Kiwi side for Townsville to be named
Monday 1 October 2012 8:26 PM
New Zealand’s squad will be announced tomorrow (Tuesday) for the one-off Test against the Kangaroos at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville on Saturday, October 13.
Last week the Kiwi selectors boosted the size of their train-on squad to 19 players while seven current or former Kiwis plus New Zealand-eligible Sam Kasiano lined up in yesterday’s NRL grand final.
Three – Jesse Bromwich, Sika Manu and Kevin Proctor – were in the Melbourne side which beat Canterbury-Bankstown 14-4. The Bulldogs had Sam Perrett, Krisnan Inu, Frank Pritchard, Greg Eastwood and Kasiano in their line-up.
In their only other international this year, the Kiwis lost 12-20 to the Kangaroos in the Anzac Test at Eden Park.
The line-up for that match was: Josh Hoffman; Jason Nightingale, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Simon Mannering, Manu Vatuvei; Benji Marshall, Shaun Johnson; Sam McKendry, Issac Luke, Ben Matulino; Frank Pritchard, Adam Blair; Jeremy Smith. Interchange: Nathan Fien, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Jesse Bromwich, Alex Glenn.
There’ll be a minimum of four changes to that combination with Nightingale, Kenny-Dowall, Fien and Glenn all out of contentions.
The squad is expected to be selected from the following 27 players:
Brisbane Broncos: Gerard Beale, Josh Hoffman
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs: Greg Eastwood, Krisnan Inu, Sam Kasiano, Sam Perrett, Frank Pritchard
Cronulla Sharks: Jeremy Smith
Manly Sea Eagles: Kieran Foran, Dean Whare
Melbourne Storm: Jesse Bromwich, Sika Manu, Kevin Proctor
North Queensland Cowboys: Jason Taumalolo, Antonio Winterstein
Penrith Panthers: Sam McKendry
South Sydney Rabbitohs: Issac Luke
Sydney Roosters: Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
Vodafone Warriors: Ben Henry, Shaun Johnson, Simon Mannering, Alehana Mara, Ben Matulino, Elijah Taylor, Manu Vatuvei
Wests Tigers: Adam Blair, Benji Marshall
Unavailable: Brisbane Broncos: Alex Glenn (knee surgery); North Queensland Cowboys: Ricky Thorby (hip surgery); St George Illawarra Dragons: Nathan Fien (retired from international rugby league), Jason Nightingale (knee surgery); Sydney Roosters: Shaun Kenny-Dowall (thigh surgery); Vodafone Warriors: Kevin Locke (high ankle sprain).