Only one player out of the 17 would get into the 17 for Australia the gap is definitely growing. I know no Nrl based players but not sure any of them would get in either.

Newman should be first choice centre.
But I'm glad he's not playing.
He's just come back from a long injury lay off and played a lot of games with quick turnarounds.
Let him have the rest and start next year fresh.
Selfishly, I would have preferred the same for Mik tbh, but will be good to see how he goes.

Bateman, Farrell and Hardaker have been poor all year, but Wane still selects them.


Also, interesting to see how Abdull, Knowles and Evalds go.

Newman and Hardaker are similar in a lot of ways. They're both strong broken field runners, and excellent competitors. But They're not team players, and rarely look to pass. Newman needs to work on this, or he'll be too one dimensional to make it at the highest level.

Of course, Newman should have got in. But I can see him now smashing it this season and with a full pre-season on the back of that.

Newman still does need to make improvements. World Cup spot is there for the taking next year and he’ll know that.

Also news he has withdrawn from the squad due to non-specified leg injury… let’s hope it’s not the old injury causing problems.