If it was me selecting the team I'd be building towards the 2026 World Cup and getting a team together that can play together for the next 2 years and prepare for that major tournament, that means most of the old guard such as Tedesco, DCE and Ben Hunt are moved on and we get the youth going a little bit, wouldn't want any guys in their mid thirties playing in the 2026 World Cup to be honest.
With that in mind, assuming everyone is fit and willing to play for Australia this is the best 17 I think we have for this year taking into account building for the World Cup:
1. Edwards 2. Brian To'o 3. Latrell Mitchell 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Zac Lomax 6. Cameron Munster 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Payne Haas 9. Harry Grant 10. Lindsay Collins 11. Angus Crichton 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo (Captain)
14. Reuben Cotter 15. Spencer Leniu 16. Patrick Carrigan 17. Reece Walsh
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- Edwards over Walsh, there was a discussion on a previous page about this, Walsh does have plenty of X-Factor but Edwards is very consistent plus if you were the opposing team you'd have to be worried about Walsh coming in with 20-30 to go. Ponga is also an option here, I just think Walsh offers more X-Factor.
- Munster over Luai and Dearden because of the experience and what we've seen him previously do in big games, if he can come back from injury and play well throughout the rest of Melbourne's regular season and finals campaign you have to pick him.
- Cleary obviously over DCE, nobody wants to carry a 37 year old DCE to a World Cup and Cleary is the current big thing.