Round 1 talking points and analysis, Solution to Kangaroos halfback selection headache, Debate over Jack Bostock’s value, Tonga’s title warning

An injury to Mitchell Moses has created a two-way battle for the Kangaroos halfback position, but there may be a clear solution as coach Kevin Walters contemplates his options.

Meanwhile, a debate has erupted over the market value of Jack Bostock after his thrilling international debut for Australia.

Watch Australia’s Tour of South Africa Live & Exclusive on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports. Second Test begins October 18.

Elsewhere, a former World Cup star has backed Tonga to win their maiden World Cup campaign.

Here, foxsports.com.au looks at the biggest talking points from the opening week of the World Cup!

WHY THERE IS A CLEAR SOLUTION TO KANGAROOS HEADACHE

The Kiwis aren’t the only ones with an injury concern. In fact, while New Zealand is holding out that Kalyn Ponga could return at some point Australia has already ruled Mitchell Moses out for the tournament.

Now, there was no guarantee that Moses was the first-choice halfback anyway given Sam Walker was coming off a premiership-winning campaign with the Roosters.

But there was a strong argument that Moses’ long-range kicking game made him the better complement to the more off-the-cuff Cameron Munster at five-eighth.

With Moses out of the picture, Walters now has two clear options to turn to: either Walker or Tom Dearden.

Neither boasts a similar calibre kicking game to Moses, but Dearden straightened up Australia’s attack and played with a certain composure that at least gave Kevin Walters something to think about.

“There was a real shift in that performance for the Aussies when Tom Dearden came on as a replacement for Mitchell Moses,” Corey Parker said on Channel 7.

“I thought he played nice and direct. He caused a lot of problems for the edges of the Kiwis,” added Aaron Woods.

That was consistent with the assessment from both Ryan Papenhuyzen and Shaun Johnson, with the former Golden Boot winner declaring Dearden played with a certain “confidence and control”.

Papenhuyzen, meanwhile, was impressed by the way Dearden set things up for his teammates.

“Sometimes everyone tries their own thing and tries to win the game on their own merit, whereas you can see Dearden was playing chess,” he said on Channel 7.

“He was moving his players around the field, being able to anticipate what’s going to happen.

“And part of the game was just to get the ball down there. Look at your wingers. Kick it to Bostock – hat-trick on debut.

“Very smart, very well handled by Tom Dearden.”

Dearden and Walker were already slated to start in Australia’s second World Cup clash regardless of whether Moses or Munster were available as part of Walters’ rotation policy.

However, now that may double as a final audition for the two with Munster is all but locked into the five-eighth jumper.

Woods, however, said that if Walters is looking for pure positional versatility over a back-up hooker on the bench, as was the case against New Zealand, Dearden is the logical option for that role.

In turn, he said that puts Walker in the box seat to start at halfback.

“I think his versatility is too much,” Woods said of Dearden.

“So, I reckon the 14 position is locked down to Tommy Dearden. Sam Walker will get a start. I think he will get the first crack after Mitchell Moses has been ruled out but by the time you get to the finals or semi-finals, Tom Dearden could have an opportunity to start at halfback.”

ARE TONGA READY TO SHOCK THE WORLD?

All the talk leading up to the World Cup was about New Zealand’s chances of knocking off Australia in the final on November 15, but has a new contender emerged?

Tonga scored a crucial 30-12 win over England in Perth on Saturday afternoon and a previous World Cup winner thinks they’re now a dark horse in the tournament.

Foxsports.com.au asked 2008 World Cup winner with New Zealand Lance Hohaia if the Kangaroos would play the Kiwis in the final next month.

Watching from his home in Grand Rapids, in Michigan, Hohaia, was struck by how well Tonga handled the English.

When asked if his Kiwis would meet Australia in the final he said: “My head is saying probably yes, but after watching the Tongan team this morning, with (Haumole) Olakau’atu, Robert Toia, and (Isaiya) Katoa, they were probably three of the best players that I’ve seen (in the tournament).”

“Those three were right up there in terms of the performance they played, so I don’t know, I mean, Tonga and Samoa, it’s going to be a close tournament.”

With the players they’ve got, Tonga’s attack has never really been questioned, but the other side of the ball is where they still need to prove themselves.

They only let in two tries on Saturday and commentator and former premiership winner Luke Keary praised Tonga’s defensive resilience.

