Australian Kangaroos

Meanwhile Josh Reynolds reveals his reality TV dream, and Jamal Idris opens up about his religion.

Take a look at the social side of the game in NRL Confidential:

PARKER SHARES ROOS CHEAT SHEET

Corey Parker has leaked an old Australian team cheat sheet from one of the Kangaroos’ clashes with rival New Zealand.

Parker posted a photo of two sheets of paper, on which is a game plan devised to tackle the Kiwis in Wellington.

One side is for “offence” and the other for “defence”.

The premiership winning Melbourne Storm quartet of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Will Chambers all wore the Devils jersey, as did Broncos duo Josh McGuire and Matt Gillett.

Kangaroos squad member Ben Hunt has also played for Norths.

Australia will start as unbackable favourites in Brisbane after putting together four comprehensive victories, with their stout defence consistently shutting teams out – so much so that they have not conceded a second-half point for the whole tournament.

Tipped by many to run up a cricket score against the tournament minnows, the Aussies struggled for continuity in the first half, establishing a 10-0 lead at the break before they ran away with it in the final 10 minutes. 

Smith has been in this position of favouritism many times during his 50 Test matches for Australia, experiencing firsthand the pain of losing not only games, but tournaments when the Kangaroos have been fancied as winners before a whistle has even been blown.  

There is one loss in particular that stings more than others – a 34-20 defeat to the New Zealand Kiwis in 2008 that no one saw coming.  

PNG dominated over the NRL star studded line-up with tries to captain David Mead and Luke Page to beat the Fijians in the first 40 minutes.

Early nerves got the better of both sides in the opening exchanges with some scrappy play.

After finding their rhythm, the Kumuls were relentless, launching wave after wave of attacks.

Some classy play from Kumuls’ hooker, Kurt Baptiste, allowed Mead to slice through the defence and score.

The win was sealed late in the match when vice-captain, Ase Boas, set up a charging Page to crash over.

The Panthers captain walked away from the 54-12 win with an impressive four try-assists and a set of sore ribs after this hit in the first half.

With Darius Boyd waiting in the wings and Greg Inglis not playing this match, Moylan’s performance created some headaches for coach Mal Meninga.