Thurston 'surprised' Anzac test called off

Australia's Johnathan Thurston. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

Kangaroos play maker Johnathan Thurston was "surprised" the Anzac test was called off on Friday night while his captain admitted the Australian team wanted to play.

The much awaited match was called off just under two hours before kick-off, as parts of the Suncorp Stadium turf were completely waterlogged following constant heavy rain in Brisbane on Thursday and Friday. NRL officials said that concern over player welfare was the principal factor, among many other considerations. The match has been rescheduled for 4pm on Sunday (6pm NZT).

Bu Thurston told Australian television that he hadn't necessarily anticipated the decision.
"I was a little bit surprised," said the long time Cowboys player. "I have played in worse in my career."

Meanwhile Cameron Smith said his team were ready to play, despite the extraordinary conditions.

"We were here prepared to play and I caught up with a couple of the Kiwi players and they were ready to play too," said Smith. "We were ready to play a test [last night] and it would have been nice to play and get a good result but we will wait until Sunday."

Smith, who said it was the first such situation he has experienced in his professional career, conceded that it was the correct decision.

"It wouldn't have been quite unsafe to be playing [last night] on that surface," said Smith. "For an 8 or 9 year-old it would have been a lot of fun jumping round in the puddles but we are here playing some serious football and besides player safety we also want to put on a good spectacle for the public."

Kiwis counterpart Simon Mannering held a similar view.

"We were pretty keen to play but they reckon it was going to be pretty bad out there," said Mannering soon after the postponement was announced. "The decision was made for player safety so you can't really complain about that."