“It’s been a red wall, they’ve saved so many tries,” Luke Keary said on Channel 7.

Former England Test forward James Graham said Tonga “answered the first question” as they look to remind the footy world they’re there to win the tournament.

Jason Taumalolo ran for a team-high 174 metres and praised some of his teammates who could have taken more cash in match payments by playing for Australia.

“Some of the boys could’ve easily played for the bigger nations but they chose to represent our little country and our people. Forever grateful,” he said.

Hohaia says it’s tough to predict who will play in the final after seeing Tonga emerge.

“I’m hoping to see the Kiwis in the final. I’m not too bothered whether the Aussies get there or not, to be honest. But I think those are the two best teams in the world right now,” he said.

The loss for England is a massive blow to the once strong rugby league nation as they could now lose the head-to-head tiebreaker with Tonga, who play Samoa on the final matchday.

England will play France next week and should win well, then they take on Papua New Guinea so they should secure wins there.

But Tonga clash with Lebanon which should be a win before they play Samoa and that’s anyone’s guess.

England need to beat France by a big margin too because if Tonga beats Samoa, a spot in the semis between the two nations will come down to for-and-against and Samoa are on plus 74 after their thumping of the French.

Pools B and C standings after one match

1. Samoa (1-0, +74)

2. Papua New Guinea (1-0, +24)

3. Tonga (1-0, +18)

4. England (0-1, -18)

5. Lebanon (0-1, -24)

6. France (0-1, -74)

Top two advance with head-to-head serving as primary tiebreaker over points difference

“We needed to win today to put our destiny in our own hands,” Graham said.

“Ultimately we’ve got to rely on Tonga to beat Samoa, a bit of foreign aid, do us a favour.

“With the big score Samoa put on France yesterday that adds to the degree of difficulty, so a mountain to climb for England to make the semi-finals.”

After the loss, England coach Brian McDermott said he was only focused on winning the next two games and putting pressure on Samoa and Tonga.

“I’ve seen enough tonight, which is telling me that we’re heading in the right direction. And, again, when you can identify when you’ve lost and it’s not to do with being physically outdone or strategically outdone, which I don’t think it was, it gives me a tremendous amount of confidence,” he said.

The fans are no doubt much more invested in this World Cup too.

During the 2017 event only games involving Australia attracted TV audiences of more than 500,000, but the England/Tonga game hit 1 million viewers.

$1 MILLION DEBATE ERUPTS OVER KANGAROOS STAR

Jack Bostock’s stellar debut for the Kangaroos has sparked debate over whether the star outside back could command as much as $1 million a season on his new deal.

Set to hit the open market on November 1, Bostock is shaping up to become one of the most sought-after players, with multiple teams emerging as potential suitors.

While the Dolphins are doing all they can to retain him, the St George Illawarra Dragons are among the clubs expected to go all-in to lure him back home.

After scoring a hat-trick against the Kiwis, former NRL star Reni Maitua believes he has a case for a million-dollar payday.

“For Bostock to score that try. You could have an argument that he’s a million-dollar winger,” Reni Maitua said on Triple M.

This comes as he believes the Dolphin star’s value extends beyond his ability to score tries, with his versatility another major selling point.

“This guy is an outside back who can play centre (and) wing,” Maitua added.

“Can play anywhere you put him so that’s his value. That’s how you want to sort of manage your roster and your salary cap.”

While a million-dollar payday is rare for a winger or centre, former Sharks captain Wade Graham argued an individual’s value should be determined by what they bring to the team, not the position they occupy.

“For me it doesn’t matter what position you play,” Graham explained.

“(When) you can negotiate your contract, you can say this is my value, this is what I can bring. I can play wing, centre, put me on the other side.

“He can probably play in the forwards if they asked him to. You negotiate your deal as a value for you as a player and what you can bring to the team.

“Once that deal is done, then your job for the team is whatever the coach decides and whatever they need.”

Speaking about his future before his debut, the youngster revealed he is yet to settle on his next move as he continues to weigh up his options.

“It’s still getting figured out now with my manager and the Dolphins,” Bostock said.

“Obviously being in here doesn’t help the cause, but my manager’s on to it all, so whatever happens we’ll finalise soon.

“Like I said, being in here has made it a little bit difficult because we can’t all meet up, and obviously Woolfy being in Tonga camp as well.

