Sing to pipe up on Roos future
By Steve Mascord and Greg Prichard
April 11, 2005
Veteran winger Matt Sing won't tell Australian selectors whether he is available for next week's Test against New Zealand until a few hours before the squad is named today.
Peter Parr, football manager at Sing's club, North Queensland, said he had no idea what the 30-year-old would decide about his representative future.
ARL general manager Geoff Carr said: "We are going to find out in the morning. We spoke to the Cowboys and they asked us what the deadline was. We told them 9am so we expect a call from them sometime before that."
Parr will convey the decision to Carr this morning but said his guess on the issue was as good as anyone's. "I don't know what he's going to do," said Parr.
Since last year's Tri-Nations tour, the world champions have lost prop Shane Webcke and utility back Shaun Timmins to representative retirement.
Sing, the veteran of 13 Tests, said during the summer he wanted to concentrate on club duties and his family this year but recently had a change of heart.
There is also uncertainty over Manly back-rower Ben Kennedy, who had hinted at representative retirement. Asked if Kennedy was available, Carr replied: "He hasn't said he's not."
A 22-man squad for the Suncorp Stadium international on April 22 will be named today, with the list cut to 18 next Sunday. Sources say there will be only one halfback and the incumbent Brett Kimmorley is overwhelming favourite to beat Newcastle's Andrew Johns, Penrith's Craig Gower and Melbourne's Matt Orford to the post.
St George Illawarra's Jason Ryles is set to fill the role as Australia's new forward leader vacated by Webcke.
Ryles has developed as a terrific Test prop playing alongside Webcke, and now - at the age of 26 and with eight Test matches, several tours and five State of Origin games for NSW behind him - he is widely seen as the player who can lead the way up front for the rest of the decade.
It is well known that Australia coach Wayne Bennett is a fan of Ryles. Bennett, the Brisbane coach, had Ryles starting alongside Webcke during the early games in last year's Tri-Nations series. Ryles was forced to miss the latter stages of the tournament through injury.
Petero Civoniceva is among a group of other props - including Luke Bailey (St George Illawarra), Steve Price (New Zealand Warriors) and Joel Clinton (Penrith) - fighting for Test squad spots.
From the Australia side which took on the United States on November 30, centre Willie Tonga (mumps), hooker Danny Buderus (foot), forward Willie Mason (foot), prop Mark O'Meley (shoulder), centre Matt Cooper (cheekbone), Webcke and Timmins are unavailable.
New Zealand's problems are worse, with Sonny Bill Williams (ankle), Tony Puletua (pectoral muscle), Joe Galuvao (groin) and Brent Webb (back) all injured.
Penrith forward Frank Pritchard is an obvious choice to replace clubmates Puletua and Galuvao, but the Kiwis might be tempted to ask former All Black Brad Thorn, now back in league with Brisbane.
Thorn said yesterday he had no hope of being picked by Australia and had an increased emotional bond with his homeland since living there during his stint in rugby union. "It's a tough one but probably my priority, once again, would be to play Origin," he said when asked if he was interested in a Kiwi berth.
"I've got strong feelings for New Zealand ... You hear about that thing where Kiwis [internationals] would be able to play Origin - that would be the ultimate situation. But it's not that way, I've played eight Tests for Australia, so ..."
Asked what he would do if the Kiwis called, Thorn said: "I'd probably say no straight away so I didn't muck them around."
The New Zealand squad will be named tomorrow.
