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‘It’s an evolution’: Meninga’s ‘difficult conversation’ with snubbed incumbent skipper

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  • October 7, 2024
‘It’s an evolution’: Meninga’s ‘difficult conversation’ with snubbed incumbent skipper

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has revealed it was a “difficult conversation” to inform incumbent skipper James Tedesco he had been dropped from the Australian squad.

Tedesco has been replaced at fullback by Panthers gun Dylan Edwards, with his club teammate Isaah Yeo taking over the captaincy for the 2024 Pacific Championships.

Tedesco’s representative career looks to have now come to an end, with Edwards also leapfrogging him to become the NSW No.1 earlier this year.

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Speaking to reporters on Monday, Meninga admitted he was taking the Kangaroos in a new direction after losing to New Zealand in the 2023 final.

“It was a difficult conversation,” Meninga said.

“It’s a bit of an evolution for the team on the back of what happened in the Pacific Championships last year.

“With that in the back of our minds (we made the call to drop him). Origin was really important for discussion across the selection table and form into the finals as well.

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“It was a difficult conversation, but bear in mind that Teddy played game one for the NSW Blues, and then games two and three Dylan was the fullback.

“We chose based on Origin form. It was a difficult decision.”

Meninga was also quizzed on Mitchell Moses’ selection, with the Eels halfback not taking the field since suffering a ruptured biceps in the Origin decider.

Moses was picked in the No.7 jersey over Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans, while his NSW counterpart Jake Trbojevic was also omitted.

“Again, we discussed that around the table. We decided when he first came back into Origin two off the back of a very long break he got man of the match,” Meninga said.

“When we are trying to look at evolving the team, I think Mitchell deserves to be there.

“He’s only played a handful of games but every time he’s come back he’s been tremendous for his club and his state.”

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Elsewhere, Kalyn Ponga’s snubbing came as a big surprise following the criticism he faced for pulling himself out of Kangaroos contention.

The Knights gun backflipped on that decision, but still Meninga decided to leave him out of the squad.

“We considered Kalyn a specialist fullback, so when we look at picking a team we thought Dylan was the No.1 fullback in our game,” Meninga said.

“So we picked Dylan in front of Kalyn, then we look at the versatility of players. We felt that someone like Ben Hunt and Matt Burton can play numerous positions in the footy team.

“We considered Kalyn as a specialist fullback and that’s why he’s been left out.”

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