League: Roos warned to step up or sit out

Darren Lockyer says talent must be backed up by effort. Photo / Greg Bowker

Coach Tim Sheens has warned that selection for the Kangaroos' Four Nations league series opener against New Zealand comes with a caution.

If players fail to fire at The Stoop in London on Sunday he won't hesitate to make changes with so many quality players in his touring squad to call on.

Sheens indicated yesterday he will kick off the inaugural tournament in England and France with much the same line-up that beat New Zealand 38-10 in May, exacting some revenge for the Kangaroos' 2008 World Cup final defeat.

"We'll be a little rusty, but I think still the core of the side that I pick for the first game will be around the side that played earlier this year so we have an understanding in the team," said Sheens.

While Sheens has the apparently enviable task of picking from 24 players who are all stars for their respective NRL clubs, he acknowledged that also posed man-management challenges.

"It's going to be the issue of some guys not getting selected and how they handle that, keeping them up for the series, hopefully getting them a game, keeping them ready to play if, for instance, in three weeks' time we need them," he said.

"There's going to be a lot of pressure on the starting guys to perform or I will make a change after game one.

"Normally you wouldn't do that during a season - if your star player had a poor game you'd still go and play him next week. In a test situation that doesn't happen, so there's a fair amount of pressure on them individually."

Some will be out of their preferred position like 2009 season superstar Jarryd Hayne, who will play as a winger having conceded the fullback spot to Billy Slater.

"That won't be an issue even though he would have liked to have played his favourite spot, fullback," Sheens said.

"But then Billy has to play well in game one to keep him out. That pressure from within a strong squad of course keeps the guys on their toes."

Veteran skipper Darren Lockyer said if the Kangaroos are to win the series, they must be more than big names.

"Talent's one thing but it's about how we apply it," Lockyer said.

"It's about everyone putting their head down and working hard."

New Zealand actually have the edge over Australia in recent tournament play, winning two of the three major competitions over the past four years.

Before their World Cup triumph, they won the 2005 Tri Nations final, with the Kangaroos reversing that result the following year.

The Australians are Four Nations favourites, with England second ahead of New Zealand.

But Sheens and New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney agreed the odds meant little ahead of their clash at Twickenham Stoop in London. Sheens said: "It's really not the deciding game and what worries me, of course, is that they have beaten New Zealand in that circumstance and not in the final ... we've really got to work hard to make sure that they're up for this game. We'll worry about the final if and when we get there."

Kearney wasn't focusing on the November 14 final at Elland Road, Leeds, either. "I'm not going into the tournament thinking we're going to be a lot better side in four weeks' time because there might not be a fourth week for us."

- AAP