League: Asotasi set for Kiwis recall

Roy Asotasi hasn't played for the Kiwis since 2009 but could make the Anzac test team. Photo / Getty Images

There will be few surprises but Roy Asotasi is set to be the most notable inclusion in the Kiwis side due to be named tonight.

The team for this Friday's Anzac test will be announced at 8pm and coach Stephen Kearney has hinted that he may recall the Souths prop for the first time since 2009. Despite the Rabbitohs struggling to achieve consistency, Asotasi has shown rare form - offering the type of displays that had him recognised as one of the best props in the world in 2005 and 2006.

Kearney generally keeps his cards close to his chest, and was mostly reluctant to talk about individual players but couldn't help but lavish praise on the former Kiwi captain.

"We have got guys who have been out of international football for a year or two but are playing great football," Kearney told the Herald on Sunday. "Roy Asotasi has put his hand up and has been one of the form players for Souths."

Asotasi was captain in 2007 on the ill-fated tour of Great Britain, and was an instrumental factor in the subsequent player-driven revolt that saw Gary Kemble replaced by Kearney.

He played in the Anzac test in 2008, and then missed the triumphant World Cup campaign later that year through injury. He barely featured in 2009 and then missed last year's Four Nations tournament, with Kearney doubting the 28-year-old was 100 per cent following his knee reconstruction.

"It was a tough decision for me last year to leave him out but he has responded really well. That's what having depth does - it creates hunger in players who didn't make it the year before and that is a real positive."

The Kiwis have always been blessed with power in the pack but it is hard to recall a time when they had greater depth in the forwards. Even with injuries to a couple of contenders, Kearney has an abundance of options to work through with his fellow selectors.

In the past, even in fairly recent years, loss of one or two key forwards would send New Zealand fans into a collective despair. Apart from inevitable injuries, there was trepidation over awaited judiciary decisions; invariably negative. Think of Ruben Wiki, John Lomax, Quentin Pongia, Jarrod McCracken - even Sonny Bill Williams and Asotasi in more recent times.

"When we lost players like that it was always tough," remembers former Kiwis coach Frank Endacott. "We liked to think that their absence would create opportunities for other players - and it did - but it was hard sometimes to replace the established players."

Now there is less of a dependence on one or two talismanic figures in the pack. "In the forwards when it comes to depth we are certainly fortunate in that way," agrees Kearney.

As well as Asotasi in the front row, there are the incumbents Sam McKendry, Adam Blair and Frank-Paul Nuuausala, with the Storm's Sika Manu out injured. Others available are Sam Rapira, Fuifui Moimoi and Russell Packer.

For numbers 11, 12 and 13 options include Ben Matulino, Greg Eastwood, Simon Mannering, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Frank Pritchard, Bronson Harrison, the Broncos' Alex Glenn, the Roosters' Mose Masoe and Lewis Brown.

Endacott, who was in charge of the Kiwis for seven years, says the current situation is a luxury as well as a curse.

"With a greater pool of players, you need to make sure you pick the best players and get the combinations right."

Coming into his fourth year in charge, Kearney says the hardest part of the job is leaving people out who have been there before and "done the business". There was a fine balance between loyalty and picking players not shining at club level.

"It depends who they are and how far out of form they are," says Kearney. "Obviously over time you build up relationships and trust with certain individuals."

Former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan says Kearney is not the type to wield the axe.

"He has kept a group of guys together and they have been loyal to him to a degree," says McGahan. "Regardless of their particular club form, he will back them until they let him down."

McGahan adds that, with representative teams, there is always a belief that a change of camp and a new environment can bring out the best in players, as we have seen numerous times with various Queensland State of Origin teams and most famously Olsen Filipaina with the Kiwis.

Kearney says there is always room for players to force their way in with outstanding NRL form, but options would appear to be limited.

"The strength of this team has been its consistency and continuity and there is no reason for that to change," says Kearney.

Rapira, who Kearney says has been outstanding this year seems a certainty at prop, leaving Nuuausala, Eastwood and Packer as contenders for the other front row slots.

Blair started at No10 in the epic Brisbane final last year, but Kearney confirmed that he sees him more as a second row - a stance that McGahan agrees with.

"Blair is more effective out wide, on the edges," says McGahan. "He is particularly good at hunting the halves out there but as a prop he tends to dance a bit too much before the line."

While Kearney would not be drawn on loose forward contenders, McGahan is a big fan of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.

"He might make a couple of mistakes but has that mongrel you need against Australia," says McGahan. "He has no fear; no regard for self-preservation and has lost some weight this year - so can last a bit longer."

Pritchard and Smith seem the other main contenders, with the consistent Mannering a near certainty while Nathan Fien offers utility value. But don't count out the in-form Brown.

Lance Hohaia should retain his fullback spot, while Jason Nightingale and Shaun Kenny-Dowell are other backline certainties alongside Benji Marshall and Kieran Foran. Earlier comments from Kearney have indicated that Matai is a slight favourite over Junior Sau for the other centre position.

Manu Vatuvei's left wing spot is up for grabs and seems a shootout between Krisnan Inu, Bryson Goodwin and Matt Duffie - with Fetuli Talanoa a long shot. The unpredictable Inu does not seem to fit the prototype of a typical Kearney player and, though he sprang into form against the Storm, may have left his run too late.

It could mean Duffie, 20, wins his first cap, a little over a year after he made his NRL debut.