Posted By Staff Reporter
AUSTRALIAN rugby league star Jarryd Hayne says he is happy to sit out this Sunday’s Prime Minister’s XIII match against Papua New Guinea as it will be a brutal encounter. The 2014 Dally M medal winner will be amongst a host of Australian players who will not be available for the match this Sunday in Kokopo, East New Britain Province due to injury or personal reasons. The others include his 2014 Dally M medal co-winner and Cowboys star halfback Jonathan Thurston, who is likely to be replaced by the Brisbane Broncos’ Ben Hunt. Speaking to Radio New Zealand International yesterday, the Kangaroos fullback said matches with PNG were always physical and he was happy to be sitting out the encounter. "They’re beasts, you know. That’s probably the most physical game that you can play on an international scale. It’s like the closest thing you get to going to war – they don’t hold anything back, I tell you that much. [If] they want to put a shot on that’s it. They are getting better every year and the way they’re built as well: very low to the ground, very strong and it’s always a tough game," he said. The Kokopo match will be used as a selection precursor for the Kangaroos squad that will defend their Four Nation’s trophy in Brisbane later this month when they face New Zealand, England and Samoa. It is understood the Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens and the Australia PMXIII coach Laurie Daley will travel to Kokopo today with the Australian team. An injury crisis has rocked the Kangaroos camp ahead of the Four Nations tournament with the Australian media reporting close to 11 players missing from the 18-man squad. But Mr Sheens has reportedly refused to be drawn into the debate on his team’s manpower shortage, instead focusing on the opportunity that has now become available for the other players to prove themselves at the Kokopo match. This year marks 10-years of the annual rugby league clash between the two neighbours. It should also be a test for a PNG PM XIII squad comprising a lot of players from the PNG Hunters, who entered the second-tier Queensland Intrust Super Cup this year and finished sixth, one point shy of getting into the finals in their maiden season.
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