Loyalty will play little role in the selection of Australia's Pacific Championships squad as the Kangaroos seek to restore pride by avenging last year’s record loss to the Kiwis.
The Kangaroos will host Tonga at Suncorp Stadium in a double header with the Jillaroos and PNG Orchids before both Australian teams travel to Christchurch to take on their New Zealand rivals on October 27.
After crashing to a 30-0 defeat - Australia’s heaviest loss since 1908 - in last year’s Pacific Championships final, Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga said the World Cup champions needed to win the tournament to prove they are still No.1.
“The Kangaroos got hammered in the final, and the Jillaroos got beaten by the Kiwi Ferns in their last game as well so … our aim this year is to prove to the world that both Australian teams are the best,” Meninga said.
“We want to stay in that No.1 ranking, so every time you put that jersey on you give your best performance, and we didn't do that in our last performance so that was disappointing.
“We're looking forward to the opportunity to come together again and prove to the rugby league world that the Kangaroos and the Jillaroos are No.1.”
While Meninga took some responsibility for Australia’s preparation ahead of last year’s final at Hamilton, he said players could no longer rely on past form to keep their positions and he would be looking at Origin and the finals.
As a result, players like Dragons winger Zac Lomax, Knights centre Bradman Best and Warriors forward Mitch Barnett, who were members of NSW’s Origin series winning team, will come into serious contention to make their Test debuts.
Zac Lomax outstanding again in blue
Bulldogs forward Josh Curran was also mentioned by Meninga as a possible bolter for Kangaroos selection.
“We will look at what happened through the NRL season but certainly Origin will play a very important part,” Meninga said at a media opportunity with Jillaroos coach Brad Donald on Friday at Suncorp Stadium.
“We look at loyalty but there's not much loyalty this year though, unfortunately, because of what happened. We love winning tournaments, that's part of our charter.”
Kangaroos v Kiwis - Pacific Cup final, 2023
With Tonga having also beaten Australia the last time the nations met in 2019 and Samoa qualifying for the World Cup final in 2022, Meninga said RLWC2026 would be the most competitive yet.
“There’s a lot of Pacific Islanders playing in the NRL and playing at a very high level, and the English have always been strong, so the competition has improved, there’s no doubt about that," he said.
“You probably could have said not so long ago that there were only three teams that were competitive on the international stage.
"But now, in the World Cup in 2026, we’ll have 10 teams in the men’s and eight teams in the women’s, so every game is going to be competitive. That's just an insight into where the international game is heading.
"If you move onto next year, as we all know, we've got the English side coming over for a bit of a tour, which is fantastic, and then the World Cup in 2026 here and in Papua, New Guinea.”
Jillaroos coach Brad Donald said the women’s game was also getting stronger at international level, with the Kiwi Ferns last year beating Australia for the first time since 2016.
Jillaroos v Kiwi Ferns - Week 3, 2023
While Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea will play for the Pacific Cup, Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga will be involved in World Cup qualifying tournament.
“It's great to see the Kiwis in a position where they beat us for the first time in eight years, but we haven't forgotten it and we haven't slept since, so the pride and passion that Mal talks about is alive and well,” Donald said.
“I think the overall Pacific Championships this year gives us a nice insight into the World Cup, especially in the female space.
“We're going to see the emergence of the Fijian, Cook Islands, Samoan and Tongan sides just like we have done in the past couple of years with the men, so the Pacific Championships will give us a real appetite for what's going to happen in the next two to three years in our sport.”
