Australia Named 23 Players for a Home World Cup and Not One of Them Is a Winger
Kevin Walters picked his Kangaroos squad on 5 October. Go down the 23 and there is no player who plays on the wing in the NRL. Tom Trbojevic, a fullback and centre who captains Manly, is the first-choice winger.
This is not carelessness. It is what is left after injuries and the eligibility rules have both taken their cut.
Selwyn Cobbo was the obvious pick
Cobbo won Dally M Winger of the Year days before the squad was named. He had been enormous for Queensland in the Origin series. He is 24, he plays for the Dolphins, and he looked like the one certainty in the back three.
He was left out. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Christian Nicolussi later reported the reason: ankle and back injuries. So the best winger in the competition is unavailable rather than overlooked, which is a better explanation than the one most people reached for on the day.
The part that is not about injuries
The ABC’s analysis of the squad made the sharper point. Walters is picking from a pool that has been drained by something other than the physio room.
Kalyn Ponga, Robert Toia, Jojo Fifita and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow would all be in Kangaroos contention. All four are playing this tournament for other nations. Ponga and Dane Gagai, both of Newcastle, had Tier 1 switches approved and will line up against Australia in the opening match.
That is the eligibility system working exactly as designed. It is why Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are competitive, and the cost lands on the one squad that used to get those players by default.
The two picks people are arguing about
Kotoni Staggs and Trbojevic are the selections drawing the most criticism. Neither had a especially strong 2026, and installing the Manly captain on the wing ahead of a Dally M winner takes some explaining even allowing for Cobbo’s ankle.
Walters said the finals series drove his thinking. “A number of players have come into contention with brilliant Finals Series,” he said, and described the squad in terms of strike power, size and speed rather than specialist positions.
Why it might not matter
Australia have won twelve of sixteen World Cups and they are still favourites. Trbojevic at his best is better than most specialist wingers, and Walters has Latrell Mitchell, Kotoni Staggs, Reece Walsh, James Tedesco and Bradman Best to arrange across the back five however the match demands.
The risk is depth rather than quality. Lose one outside back to a hamstring in the opening twenty minutes and the bench has nobody who has played the position all year.
Walters said it himself: “I have never before seen the amount of talent spread across the top nations.”
