Mavfan
26-09-05, 05:20 PM
Johns confirms availability for Tri-Nations
Australia and the Tri-Nations concept has received a massive boost with champion halfback Andrew Johns confirming that he'll be available for all of Australia's matches including the October 15th Test match at Sydney's Telstra Stadium.
There were reports that if Warrington made the Super League Grand Final that Johns would be over looked for the entire Tri-Nations as he would have been unavailable for the opening match of the tournament.
With Johns now a confirmed starter as halfback for Australia and back to absolute best, it raises the question on who should get the Kangaroos captaincy.
Darren Lockyer has held the role for the last three seasons but he was only a in a caretake position due to Johns having a horror run with injuries since the final stages of the 2003 season. Johns was captain in 2002-03 and is easily regarded as the premier player and captain in the game today.
It will be interesting to see what the ARL does about the captaincy issue with Johns in prime form and Lockyer showing signs that his best days could possible be behind him.
Confirmation of Johns being available came on top of the ARL selectors adding eight players to the train-on squad with six of them from the Dragons and two from Parramatta.
It was reported last week that there could be eight players from the Dragons included in the Tri-Nations squad but following Saturday's loss against the Wests Tigers that has dropped to six in the train-on squad, which includes youngster Ben Creagh who is one of the few Dragons yet to play representative football. Creagh is only considered an outside chance of making the Tri-Nations squad but the other five Dragons Luke Bailey, Trent Barrett, Matt Cooper, Mark Gasnier and Jason Ryles are all certain selections.
Parramatta were even harder hit by yesterday's loss with just two players named being Nathan Hindmarsh and Timana Tahu.
Tickets for the Saturday 15th October Test match between Australia and New Zealand at Telstra Stadium are now on sale at Ticketek. Champion halfback Andrew Johns has confirmed that he is available for selection in what will be a major boost for the profile of the Tri-Nations and also the Australian side.
Source: http://www.rleague.com/article.php?id=19548
Australia and the Tri-Nations concept has received a massive boost with champion halfback Andrew Johns confirming that he'll be available for all of Australia's matches including the October 15th Test match at Sydney's Telstra Stadium.
There were reports that if Warrington made the Super League Grand Final that Johns would be over looked for the entire Tri-Nations as he would have been unavailable for the opening match of the tournament.
With Johns now a confirmed starter as halfback for Australia and back to absolute best, it raises the question on who should get the Kangaroos captaincy.
Darren Lockyer has held the role for the last three seasons but he was only a in a caretake position due to Johns having a horror run with injuries since the final stages of the 2003 season. Johns was captain in 2002-03 and is easily regarded as the premier player and captain in the game today.
It will be interesting to see what the ARL does about the captaincy issue with Johns in prime form and Lockyer showing signs that his best days could possible be behind him.
Confirmation of Johns being available came on top of the ARL selectors adding eight players to the train-on squad with six of them from the Dragons and two from Parramatta.
It was reported last week that there could be eight players from the Dragons included in the Tri-Nations squad but following Saturday's loss against the Wests Tigers that has dropped to six in the train-on squad, which includes youngster Ben Creagh who is one of the few Dragons yet to play representative football. Creagh is only considered an outside chance of making the Tri-Nations squad but the other five Dragons Luke Bailey, Trent Barrett, Matt Cooper, Mark Gasnier and Jason Ryles are all certain selections.
Parramatta were even harder hit by yesterday's loss with just two players named being Nathan Hindmarsh and Timana Tahu.
Tickets for the Saturday 15th October Test match between Australia and New Zealand at Telstra Stadium are now on sale at Ticketek. Champion halfback Andrew Johns has confirmed that he is available for selection in what will be a major boost for the profile of the Tri-Nations and also the Australian side.
Source: http://www.rleague.com/article.php?id=19548