Super Freak
International Captain
Forum Staff
- Jan 25, 2014
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HIS 59 NRL games is a big enough bank of experience to ready Corey Oates for a Test debut next month, according to Kerry Boustead, one of Australia’s greatest wingers.
Oates, 21, is pressing hard for a wing spot in a three-quarter line in which the cards will fall into place when coach Mal Meninga decides if he wants to continue Greg Inglis’ five-Test reign as Test fullback or move him to the centres.
Oates has scored 18 tries in his past 23 matches for the Broncos and has a strong running game when bringing the ball out of his team’s end.
Boustead said he would prefer to see Oates given a Test jersey ahead of Parramatta winger Semi Radradra, who lived in Fiji for 19 years of his life.
Meninga has inherited an Australian team in which incredibly seven different three-quarters have played in the past two Tests, both of which were lost to New Zealand.
Boustead, who began his Test career at just 18 years of age, said Oates had “put the runs on the board’’ to be chosen for Australia before he has played Origin.
“He’s a very good candidate — he has proved in the last year or so that he’s a complete footballer and he’s quite experienced now too,’’ Boustead said.
Meninga will find a spot for Darius Boyd as left winger in the May 6 Test against the Kiwis in Newcastle if he wants Inglis at fullback. Similarly, Inglis will be picked at left centre if Meninga thinks Boyd is his best option at fullback.
Oates did not train with the Broncos on Tuesday because of knee soreness, but Brisbane’s coaching staff say he will be fit to play against South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Boyd, who has played only one of his 17 Tests since 2013, and Canterbury’s Josh Morris are just two experienced three-quarters who did not play in Australia’s only Test last year and are available now.
Three straight losses to New Zealand on Tim Sheens’ coaching watch make Meninga’s first Test as national coach a must-win match.
Despite Sheens’s repeated warnings over the past two years that Australia needs to regenerate its representative stocks for the 2017 World Cup, Meninga’s focus would seem to need to be about the here and now of re-establishing Australia’s international standing.
Last May, Josh Dugan and Alex Johnston made their debut on the wings, with Will Chambers also handed a first jersey at right centre, with Michael Jennings left centre.
Chambers, Billy Slater and Brett Morris are three outside backs now unavailable because of injury.
Jennings is the one three-quarter to have played in Australia’s 26-12 loss in Brisbane last year and also a 22-18 defeat by the Kiwis in the 2014 Four Nations final in Wellington. The other three-quarters in the final in that injury-hit Kangaroos side were Josh Mansour, Dylan Walker and teenager Sione Mata’utia.
Boustead said Dugan’s struggles on the wing in Brisbane last year emphasised that wing is a specialised position, even at representative level.
“Someone like Darius Boyd has played a lot of different positions well, but wing is a position which you do need to know about,’’ Boustead said. “You don’t pick centres on the wing for the hell of doing it.’’
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...s/news-story/9e11b647b2b5b8eb26e03a58d0cca9ce
Oates, 21, is pressing hard for a wing spot in a three-quarter line in which the cards will fall into place when coach Mal Meninga decides if he wants to continue Greg Inglis’ five-Test reign as Test fullback or move him to the centres.
Oates has scored 18 tries in his past 23 matches for the Broncos and has a strong running game when bringing the ball out of his team’s end.
Boustead said he would prefer to see Oates given a Test jersey ahead of Parramatta winger Semi Radradra, who lived in Fiji for 19 years of his life.
Meninga has inherited an Australian team in which incredibly seven different three-quarters have played in the past two Tests, both of which were lost to New Zealand.
Boustead, who began his Test career at just 18 years of age, said Oates had “put the runs on the board’’ to be chosen for Australia before he has played Origin.
“He’s a very good candidate — he has proved in the last year or so that he’s a complete footballer and he’s quite experienced now too,’’ Boustead said.
Meninga will find a spot for Darius Boyd as left winger in the May 6 Test against the Kiwis in Newcastle if he wants Inglis at fullback. Similarly, Inglis will be picked at left centre if Meninga thinks Boyd is his best option at fullback.
Oates did not train with the Broncos on Tuesday because of knee soreness, but Brisbane’s coaching staff say he will be fit to play against South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Boyd, who has played only one of his 17 Tests since 2013, and Canterbury’s Josh Morris are just two experienced three-quarters who did not play in Australia’s only Test last year and are available now.
Three straight losses to New Zealand on Tim Sheens’ coaching watch make Meninga’s first Test as national coach a must-win match.
Despite Sheens’s repeated warnings over the past two years that Australia needs to regenerate its representative stocks for the 2017 World Cup, Meninga’s focus would seem to need to be about the here and now of re-establishing Australia’s international standing.
Last May, Josh Dugan and Alex Johnston made their debut on the wings, with Will Chambers also handed a first jersey at right centre, with Michael Jennings left centre.
Chambers, Billy Slater and Brett Morris are three outside backs now unavailable because of injury.
Jennings is the one three-quarter to have played in Australia’s 26-12 loss in Brisbane last year and also a 22-18 defeat by the Kiwis in the 2014 Four Nations final in Wellington. The other three-quarters in the final in that injury-hit Kangaroos side were Josh Mansour, Dylan Walker and teenager Sione Mata’utia.
Boustead said Dugan’s struggles on the wing in Brisbane last year emphasised that wing is a specialised position, even at representative level.
“Someone like Darius Boyd has played a lot of different positions well, but wing is a position which you do need to know about,’’ Boustead said. “You don’t pick centres on the wing for the hell of doing it.’’
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...s/news-story/9e11b647b2b5b8eb26e03a58d0cca9ce
