By James Buckley
Tom Trbojevic and James Tedesco have given Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga a major selection headache ahead of the World Cup after scoring three tries apiece in Saturday's Prime Minister's XIII 48-8 win over Papua New Guinea.
But the PNG clash proved disastrous for Manly Sea Eagle Dylan Walker, who was forced off on the stretcher midway through the third quarter with a dislocated right ankle, extinguishing any chance he had of being a World Cup bolter.
Bolter: Tom Trbojevic stakes his claim for a Kangaroos sport against the Kumuls in Port Moresby.Credit: NRL Photos
Trbojevic and Tedesco were superb throughout the one-sided contest before 13,468 screaming fans in Port Moresby, the former towering over his much shorter opposition.
Yet Meninga still has either Billy Slater, who starred in Melbourne's preliminary final win over Brisbane on Friday night, or incumbent Darius Boyd waiting in the wings as his World Cup fullback.
Disastrous: Dylan Walker is taken from the field with a dislocated right ankle.Credit: NRL Photos
Should he squeeze the talented quartet in several will likely end up playing out of position, although both Trbojevic and Tedesco showed on Saturday that wouldn't be a problem.
"Tom's a freak isn't he, he just keeps on getting better as he plays more games," Meninga said. "That's our dilemma isn't it, as selectors, we've got to come up with the right balance, and Teddy I thought he handled centre and wing really well.
"We all know that he's best at fullback but that's the nature of the beast, rep footy at national level. We've got other people who can play that position really well.
"We're in an envious position to be honest. In all positions we go deep, there's a lot of things we weigh up around it all.
Pumped: A boisterous home crowd enjoys the occasion in Port MoresbyCredit: NRL Photos
"Form's a key issue but past performance is good too. It's a dilemma for us but I'm sure we'll come up with the right balance."
The long-limbed Trbojevic lived right up to Meninga's mantra of backline versatility, scoring from fullback, centre and from the wing, before he was benched for the final 20 minutes.
Tedesco was also moved around throughout, starting at fullback and then shifting to the wing from where he scored a try after a pinpoint Corey Norman cross-field kick. He then moved into the centres where he bagged his second thanks once more to Norman's precision boot, before touching down moments from full-time.
"He got his hands in different positions, it was really good to see him get through, he got concussed last year and didn't finish the game," PM's XIII captain Aaron Woods said of his former teammate.
"He goes in leaps and bounds once he puts that [representative] jersey on."
PNG were severely weakened on Saturday with their first stringers all preparing for Sunday's historic Queensland Cup grand final between the Hunters and Sunshine Coast Falcons. It's only the Hunters' fourth season in the Queensland Cup.
Meninga used this game as an audition for his 24-man World Cup squad, which he'll announce after next weekend's grand final, and he said all week in the lead-up that there were still several spots up for grabs.
And the coach stayed true to his word, shuffling his star-studded team around at the start of every quarter and testing a range of configurations.
Valentine Holmes, Josh Dugan and Jack Bird were shifted around the backline throughout the contest while the forwards also moved around. Canterbury back-rower Josh Jackson was even thrown into hooker for the second quarter to give Manly hooker Api Koroisau a break.
As always, the Prime Minister's XIII proved far too superior for the gutsy locals as this match wore on. And the crowd lapped up this contest like only Papua New Guinean fans could.
Every tackle made by their PNG heroes was met with a raucous reception, and each hit-up greeted with similar enthusiasm.
Half breaks brought fanatical screaming, and every time the PNG boys poked through the defensive line into open space, the crowd's mood reached utter jubilation.
These unorthodox PNG players have an instinctive knack for pleasing the crowd too. Whether it's winger Charlie Simon sprinting along his own dead-ball line after retrieving a grubber, and somehow escaping the in-goal area, or centre Stanford Talita making a break and trying to chip the ball over Tedesco.
When Talita scored a few minutes later, the noise in the stadium was deafening.
In defence the cult hero is Muka Peter Kulu, a chiselled back-rower, hard as granite and who hits as hard as anyone in the NRL, as Bird found out midway through the first half.
This match even had a touch judge who would sprint back along the sideline after every conversion, lifting the crowd to their feet on each occasion with his loping stride and swerving footwork.
Papua New Guinea will fancy themselves at the forthcoming World Cup.
They're the lowest ranked team in their pool of Wales, Ireland and the US, but home-ground advantage and their significant improvement since the last World Cup has them set up for a potential quarter-final showdown against England.
There's depth to this Kumuls team, and they'll cause a shiver up the spine of every opponent they face in October and November.
PRIME MINISTER'S XIII 48 (T Trbojevic 3, Tedesco 3, Frizell, Maloney tries, Maloney 6 goals, Holmes, Fifita goals) def PAPUA NEW GUINEA 8 (Talita try, Joshua 2 goals) at Port Moresby.