Australia squad for Test against New Zealand

by NRL

coach Tim Sheens has named an 18-man squad for the Test against New Zealand to be played in Townsville on Saturday 13th October 2012.

Ryan Hoffman returns to the Australian side following a highly successful season with the Storm after playing the previous season with Wigan in the Super League.

Melbourne's big three Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and captain Cameron Smith complete four selections for the 2012 premiers.

Grand Finalists Canterbury only have one selection in Josh Morris with the Bulldogs below par performance in the premiership decider hurting the selection chances of Josh Reynolds, Aidae Tolman and Dally M Player of the Year Ben Barba.

Robbie Farah has won a spot on the bench ahead of players such as Reynolds, Barba and Daly Cherry-Evans.

Bulldogs bound forward Tony Williams won a spot on the bench with Sheens selecting only one specialist prop on the bench. Williams form for the Sea Eagles this year was inconsistent, but has been retained due to his impact off the bench and his excellent performances in the Four Nations last year.

Australia will be very short priced favourites to defeat New Zealand in the Test match.

1 Billy Slater (Melbourne)
2 Darius Boyd (Newcastle)
3 Greg Inglis (Souths)
4 Josh Morris (Canterbury)
5 Brett Morris (Dragons)
6 Johnathan Thurston (North Qld)
7 Cooper Cronk (Melbourne)
8 Matt Scott (North Qld)
9 Cameron Smith [c] (Melbourne)
10 James Tamou (North Qld)
11 Greg Bird (Gold Coast)
12 Paul Gallen (Cronulla)
13 Nate Myles (Gold Coast)

14 Robbie Farah (Wests Tigers)
15 Ryan Hoffman (Melbourne)
16 David Shillington (Canberra)
17 Tony Williams (Manly)

18th: Ben Te'o (Brisbane)

Coach: Tim Sheens

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