The Australian Rugby League Commission has named four debutants in the team that will face the New Zealand Kiwis at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle on Friday, May 6.
Mal Meninga will blood wingers Semi Radradra and Blake Ferguson in his first appearance as coach of the national team, with Josh McGuire and Michael Morgan on the bench.
Controversy over Radradra’s eligibility for the Roos will be at an all-time high, given the Fiji-born winger cannot play State of Origin.
Aidan Guerra and Michael Jennings have been named 18th and 19th man, with injuries or suspension a possibility as there is a full round of football to be played before the Test match.
Rabbitohs star Greg Inglis, who is the incumbent custodian but has been struggling on the back of an inexperienced backline is shuffled to the centres, making way for Darius Boyd at fullback.
The State of Origin debate will be sparked by the selection of 13 Queenslanders among the 19 Kangaroos, with the likes of Luke Lewis, Nate Myles, Greg Bird and Josh Morris all left out of the squad.
“This is a well-balanced squad and I’m extremely happy with it,” Meninga said.
“We have some experience as well as a handful of younger players who I am looking forward to seeing in this arena.
“It is the fourth most experienced line-up in Australia’s Test history but there will also be four players making their debuts.
“This is an incredibly important game for this group. I want to ensure the players have pride in the national jumper and my goal is to establish the Kangaroos back at the top of the international rankings.
“We have a Four Nations tournament at the end of this year and then a World Cup in 2017. This is the start of an important journey for the Kangaroos.”
Kangaroos team to face the Kiwis
1. Darius Boyd
2. Semi Radradra
3. Greg Inglis
4. Josh Dugan
5. Blake Ferguson
6. Johnathan Thurston
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Matt Scott
9. Cameron Smith (c)
10. Paul Gallen
11. Josh Papalii
12. Matt Gillett
13. Corey Parker
Interchange:
14. Josh McGuire
15. Michael Morgan
16. James Tamou
17. Sam Thaiday
18th man: Aidan Guerra
19th man: Michael Jennings
What are your thoughts on the team selection Roarers?
Crank Yanker
Guest
Totally correct Mycall. Massive gamble by Meninga.
Mycall
Guest
Mal should have a word with Taumalolo just to make sure that he doesn't want to switch teams, he's lived in Oz for 3 years so... maybe we can offer him a few grand more per game than the Kiwis. Hmm, while we're at it, maybe Foran off the bench would be better than Morgan or Issac Luke for impact. Just to be sure, we should get them to change allegience to Australia in case we get some injuries. The World Cup is next year after all.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
What I'm saying is that Meninga has 2 elite fullback options who are the incumbent left centre and left wing, he has an elite left wing available (Semi) so he chose to use Boyd at fullback rather than Inglis (which would leave him having to replace a centre and find spots for Boyd and Semi).
Griffo
Guest
North Queensland as a team has had the least offloads so far this season yet have scored the most points and are second on the ladder. Broncos have 4th least offloads and are on top. On the other hand the top 3 on the ladder are the top 3 for All run metres. I'm not saying offloads aren't useful, Parramatta and Cronulla are 2nd and 3rd, but some of the better teams don't do them that regularly. Perhaps if we could come up with some kind of effective offloads stat then that might be better.
Emcie
Roar Guru
That's not the point griffon!! Oh wait...
Kevin dustby
Guest
Sam thaiday is not in the top 4 Australian sides
Griffo
Guest
Thaiday is not playing better than Taumalolo. I would argue there is no forward in the league at the moment playing better than Taumalolo (although I may be biased). It should then come as no surprise to anyone when he gets picked as the starting lock for the kiwis.
Griffo
Guest
He's not banned. Origin has different qualification rules. If i were a professional rugby league player I wouldn't be eligible either given that I lived in Victoria until just short of my 16th birthday. The facts that I moved to Queensland, have only supported Queensland, have grown to love rugby league purely from living in Queensland, have played junior rugby league in Queensland and have always hated New South Wales are irrelevant. Under the rules I wouldn't qualify. If I was good enough to play for Australia however I would qualify. This is the case for Radradra. He qualifies for one and not the other and what's more he's a much better rugby league player than I am
andrew
Guest
Three fullbacks in the team and only one centre? And the one centre is playing on the wing..... Is Thaiday really playing any better than say Toumalolo? That one looks like someone looking after a mate. Also heard Meninga asked this morning "How did the debutants react when you called them" and he said - we haven't spoken to them yet... So basically they all found out when we did and they haven't been spoken to since - The ratioanle - so they can focus on club commitments.. umm I am pretty sure they would like to get a call congratulating them and explaining what would be happening!!
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
I think mal wants to see how Oates handles origin first (I'm assuming he has the inside knowledge) before bringing him into the Australia squad for the four nations.
theHunter
Guest
Inglis has been great in the Centres before but what I was implying is that he wasn't selected in the fullback position because he is out of form. Which is a different scenario when he would want to play fullback but Slater was around. Which meant GI was in form but so was Slater thus he was selected at Centre. This scenario is funny in that he is not selected at fullback due to lack of form but is selected in the centres for what reason? I don't know.....
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Alternate point of view on Inglis not being selected at fullback; Inglis has typically played at centre in rep football and Darius Boyd is playing well right now and wing seemed easier to cover for Mal than centre with Semi available. Dugan getting the nod ahead of Roberts is a bit baffling though.
craig swanson
Guest
Why does it not surprise me that with Meninga now coach that the Kangaroo squad is Qld-dominated. There are some blokes in this side that are baffling selections while others are playing on old legs. Why let Milford go to Samoa. Should have been picked on the bench.
NQ Cowboy
Guest
Wow! Fensom, Peats/Cook, Reynolds and Sironen? LOL
Mycall
Guest
I agree. Mal apparently said he wouldn't pick players that haven't got either SOO or semi finals experience yet he picks Semi. Semi is an extraordinary talent, but he also has a lot of errors in him and we don't know if he can handle the pressure of a big rugby league game against the world number one team.
Emcie
Roar Guru
How good was he! Would have been an absolute superstar
theHunter
Guest
Inglis' selection is not justified. He is not selected in his favoured position because he is out of form but is selected anyways for the Centre position? And Dugan has never proven himself to be a centre but is picked anyways over 'in-shape' centres like J.Moz, M.Jennings, J.Roberts, D.Gagai or even B.Ferguson himself? Looks like Meninga wanted to select all this players at the same time but couldn't drop Boyd so had to shift two full time fullbacks to centre.
mycall
Guest
I don't really see how you can be "baffled" by the selection of Inglis who has rarely, if ever, had a bad game at rep level yet your only comment on Ferguson is that he is a good player. Ferguson is a good player, but doesn't deserve his debut in this game. His form is OK, but he is playing with a team that has only won 1 game. Jennings is more than unlucky to lose his spot to Ferguson. I think Bird is unlucky not to be there and papalli should buy a lottery ticket. Other than centre, 2nd row is the most contested spot in the tram at the moment.
B-Unit
Guest
He has already played international league and union, just not for us...
Kowalski
Guest
I'd have Yow-Yeh over Semi /Folau