Police commissioner explains reason behind airport questioning<\/a><\/p>\nOften it depends who is fit and not set for surgery as to who tours with the Kangaroos after a long season and Cleary and Munster are no guarantee to play, given they will likely feature in the grand final or close to it. <\/p>\n
Walters revealed he could even see Strange filling a number of positions given his size, speed and strength in defence. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been thrown up as well when he\u2019s played centre for NSW in the under 19s State of Origin,\u201d Walters said of the utility role. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can see him playing fullback. He\u2019s got good game sense, he\u2019s a bigger body, he\u2019s fast and strong, so I think he\u2019d handle multiple positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat touring squad of 22 there\u2019ll be three or four players that will have to be able to play multiple positions and he sort of fits the target there as well.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ethan Strange is in line for a Kangaroos call-up.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Dearden is at somewhat of a disadvantage given he is playing in a struggling Cowboys side, who won\u2019t be playing finals, but Walters believes he has the runs on the board for his state and country. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the luxury that we have right now at the Kangaroos, they\u2019re all playing good football and in good teams,\u201d Walters said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTommy\u2019s team is struggling a bit but he\u2019s been the best player or top two or three players every week for the Cowboys and his form last year playing for the Kangaroos I think he won the man of the match in that final and then his Origin form this year as well was outstanding. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s put himself well in the picture hasn\u2019t he really regardless of what\u2019s happening with his club side. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe just needs to finish the season strongly and see where that takes him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walters also opened the door for James Tedesco to earn a recall to the green and gold.<\/p>\n
The Roosters skipper lost his stranglehold on the Blues fullback jersey to Dylan Edwards but Walters said that would not count against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t impact my decision at all,\u201d Walters told Code Sports<\/p>\n
\u201cJames Tedesco has put himself back in the frame with the season he\u2019s had.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can never have too much experience in your side and he brings plenty of that both on the field and off it,\u201d Walters said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will sit down with selectors post the grand final, and everyone knows the value he adds to that Roosters side. I feel like he\u2019s had one of his better years in the last three or four.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love watching him play and the way he rallies his troops, and the leadership that he shows his younger teammates, he\u2019s outstanding. He\u2019s well in the picture, I can guarantee that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kangaroos side could look very different amid reports Payne Haas has defected to Samoa and Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow could join him. <\/p>\n
However, Walters revealed he has had positive talks with the players and will wait until they finish their seasons before making a final call. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really positive with all players that I have contacted,\u201d Walters said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been no commitment either way, but that\u2019s okay. <\/p>\n
Tom Dearden has starred for club, state and country over the last 12 months.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to get their season finished first and foremost. Tino is keen to get back playing for the Titans and finish the season strong. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Hammer is scrapping it out to get in the eight and stay there. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s equally important for all those guys to focus on their clubs and get themselves playing some good football, which will help them progress longer into finals and then once they\u2019re some season finishes, then they\u2019ll have a look and see what the horizon looks like from there.\u201d <\/p>\n
All three are star players and losing them would be a massive blow for the Kangaroos, but Walters is confident he can build a winning team with or without the Origin trio. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving them play for the Kangaroos would be nice, but I\u2019m certainly not going to force them or try and drag them into the Kangaroos,\u201d Walters said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be their decision on who they play for and I totally respect whichever way they go. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf not I\u2019m really confident that regardless of what their decisions are we will have a very strong 22 players heading to England and if they\u2019re part of it well I think that\u2019s sensational, but if they\u2019re not well I totally respect that as well.\u201d <\/p>\n
Walters considers his Kangaroos appointment one of the proudest moments of his career and he is excited to watch players put their hand up to tour over the next couple of months. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really enjoying it, the next four weeks and then into finals means a lot more now to me than what it did a few weeks ago when I didn\u2019t have the job,\u201d Walters said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to, like every other rugby league fan and NRL fan, the next four weeks and then into finals and who\u2019s standing up, who\u2019s playing well and that obviously puts him in a good position to get selected in that 22 man squad. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is equally important is your team\u2019s form as well, which can help you get selection as well. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so many good things to happen in the next eight weeks before the team gets announced after the grand final.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Kangaroos coach Kevvie Walters has revealed Raiders star five-eighth Ethan Strange could be considered as a utility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[52966,64,63,689,4567,43274,12732,52527,1208,2057,51868,54557,13213,15648,11288,54555,52071,3196,54556,54560,4746,22326,3440,673,7868,3583,677,13390,54559,54554,52960,36167,7291,54561,54558,85,1080,53987,776,11089,52964],"class_list":["post-68910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-airport-questioning","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-cameron-munster","tag-club-side","tag-dan-ginnane","tag-dave-riccio","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-finals-clash","tag-finals-means","tag-finals-series","tag-game-sense","tag-grand-final","tag-horizon-looks","tag-injury-complaints","tag-kevvie-walters","tag-left-field-spot","tag-man-squad","tag-mark-st-john","tag-mitchell-moses","tag-multiple-positions","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nightmare-scenario","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-payne-haas","tag-players-heading","tag-playmaker-roles","tag-police-commissioner","tag-raiders-coach","tag-ricky-stuart","tag-season-finishes","tag-selection-decisions","tag-sports","tag-sydney-roosters","tag-table-topping-dogs","tag-tom-dearden","tag-tom-sargeant","tag-top-spot-flips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}