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The Kangaroos are set to give Nathan Cleary and Daly Cherry-Evans half a game each to lock up the halfback spot for the World Cup quarter-finals.
Cleary and Cherry-Evans will alternate between the halfback and five-eighth roles in this weekend’s final group game against Italy at the Totally Wicked Stadium at St Helens on Sunday morning (AEDT).
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has been consistent since well before the Cup that he would not make a call on the race to be the starting halfback until he needs to do so and with the quarter-finals kicking off next weekend, this will be his last chance to assess the form of the two candidates before deciding who gets the gig for the elimination rounds.
Meninga has only named a 19-man squad in alphabetical order but irrespective of how the team runs out, all eyes will be on Cleary and Cherry-Evans to see who performs the best in their head-to-head shoot-out at St Helens, which kicks off at 5.30am Sunday AEDT.
Cherry-Evans put in a solid performance in Australia’s Cup opener, a 42-8 win over Fiji, but Cleary was outstanding in last weekend’s cakewalk against the Scots.
(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Although the Manly playmaker is considered the incumbent halfback due to the fact he held the role when Australia played their last Test prior to the pandemic in 2019, Cleary is considered the frontrunner to get the gig alongside Munster in the halves for the business end of the tournament as the Kangaroos try to lift the trophy for the third straight Cup.
“I was very pleased with the performance against Scotland last week,” Meninga said. “Defensively, we were outstanding and I’m looking forward to seeing more cohesion with the ball.
“All players in the squad will have played at least two matches in the pool stages, which is extremely important ahead of the quarter-finals and hopefully beyond.”
Cleary said he would look to strike a balance with Cherry-Evans over the 80 minutes.
“We’re going to mix it up a bit,” Cleary told reporters at the team’s midweek media session. “We’ll just see how it’s going and who’s got the flow at the time.
“Daly is so good I can float around and work off him, it’s something new for both of us.
(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images for RLWC)
“I’m actually not sure (who is the halfback and five-eighth). I wear No.14 and he wears No.2. The idea for us is that we’re wanting to work together as much as we can.”
While he scored 28 points on debut against Scotland in a lopsided rout, Cleary said the selection race was not any player’s main focus.
Although Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Lindsay Collins were clearly fired up about something with the two props having to be separated at training after a flare-up.
“No one’s thinking, ‘I have to play well, because I want to make the team’,” he said.
“You want to play well for the Kangaroos and want to do the best for the team.
“That’s been the beauty of this team so far – there’s no individuals or ego taking over to try and make themselves look better.
“It’s about the team looking better.”
Cherry-Evans added that he appreciated Meninga’s fairness in rotating the squad around over the group stage.
“We are both really happy to play a role for the team this weekend. I understand the big story is around who is going to be there at the end but that is so far away at the moment. We are here for another four weeks.
“This weekend the best we can do is concentrate on playing good footy for Australia. Mal has made that clear from the get-go. Not everyone is going to get to play through the whole tournament.”
Australian captain James Tedesco represented Italy at the past two World Cups and after the team considered giving him a rest this weekend, he will suit up against his heritage nation.
Young winger Murray Taulagi has been named in the line-up after missing the 84-0 thrashing of Scotland due to a broken nose and bench forward Reuben Cotter has been cleared after also sitting out the Coventry fixture because of a head knock.
Vice-captain Cameron Murray, Fa’asuamaleaui and second-rower Jeremiah Nanai are also back in the 19-man squad after a week off with Harry Grant, Jake Trbojevic, Cameron Munster, Josh Addo-Carr and Angus Crichton getting a break this weekend as they have all featured in both group matches.
Cotter will act as a back-up hooker on the interchange for Ben Hunt with Grant having a spell.
(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images for RLWC)
The Kangaroos have returned to their Manchester base after the squad broke camp for a few days for a mid-tournament freshen-up with players taking a trip to Edinburgh.
“I’m feeling good now,” Cotter said. “I didn’t have any symptoms after it, so that was a positive sign. (The debut) all came back to me, so now I’m just keen to play some footy. After seeing the replay I just wanted to know what went on because I couldn’t remember it. It was just the wrong place, wrong time.”
Cotter has come a long way this season after starting the year as an interchange player at the Cowboys before making his Origin debut with a memorable performance for Queensland and now becoming a fully fledged international.
“We’ve come off the back of two good games and we’ve got to continue building,” Cotter said.
“(I’ve got to be) playing to my ability, my strengths, and focus on what I can do well for the team.
“Everyone wants to play in the big games so everyone will be going hard for it.”
Italy opened the tournament with an encouraging 28-4 triumph over Scotland but their hopes of advancing to the quarters were extinguished last weekend when they were thumped 60-4 by Fiji in Newcastle.
Eels forward Nathan Brown will pack down for Italy where he will come up against Parramatta teammate Reagan Campbell-Gillard. Brown is the only current NRL player in the Italian squad while prop Brenden Santi had a brief stint with the Wests Tigers in 2014-15.
12 Matt Burton
6 Reagan Campbell-Gillard
13. Patrick Carrigan
2 Daly Cherry-Evans
14 Nathan Cleary
15 Lindsay Collins
16 Reuben Cotter
18 Tino Fa’asuamaleaui
19 Campbell Graham
4 Valentine Holmes
3 Ben Hunt
21 Liam Martin
8 Latrell Mitchell
11 Cameron Murray (v-c)
22 Jeremiah Nanai
23 Murray Taulagi
1 James Tedesco (captain)
10 Jack Wighton
24 Isaah Yeo
Not playing this weekend: 5 Jake Trbojevic, 20 Harry Grant, 7 Cameron Munster, 9 Josh Addo-Carr, 17 Angus Crichton.