Australia has named a preliminary 46 man World Cup squad and its interesting to see some of the names in the list.
For the most part the side consists of proven performers at representative level with one or two players thrown in to cover for any injuries that may occur between now and the start of the competition.
To be totally honest, some of the players in this list are no hope in hell of getting anywhere near the final squad. Players like Glen Stewart, Anthony Quinn, Josh Perry and Juston Poore are there just incase some of the top players get abducted by aliens.
So the official list is:
Braith Anasta
Greg Bird
Danny Buderus
Petero Civoniceva
Matt Cooper
Ben Creagh
Michael Crocker
Cooper Cronk
Ben Cross
Robbie Farah
Craig Fitzgibbon
Israel Folau
Paul Gallen
Kurt Gidley
Jarryd Hayne
Justin Hodges
Ryan Hoffman
Karmichael Hunt
Greg Inglis
Michael Jennings
Dallas Johnson
Brent Kite
Anthony Laffranchi
Darren Lockyer
Willie Mason
Joel Monaghan
Nate Myles
Luke O’Donnell
Josh Perry
Justin Poore
Steve Price
Scott Prince
Anthony Quinn
Steve Simpson
Billy Slater
Cameron Smith
Brett Stewart
Glenn Stewart
Brent Tate
Sam Thaiday
Johnathan Thurston
Anthony Tupou
Anthony Watmough
Carl Webb
Brett White
Craig Wing
The ARL has said that players can still force their way into the final World Cup squad even if they are not on this list. You’ll find these squad lists are more of a promotional tool to show people some of the star players running out for other countries.
One interesting selection that did catch my eye was that of Panthers center Michael Jennings. It was my understanding that he would make himself available to play for Samoa at the World Cup, however its good to see he is a chance to play for the country of his birth (He was born in Blacktown in Sydneys west).
You could be a few teams out of this list and they could all win the World Cup. Once they cut it back to the final squad, the quality of the lineup will be nothing short of ridiculous!
