Australia face Lebanon in the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday morning AEDT, but Mal Meninga’s side are far from settled.
Meninga had five years to prepare for Australia’s World Cup defence, but on the eve of the knockout stages he remains undecided about his best 17.
Who plays in the middle, at right center and on the bench are the tough selection calls that have kept the Kangaroos coach up through the night.
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The battle of the halves has played out between state-of-origin rivals in Panthers gun Nathan Cleary and Sea Eagles veteran Daly Cherry-Evans.
Rabbitohs superstar Latrell Mitchell will be at left centre, while Jack Wighton, Matt Burton and Campbell Graham have been battling it out in the group stages to accompany him.
Harry Grant or Ben Hunt will be Australia’s pimps in the semis and final, with the non-starter of the duo expected to fill a utility role off the bench.
However, Meninga will use Australia’s qualifier against Lebanon in Huddersfield as the final test match.
Meninga has named his squad for the clash against the Cedards in alphabetical order with Hunt rested while Burton is out.
Cherry-Evans is expected to take Hunt’s place on the bench but could also be filled by Wighton if he doesn’t start.
DCE played from the bench in Australia’s 2013 World Cup final win against New Zealand, but missed out on selection for the 2017 tournament.
Foxsports.com.au spoke to Cooper Cronk, Justin Hodges and Paul Gallen, and the Kangaroos greats were split on some of the tough selection decisions.
Mal Meninga, coach of the Kangaroos. GettySource: Getty Images
Cronk declared that Cleary had to start and that Meninga could not afford to “bring” Cherry-Evans to the bench.
Gallen said it “has to be Cleary” and former Blues hooker Mick Ennis agreed, highlighting his combination with club team-mate Isaah Yeo cannot be ignored.
“Australia can still win the World Cup with Daly Cherry-Evans at half-back, just for me the representative shirt, especially playing for your country, should be the best players in the best positions that complement the team,” Ennis told foxsports.com. .au.
“When I look at this side I think who are the two most important players outside of James Tedesco? They are Nathan Cleary and Isaac Yeo. They handle the ball more than any player other than dummy half.
“Their combination is second to none in the game at the moment, they are so on the same page and have a great understanding of each other’s game and how to make the right decisions at the right time.”
Australia are on a semi-final collision course with New Zealand and Ennis believes Grant should start with Hunt on the bench.
“I know Daly played No.14 in the early days, but at the moment Daly is a dominant half-back and so is Nathan, where Ben is a very comfortable No.9,” Ennis said.
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“Ben does a great job when he comes in like he did with Queensland and plays that extra ball player in the middle with Harry.
“He thrives on those effort things — kick chasing, line speed, all those things in the middle of the game. He’s proven to be very useful in that role.
“I would move away from having Daly and Nathan there because I feel Nathan needs to have that right of ‘this is your team, go and win Australia the World Cup’ and now I have to look over his shoulder wondering when it’s going to be Daly. Next, thinking “if I don’t do something right or the game doesn’t go well early, are they going to take a look at me?”
“Just let him be, let him run the side and let him own the side. That’s what he’s done so well for Penrith and for NSW.”
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News Corp reporter Brent Read attended Kangaroos training this week and reported that Cleary had trained at half-back and Cherry-Evans had filled in at half-back, while Wighton had spent most of the center session with Valentine Holmes in the band.
Cronk believes Graham should be picked ahead of Wighton because he is a specialist with a rock-solid defence.
“He is the only central right. You’ve got Wighton, Burton and Latrell, who are all centre-lefts,” Cronk said.
“Graham has done a really good job, scored a couple of tries and is a very good defensive centre.
“I think he (should) play on the right and Latrell plays on the left, and that means Josh Addo-Carr will be the left winger and Val Holmes will be the right winger.”
But Hodges disagreed and said Wighton should be chosen alongside Mitchell for the rest of the tournament.
“Latrell has to be there and then I’d pick Wighton. Those two would be lethal to play on each side,” Hodges said.
“They also play so aggressively.”
Meninga played all of his 24-man squad during the group stage and admitted it had been a brutal selection meeting this week.
“It’s very difficult to leave any player out,” he said.
“We have reached the round of 16 of the tournament and we have to make sure that we have consistency in the squad and in the positions.
“Lebanon are a very good side and we expect a very strong and creative performance from them.”
FACED KANGAROOS IN LEBANON (alphabetical order)
9. Josh Addo-Carr
13. Pat Carrigan
2. Daly Cherry-Evans
14. Nathan Cleary
15. Lindsay Collins
16. Reuben Cotter
17. Angus Crichton
18. Physical abuse
19. Campbell Graham
20. Harry Grant
4. Valentine Holmes
21. Liam Martin
8. Latrell Mitchell
7. Cameron Munster
11. Cameron Murray (vc)
James Tedesco (c)
5. Jake Trbojevic
10. Jack Wighton
24. Isaac Yeo (vc)
Australia v Lebanon kicks off at 6.30am on Saturday and can only be seen on Fox League.
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