with doubt over Gallen ( and also Matt Scott ), odds are shortening that Beau makes his test debut....
Australia backrower Paul Gallen faces a race against time to prove his fitness for Friday night's trans-Tasman Test against New Zealand at Skilled Park
Prop Matt Scott is nursing an ankle complaint - but the real concern is the Sharks enforcer.
Gallen was a no-show on Tuesday and Australia have not scheduled training for Wednesday, ensuring he will have just one session with the team before the Test.
Dragons backrower and 18th man
Beau Scott took part in the whole session on Tuesday.
As Gallen battled injury, his Test teammate
Billy Slater admitted the addition of another trans-Tasman clash ahead of this year's Four Nations tournament had made it ``tough'' for representative players.
Slater even suggested
Australian selectors pick players not involved in the NRL grand final for the tacked-on October Test in Newcastle.
"It's a long season and to throw another game in there is a bit tough," Slater said on Tuesday.
"Whether they play the guys who make the (NRL) grand final or not or whether it is a good hitout for the guys who didn't play in the finals remains to be seen.
"I would dare say the guys who make the grand final will probably get a spell.
"It's only a week or two after the grand final so it would be interesting to see which way they (selectors) go."
Legendary coach Wayne Bennett hoped the
NRL would soon follow the lead of European soccer and add club-free weekends when representative matches are scheduled to look after elite players.
"You look at the (English) Premier League and they have huge ratings and huge TV deals but when the internationals are on across the world, they'll stop their competitions,'' Bennett said on One HD's One Week at a Time.
``They all go off and play for their countries and that's the way it should be.
"Our fans aren't going to walk away from our game because that happens and either is TV.
"I'm a fan of the representative season being part of our game but we haven't addressed it (the scheduling) well enough."
The seven-time premiership coach said the timing was perfect to address the issue as the NRL negotiated a lucrative new TV deal.
"I'd like to think with a new TV contract coming up that we'll make a better deal for the players," Bennett said.
"It impacts most on the players (and) the fans (also) get cheated.
"It's not a level playing field."
However, Slater said playing alongside Test skipper
Darren Lockyer during his swansong season would help motivate him through another long year.
"It would be great to be involved with him (in his last Tests)," he said.
"I still remember growing up and watching Darren Lockyer play - I don't know how old that makes him feel.
"But he's a pleasure to play alongside."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/...inst-new-zealand/story-fn2mcuhw-1226049193922
