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Opinion
There will be plenty of fresh faces in the Kangaroos squad that is announced for the World Cup in what will be a new era and there are still plenty of spots up for grabs.
From the team that won the last World Cup five years ago there are probably only three players still in contention and even from the side that last played at the end of 2019 against Tonga, only a few guys are guaranteed to be in the team in October.
There are a few players who will have their last chance to impress this weekend in the last round of the NRL but a lot of the final 24-man squad for the World Cup will come from teams that will be in the finals.
Players like Hudson Young at Canberra, Eels forward Shaun Lane and Matt Lodge at the Roosters are players who probably weren’t in the selection frame a couple of months ago but have given themselves a chance with their recent form and could force their way in if they keep playing well in the playoffs.
The return of the Prime Minister’s XIII game is great news and players from the eight teams that miss the playoffs plus the two sides that get knocked out of the first week of the finals will make up that squad when they play PNG at Suncorp Stadium on September 25.
Hudson Young.(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Being assistant coach to Mal Meninga, we’ve had plenty of conversations about the type of player that we want to wear the green and gold, and soon it will be time for him and Test selectors Darren Lockyer and Laurie Daley to narrow it down to the final selections.
The Test team is essentially the best players for each position at that time but it’s more than that. Mal wants players who are prepared to put the team first and are durable because we will be in the UK for a tough campaign.
Guys who can roll with the punches, work hard and can contribute to the team being highly competitive.
That’s what the Kangaroos’ DNA is all about.
We’re seen as favourites to win the Cup in England but with the emergence of Samoa and Tonga, New Zealand having a strong squad again and the Poms being on their home turf, it’s going to be a lot tougher than prior tournaments.
There have been several eligible players declare their intention to play for other nations and we haven’t played in nearly three years whereas many of the other countries got to play a Test midway through the year.
Of course, we have the benefit of State of Origin giving our players a taste of football at the elite level but a lot of the players in this Kangaroos squad will either be making their debut or have only played a few Tests before the pandemic shut everything down at the end of 2019.
Test footy is a bit different to Origin and the NRL – the play-the-ball is a bit slower and you’ve got to be more patient.
From the 2017 team that beat England in the final in Brisbane, Val Holmes, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Jordan McLean are the only three guys who are in serious contention this time around.
We had the luxury back then of a golden era of players, particularly in the spine with Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Michael Morgan who played for a long time at international level and built up combinations.
The 2022 team will have a lot of guys playing together for the first time so that favours a team like Penrith who will probably have a lot of players in the Kangaroos side like Isaah Yeo, Nathan Cleary, Liam Martin and maybe Api Koroisau, perhaps Dylan Edwards.
If I take a look at the team which lost to Tonga in New Zealand three years ago, there’s probably only James Tedesco, Latrell Mitchell, Josh Addo-Carr, Jack Wighton, Cameron Munster, Daly Cherry-Evans, Payne Haas, Damian Cook, Ben Hunt and Cameron Murray who’d be guaranteed to make the World Cup squad. Jake Trbojevic, if he gets over his broken hand, will probably be there too.
Guys like Yeo, Kurt Capewell, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Martin and Cleary are established Origin players but haven’t played Test footy yet due to international footy being shut down for a few years.
It all adds up to a lot of rookies in the Australian team.
In the backs, Dylan Edwards is a chance because he’s a durable player who teammates look like they want to play with, Joseph Suaalii is being looked at for the right wing and guys like Campbell Graham and Matt Burton could be options at centre.
The halves pretty much pick themselves but Nicho Hynes is someone who could do a job as a No 14 with his versatility as some back-up off the bench.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
In the forwards, size will matter and Patrick Carrigan deserves a chance after the season he’s had but Lindsay Collins, with his lengthy suspension after missing a fair bit of footy due to concussions is now a bit behind the eight ball. That means guys like Reuben Cotter, Jai Arrow, Jeremiah Nanai, Lane, Lodge and Young are firming as potential tourists.
Hooker is wide open and we can’t go wrong because between Cook, Koroisau, Hunt, Harry Grant and even Reece Robson as a roughie, they are all quality candidates.
Although we might be light on in Test experience, we will have plenty of leaders – one thing that Mal has been big on is having guys who are either captains or in a senior role at their clubs.
With guys like Tedesco, DCE, Murray, Yeo and Cleary, Hunt, Cook, Fa’asumamaleaui and even someone like Carrigan who’s filled in at Brisbane, there will be plenty of players in the squad who won’t get flustered when the pressure comes on.
Michael Hagan is a former dual-premiership winning first grade player and current assistant coach of Australia's Kangaroos team. Hagan played 183 games for Canterbury and Newcastle and represented Queensland five times. He transitioned into a successful coach and took the Knights to a premiership in his first year in charge back in 2001. He went onto coach 205 NRL games and six times for Queensland in Origin.