KEY POINTS:
Within half an hour of Johnathan Thurston rolling his ankle at Kangaroos training in Sydney yesterday the Storm halfback Cooper Cronk was booked to fly north to join the Aussie squad and the Kiwis were studying tape of him.
Thurston was taken to hospital for a scan late
yesterday and will be checked today, the Kangaroos determined to use him if he's near fit.
Cronk was halfback last year when the Kangaroos won 58-0 and Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney, who is assistant at the Storm, felt they would lose little and that he would slot in easily.
"He's a wonderful player and the combination he has with the Melbourne players will help him. He won't be flustered. It doesn't change anything from our point of view. We know what we have to do both with the ball and without it."
But they would watch clips of Cronk so they are prepared for whoever fronts.
Captain Roy Asotasi said the team was looking sharper with each training and had accomplished much in four days. There was more self-belief than in Wellington, where they had a big injury toll and "other issues".
"We have the right guys at the top, we've got all our players on board and the boys are a lot more confident."
Both the Kiwis and Kangaroos have gathered motivation from the occasion, 100 years to the day since the first game between the nations.
The Kangaroos attended a dinner with the remaining living members of their Team of the Century on Thursday night and their captain Cameron Smith yesterday said it had rubbed off on them that "it's our responsibility to take the game into the next 100 years and that starts on Friday night".
Said Asotasi: "There's a real sense of history and we want to start a new era of Kiwi rugby league. That first test the Kiwis won, we want to be successful for the next 100 years."
Kearney fielded plenty of questions about Sonny Bill Williams and his suggestion of a switch to rugby. "We know how devastating a player he can be and tomorrow night he's playing for the Kiwis," he said yesterday. "I don't want us thinking Sonny's the saviour, there are 16 other guys out there. He'll have some handy help with him."
Kearney said he had told half Thomas Leuluai the seven jersey was his for the future if he grabbed his chance. He felt Leuluai was unfairly tainted with the losses last season.
"He made a real impact [at training] yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised how much he has developed as a player."
Both teams are looking to impress tonight to enhance their World Cup claims and for the Aussies there is the more immediate incentive of selection for the first State of Origin on May 21, those teams to be announced on Tuesday.
Ticket sales for the ground, where capacity is cut from 41,000 to 36,000 while work continues to improve one stand, have been sluggish and were still below 12,000 yesterday. But the weather will be good and organisers hope the walk-up will be too.