“It’s not been the easiest road to sort of get there, but it’s in the works.”

Foxsports.com.au then asked him if was his preference to remain at his current club.

To which he replied, “I’m not too sure just yet. But I definitely do want to chat to the Dolphins and get all that rolling.”

KIWIS MUST MOVE ON FROM PONGA LOSS: HOHAIA

The only man to win a World Cup playing fullback for New Zealand has some advice for the squad following news it’s likely to be without superstar Kalyn Ponga for the remainder of the tournament.

Lance Hohaia was part of the 2008 side which stunned Australia in the World Cup Final at Suncorp Stadium and he admitted to foxsports.com.au on Sunday that Ponga’s broken arm was “deflating”.

He said Stacey Jones and his squad need to, mentally, put Ponga’s loss behind them quickly.

“Moving on from the Kalyn injury is the biggest thing right now. That’s the most important factor in making sure that everybody is moving forward in a positive direction in terms of where the team’s going,” Hohaia said.

“Obviously we’ve lost one of our key attacking players and leaders and X-factor players so removing that disappointment from our minds as quickly as possible and getting back on track is important.

“I think that’s going to be the talking point.”

Ponga has had his broken arm operated on and will stay in camp with the Kiwis hoping to make a miracle comeback for the knockout games in three weeks.

“Having him around will benefit the squad and Keano Kini,” Hohaia said.

Kini came on for Ponga in last Thursday night’s 24-22 loss to Australia at Allianz Stadium and had a couple of tackle breaks as he ran for 60m from just five runs.

“Stacey’s probably going to go with Kini and give him the first crack at fullback. But I’m interested to see who he names for that Cook Islands game,” Hohaia said.

“He did a job for them last year in the fullback role and he’s a dangerous player.

“I like the way he plays. I think with his attacking flair and the way that the team is already structured to play around Ponga, it makes sense to put him there.”

Kini is a fine young player, but he’s no Ponga.

The Newcastle Knights fullback scored a double and made three line breaks against the Kangaroos last week and is rated by some as the game’s best player.

Can the Kiwis go on and win it without him?

Hohaia is naturally backing his country to go on and be successful without Ponga but the psychological issues surrounding Ponga’s loss may be a huge factor.

“I was very excited about him when he declared himself for New Zealand,” Hohaia said.

“I still thought that we had a good team and a good squad to win the World Cup, but having him play in the team with the way that he played, I was confident, but it’s a little bit deflating now that he’s injured.

“I’m not going to lie and I think we all feel that way as Kiwi supporters.”

“I think there’s a good opportunity for the squad to galvanise themselves and kind of use that as motivation too.”

Given the way the game played out on Thursday the Kiwis would probably go on to win eight of 10 times if it was run again.

But they lost.

The Kangaroos could have been behind by 20-plus points at halftime if they didn’t take a couple of intercepts to score tries.

The Kiwis ran for nearly 300m more than the Aussies, which flattered the Kangaroos after three tries to Jack Bostock, Tom Trbojevic and Reece Walsh involved near length-of-the-field runs.

It meant the Kiwi forwards battered the Aussie pack which resulted in the game’s best hooker Harry Grant only having two runs out of dummy half all game.

The Kiwis also had a few tries disallowed while the Kangaroos scored a few tries off kicks.

New Zealand’s best player Ponga even went off after terrorising the Australians.

But, again, they still lost.

Wade Graham, who played eight Tests for Australia, questioned on Triple M how the Kiwis would hit back from the cruel defeat.

“Will New Zealand bounce back because they were at their almost best? They probably can’t play a whole lot better than that,” he said.

“I thought they were in control, their halves, the way they got them around the park with Ponga out the back steering the ship.

“They created probably everything that they were after in terms of a game plan, but they just didn’t execute.

“So when you’re at your best and you don’t get the result, it can shock your confidence a little bit.”

New Zealand has been a great team for a long time and inflicted Australia’s worst Test loss of all time, 30-0 in the 2023 Pacific Championships.

Graham also backed Kini, a 22-year-old, saying he wouldn’t let the side down.

“They’re going to have to deal with no Kalyn Ponga. I suppose the silver lining is Keano Kini was probably one of their best players in the Pacific Championships last year so he’s a fair replacement to come in,” he said.

EMERGING STAR’S SHOCK POSITION SWITCH EXPLAINED

During his rookie season for Newcastle, Francis Manuleleua didn’t play in the middle, but instead as a barnstorming edge forward.

