgan.
Will Chambers and Josh Dugan will start in the centres with Valentine Holmes partnering Gagai on the wing.
In the forwards, Aaron Woods and David Klemmer will start in the front row either side of skipper Smith, while vice-captain Boyd Cordner will form the back-row with Matt Gillett and Jake Trbojevic.
Graham and McLean will be joined on the bench by Tyson Frizell and Josh McGuire.
England coach Wayne Bennett also named his team for the tournament opener, revealing a line-up full of recognised NRL stars like Gareth Widdop, Josh Hodgson and Sam Burgess.
1. Billy Slater
2. Dane Gagai
3. Will Chambers
4. Josh Dugan
5. Valentine Holmes
6. Michael Morgan
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Aaron Woods
9. Cameron Smith (c)
10. David Klemmer
11. Boyd Cordner (vc)
12. Matt Gillett
13. Jake Trbojevic
Bench
14. Wade Graham
15. Jordan McLean
16. Josh McGuire
17. Tyson Frizell
Reserves
18. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
19. Ben Hunt
20. Tom Trbojevic
21. Felise Kaufusi
1 Jonny Lomax
2 Jermaine McGillvary
3 Kallum Watkins
4 John Bateman
5 Ryan Hall
6 Gareth Widdop
7 Luke Gale
8 Chris Hill
9 Josh Hodgson
10 James Graham
11 Sam Burgess
12 Elliott Whitehead
13 Sean O’Loughlin (c)
Bench
14 Alex Walmsley
15 Chris Heighington
16 Thomas Burgess
17 James Roby
Reserves
18 Ben Currie
19 Kevin Brown
20 Mark Percival
21 Scott Taylor