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Kangaroos prop Steve Price hopes New Zealanders will at least wish him a good game when he lines up against the Kiwis in their rugby league centenary test on Sunday.
Price has come off a successful season captaining the Warriors, winning the Dally M prop
and captain of the year award for the National Rugby League (NRL) and player of the year award for his team.
He plays off the bench for the Kangaroos on Sunday before doing another allegiance switch - this time with the All Golds team to play the Northern Union in Britain on October 20.
The team is a mixture of past, present and potential Kiwis and has room for one Australian to replicate Dally Messenger - the lone Australian who toured with the original All Golds in 1907.
As the Kangaroos trained in misty rain at Newtown today, Price said he didn't expect any Australian to get much crowd support on Sunday but that he would like to think fans would at least want him to play well.
"I'm sure they will just see 17 Australian jerseys. The fans have been really good to me over the last three years but they will certainly be supporting the Kiwis."
Price said he had a huge respect for New Zealand sporting teams in general, more so after having lived here.
"But I'm very proud to represent Australia and will be doing my absolute best in the Australian jersey on Sunday."
While the Kiwis had a quiet day today, the Kangaroos shifted their training session from a waterlogged Kilbirnie training ground to a less wet one in Newtown.
The rain has barely let up over the past three days and there still appears to be some uncertainty about the condition at Wellington's Westpac Stadium.
The wet weather hasn't hampered preparations for the teams and neiHther side is claiming any advantage or disadvantage if it remains wet.
Both sides have flair in their backlines and some big hitting forwards.
Kiwis coach Gary Kemble has talked about getting as much ball as possible to young fullback Krisnan Inu, who plays only his second test but was versatile and impressive with the Parramatta Eels this season.
The Kiwis will also look to use destructive 107kg wing Taniela Tuiaki, who was a handful for defences while playing for Wests Tigers this season.
There is plenty of new talent in both sides and eyes will be on the new Australian halfback and five-eighth pairing of Cooper Cronk and Greg Bird, along with both teams' young backs.
"I think both sides across the board have some exciting talent in the outside backs, so you could play dry conditions, both forward packs are very strong, so you could play a forward oriented game as well," Price said.
"Depending what the conditions toss up to us, I don't think it's really going to matter from either side, it's probably going to be about how the referee referees the game and the flow of the game and what opportunities both sides get."
All players making their debut on Sunday (eight for Australia and six for New Zealand) have NRL experience and both sides know the each other's capabilities.
"It obviously lifts when you play international football and being the first game for a lot of players in both teams they're going to be so excited and will want to prove to everyone they deserve to be there," Price said.
"So whilst there is a bit of unpredictably at this level, we certainly know what each other does at the week in-week out level."
- NZPA
