New Australia coach drops major hint on Ashes squad make-up with honest admission made

Newly appointed Australia head coach Kevin Walters has hinted at the make-up of his Kangaroos side ahead of the upcoming Ashes tour, stating he will likely be picking from NRL sides who reach the Finals. 

While there is no date set for his touring party to be announced, there remain seven rounds of the regular NRL season, as well as the Finals series, before his squad assembles to take on England.

The hotly-anticipated Ashes series gets underway at Wembley Stadium, before heading to Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium and Leeds Rhinos’ Headingley Stadium.

Kevin Walters drops major Kangaroos selection hint

While the hype around the series continues to grow, the Australians have not had the ideal preparation. Former head coach, Mal Meninga, left his post to take up the head coach role with NRL expansion side Perth Bears, and reports have also emerged that the visitors are yet to book hotels and training pitches for the series.

But, with the appointment of the former Brisbane Broncos boss, it seems things will quickly be about to change, and Walters revealed he will act quickly to put things in place to begin proper preparations for the tour.

“The first thing I’ll do is make sure that we get the right staff involved,” Walters told the media. “That’s the task in the next few days.”

He added: “Then, we’ll get to the players as well, and see who’s available and who’s not. That’s the first couple of jobs that I need to do.”

Walters is certainly spoiled for choice in terms of his playing group, with some of the best players in the world game available to don the famous Green and Gold jersey, but he feels he will likely turn to players whose clubs reach the Finals.

“I’ll make some connections with some of the senior players in that team,” Walters said. “I’ve coached against a lot of them, but never worked with them.

“That’s the exciting thing for me, working with those players, getting to know them and hopefully getting the best out of them when they put the jersey on.

“We’ve seen in my experience in the past, as a player and coach at different levels, is the NRL final series will be very important for a lot of players.

“It’s not the be-all and end-all playing finals, but the history of Kangaroo tours shows that if you’re playing well in those bigger games, it puts you in a better position.

“Most of the players who played Origin, their teams are all in contention. You’ve got the Panthers, the Broncos are playing well, the Bulldogs are playing well, the Storm are a great side and the Roosters too.

“All these teams are very much in contention to go deep into September, which makes it great for us for competition for spots.”

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