Old rivalries will reignite this Saturday when the Australian Police Rugby League and Great Britain Police Rugby League go head-to-head at Leichhardt Oval.
Australia will be fielding 14 debutants at the international level, with players selected following strong performances in the 2023 Tri-Series. However, they will be led by experienced duo captain Jake Carl and vice captain Andrew Dunkley, who have been involved for almost a decade at the national level.
“Out of the 19 in our squad, we have got five who have played this level before,” coach Nick Paterson said.
“Jake Carl, our fullback and our front rower Andrew Dunkley have been part of that system for nine years, but apart from that, we have a new squad, so a lot of new debutants on Saturday and it’s really exciting they get the opportunity to wear the green and gold jersey and represent their country.
“Jake and Andrew have both played for Queensland as well and they both very worthy of their jersey and really good contributors for the Australia team for the past nine years, so it’s a privilege to have them in and leading these youngest guys around.”
For Carl, who has also played at Hostplus Cup level with the Burleigh Bears, the privilege was his to be involved again.
“It’s always an awesome experience playing for Australia and to have the opportunity to captain them again is even more of a humbling experience for me, so I can’t wait,” Carl said.
“I remember my first game for Australia in 2015, it was against Great Britain as well, so it’s pretty cool to see those 14 boys get their opportunity to run out in the green and gold and I know they won’t let anyone down.”
For the Great Britain team, while this tour Down Under has been years in the making, coach Bob Marsden said the players had gelled well in their short time together since touching down in Australia.
“The planning to come to Australia has probably been four or five years; COVID put a pause on things,” Marsden said of past plans to tour.
“But this team left Manchester on Monday, landed Tuesday obviously to a warm climate; we’ve trained well and the preparation has been very good, but very warm!”
Captain Ben Marsden, who plays in the forwards, has experience in the reserve levels in England including with Huddersfield Giants and Wakefield and represented Lancashire in Under 19s, said despite the difficulties of getting time off with their work, the players had done what they could to prepare as best they can.
“We have all be working hard together, getting together on our days off and working hard in the build up weeks in advance of coming over here,” Marsden said.
Despite the strong rivalry, the camaraderie off the field is strong, with the side’s gathering together on Thursday for a promotional shoot where the two teams mingled before facing off on Saturday.
“We have been welcomed with open arms, I have met the Australian coaching staff and we were talking about how we are looking forward to it and we’ll get together after win or lose, we’ll have a drink together,” coach Marsden said.
Paterson echoed the words of his rival coach and said the bond formed through their shared experiences was special.
“When we do play, it’s going to be a fierce contest, we’re both representing our countries; but off the field we are in the same line of work and we’re mates,” Paterson said.
“It’s one of those things, football is football, we’ll get out there and we’ll have a really competition game and come and have a drink together.”
The Australian Police Rugby League v Great Britain Police Rugby League match will take place at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday, March 2. The game will kick off at 4.30pm AEDT
The match will be live-streamed at NRL.com.
Australian Police Rugby League
1. Jake Carl (c)
2. Dylan Wagener
3. Alex Williams
4. Peter Pakoti
5. Salesi Taumalolo
6. Ryan Foran-Griffin
7. Tyler Field
8. Andrew Dunkley
9. Troy O’Sullivan
10. Sam Pierce
11. Will Scanlan
12. Kieran Melville
13. Sam Bielefeld
14. Angelo Cuevas
15. Emelio Mulu
16. Isaak Lyons
17. Dave Cutler
18. Nigel Maher
19. Robert Lammermoor
Coach: Nick Paterson
Assistant coach: Daniel Hess
Great Britain Police Rugby League
1. Lewis Ainley
2. Philip Whitham
3. Joshua Greenwood-MacDonald
4. Gareth Jones
5. Jack Morrison
6. Jake Davies
7. Aaron Lloyd
8. Adam Coopman
9. Callum Sampson
10. Jordan Cella
11. Robert Froggatt
12. Ben Marsden (c)
13. Tomas Gallagher
14. Josh Greaves
15. Will Martin
16. James Connaughton
17. Scott Leatherbarrow
18. James Motum
19. Ashley Wildman
20. John O’Donnell
21. Michael Ostick
22. Ryan Pickles
23. Sam Wood
Coach – Bob Marsden
* four to be omitted