Three Brydens Lawyers NSW Blues will lead the Australian Kangaroos side at the Rugby League World Cup, which gets underway in the UK on 15 October.
Blues skipper James Tedesco has been named captain of the 24-man squad announced by coach Mal Meninga today, with Origin teammates Cameron Murray and Isaah Yeo his vice-captains.
It is another accolade for the Sydney Roosters fullback, who takes over from the retired Boyd Cordner as Kangaroos captain like he did for the Bryden Lawyers NSW Blues.
Cordner was the last to have the ‘c’ against his name in the October 2019 win over New Zealand (26-4) in Wollongong before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Test football.
Yeo is making his Australian debut – one of six True Blues wearing the green and gold for the first time.
The others are Matt Burton, Nathan Cleary, Angus Crichton, Campbell Graham, and Liam Martin.
Yeo, Martin and Cleary are having a momentous week since they lifted the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership trophy less than 24 hours earlier, and they will be on a plane to London on Thursday.
In total there are 13 True Blues named for the 2021 World Cup, which retains last year’s date as it was postponed by 12 months.
The 13 are (in alphabetical order): Josh Addo-Carr, Burton, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Cleary, Crichton, Graham, Martin, Latrell Mitchell, Murray, Tedesco, Jake Trbojevic, Jack Wighton and Yeo.
There are five Brydens Lawyers NSW Blues survivors from the last Kangaroos Test in 2019 – Tedesco (fullback), Addo-Carr (wing), Mitchell (centre), Wighton (centre) and Trbojevic (lock).
“We have an extremely healthy mix of incumbent players as well as a number of players who are yet to represent their country,” Meninga said.
“We will have players who have performed on this stage before. Many of these players have produced form when it counts in both State of Origin and also in the Finals Series,” he said.
Australia’s first game is against Fiji in Leeds on Saturday 15 October.
The full Australian Kangaroos Squad is: (* denotes on debut)
Josh Addo-Carr (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs)
Matt Burton* (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs)
Reagan Campbell-Gillard (Parramatta Eels)
Patrick Carrigan* (Brisbane Broncos)
Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly Warringah Sea Eagles)
Nathan Cleary* (Penrith Panthers)
Lindsay Collins* (Sydney Roosters)
Reuben Cotter* (North Queensland Cowboys)
Angus Crichton* (Sydney Roosters)
Tino Fa'asuamaleaui* (Gold Coast Titans)
Campbell Graham* (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Harry Grant* (Melbourne Storm)
Valentine Holmes (North Queensland Cowboys)
Ben Hunt (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Liam Martin* (Penrith Panthers)
Latrell Mitchell (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Cameron Munster (Melbourne Storm)
Cameron Murray, vice captain (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Jeremiah Nanai* (North Queensland Cowboys)
Murray Taulagi* (North Queensland Cowboys)
James Tedesco, captain (Sydney Roosters)
Jake Trbojevic (Manly Warringah Sea Eagles)
Jack Wighton (Canberra Raiders)
Isaah Yeo* (Penrith Panthers)
