{"id":927363,"date":"2026-10-14T03:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T03:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/927363\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T03:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T03:20:17","slug":"nrl-champion-calls-out-huge-problem-with-kevin-walters-kangaroos-side-that-rivals-will-exploit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/927363\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL champion calls out huge problem with Kevin Walters’ Kangaroos side that rivals will exploit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chad Townsend has expressed concerns around the size of the Australian forward pack heading into the Rugby League World Cup<\/a> opener against New Zealand. Coach Kevin Walters<\/a> selected a mobile forward pack for the World Cup with the tournament to adopt NRL rules to increase<\/a> the speed of the international game.<\/p>\n

Walters has named Patrick Carrigan, Harry Grant, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Liam Martin, Jacob Preston and Isaah Yeo as his starting pack. The bench will most likely see Cameron Murray, Rueben Cotter and Keaon Koloamatangi enter the field.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, apart from Fa’asuamaleaui and Koloamatangi, the team lacks size compared to the likes of Tonga or New Zealand. Arguably the best forward pack in the competition is New Zealand’s.<\/p>\n

They will enter the opener with a hulking forward pack led by the likes of James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota. Roosters prop Naufahu Whyte, Warriors lock Erin Clark and Broncos front-rower Xavier Willison will all come off the bench to give New Zealand momentum. And the size difference has raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n

Walters may have selected Reece Walsh at the back in the No.1 jersey, over James Tedesco<\/a>, to give the Kangaroos extra speed against the big side. Although NRL premiership-winner Townsend did admit the size difference could work against the Aussie side.<\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

Patrick Carrigan (pictured) is in line to start for the Kangaroos at the World Cup. (Photo by Lee Parker – CameraSport via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wednesday morning, Townsend looked at the selections and thought Carrigan would start off the bench. “I was surprised with Pat Carrigan starts in the front-row, I thought he would have gone Keaon Koloamatangi\u2026maybe he is thinking in regards to having size on the bench and not having those two players off the field at the same time,” Townsend said on SEN Radio.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Smith pointed out New Zealand had a huge size advantage over Australia when comparing the side. And Townsend agreed a smaller lock might be forced to play through the middle.<\/p>\n

“He doesn’t, that is one thing when you look across the squad\u2026.the Kiwis have arguably the best forward pack in the world at the moment. I agree with you with in regards to the size of the Australian forwards across the whole squad\u2026Rueben Cotter will be forced to play in the middle,” Townsend added.<\/p>\n

Coach Kevin Walters’ selection divide<\/p>\n

Reporter David Riccio also raised concerns over who will do the hard yards from the back of the field in Walters’ line-up. The modern game often requires wingers or fullbacks to take a number of early hit-ups in a set to get out of their own territory.<\/p>\n

Walters’ wingers – who don’t play wing at club level – Tom Trbojevic and Jack Bostock are not known for their metre eating abilities. Neither is centre Latrell Mitchell. Add in fullback Reece Walsh and Riccio was concerned with Australia’s territory.<\/p>\n

“The other concern for me is the yardage carries coming out of their own end for the Kangaroos\u2026wonderful players, but not necessarily renowned for those tough carries coming out of their own end,” Riccio said.<\/p>\n

\"Reece<\/p>\n

Reece Walsh (pictured) has been selected as fullback over James Tedesco. (Photo by Matt King\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/p>\n

Coach Kevin Walters (pictured) has picked a mobile forward pack for the Rugby League World Cup. (Photo by Matt King\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Kangaroos form heading into the World Cup<\/p>\n

NRL commentator Andrew Voss also raised concerns around the form of the Kangaroos side entering the tournament. The Kangaroos 17 only had eight players take part in NRL finals series with only three taking part in the preliminary final.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, New Zealand had all but three players take part in the NRL finals, while nine played in the preliminary final. Stacey Jones’ men enter with more match fitness and form for the opener.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chad Townsend has expressed concerns around the size of the Australian forward pack heading into the Rugby League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-927363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927363","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=927363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}