So, it came as a surprise to many when the young gun was named in the No. 13 on team list Tuesday for Samoa’s fixture against France.

Manuleleua relished the position switch. He was close to the best player on the field as Samoa thrashed France.

The 22-year-old ran for over 200 metres which was a clear game-high among forwards. He also had eight tackle busts, a line break and a try assists.

According to Samoa coach Ben Gardiner, it had been a plan in the making for nearly three months.

Gardiner, a former Panthers assistant coach, revealed to reporters after Samoa’s 78-4 win that he has a relationship with Manuleleua dating back to the forward’s days in Penith.

“It came about with a conversation in Newcastle about maybe two and a half months ago,” Gardiner said.

“I went up to catch up with Francis. I’ve known Francis for quite a while. He played out at the Panthers when I was out at the Panthers and I knew he had a skill set that was different to what maybe people were seeing in the NRL.

“I went up and had a conversation about whether he’d be confident to play that role for us and he’s a fairly confident guy and he said he was very keen to do it.

“We’d made that decision a long time ago that he was going to play there. Like we didn’t need to, you know, experiment with it in the prep.

“We knew that he was going to play there when he came into camp and so did he. So, it was a matter of getting his head around it.

Manuleleua had been putting in 80 minute performances for the Knights with regularity this season but playing a full game on an edge compared to as a middle forward is a different beast.

“The other thing that was really important is that he’s been playing 80 minutes every week but playing on the edge is a bit different to the middle, so you know he was going to have to get through 80 minutes in the middle which he did really well today.

“He still probably has some things if he looked at his game where he’d go I could have done that a little bit better, but just the physicality and the power through the middle, the line break that he made at the back end of the game.

“To still have that physicality there. Pretty impressive.”

The move will give the Knights’ coaching staff food for thought.

Perhaps it was in their plans anyway, but with Newcastle boasting Manuleleua, Jermaine McEwen and Dylan Lucas to begin next season, to fit all three in the starting line up, one will have to move into lock.

After Friday night’s display, that decision may have already been made.

‘WE NEED HELP’: FRANCE URGES NRL FOR HELP

The French national team have doubled down on their plea to the NRL to help grow rugby league in their home country after their 70-4 defeat to Samoa.

After captain Benjamin Garcia warned earlier in the week that French rugby league is fighting to survive because of a lack of financial backing and media exposure, he continued his plea for help.

“We are all competitors, but it’s the reality of where we are in France,” Garcia said after the match.

“For example, when Samoa had Mariner’s injury, they put on Faalogo, who is one of the best players in the NRL. We don’t have this luck in France.

“We’re trying to survive, and it’s hard, but we’re all passionate about the sport and we’ll keep going.

“We’re passionate about rugby league; you don’t understand the situation in France, but there are people like Laurent and like us in the dressing room.

“We need a bit of help.”

While the presence of the Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique in the Super League has helped drive engagement and development in the sport, coach Laurent Frayssinous believes the NRL should invest in Europe, particularly France.

“I have a question for you: do you think the NRL is far better now than four years ago?” Frayssinous said.

“They have a better team (than the last World Cup) with more experience and better players. But that’s them and I want to focus on us, and what I can tell you is we have good players in our camp. We just need a bit more connection, so we’ll be better next weekend.

“The NRL keeps growing and keeps getting better every year. Watching NRL every year, it’s at the top, at the top, at the top; a step up, step up, step up.

“Does that mean Super League doesn’t (get better every year)? No. Super League is better every year, but not as fast as the NRL.

“That’s the difference; the smartness, the skill the guys have under pressure and under fatigue, week in, week out. That’s something we need to improve in Super League, simple as that.

“One performance doesn’t reflect the level of Super League or the NRL, just us. We’ll take our medicine, and we’ll be better next weekend.”

It comes after talks between the NRL and Super League over a partnership have reportedly fallen through.

While it has yet to be confirmed, the deadline passed without the two parties striking an official agreement.

“What the NRL have done here is so good,” added Frayssinous.

“What they bring to the game is great. We want the NRL to do the same in Europe; for us there’s no question.

“There are a few things we want the NRL to invest in. We spoke about the last four years and how the game has evolved and is better over the last four years, and that’s what we want in Super League.

“For that, it’s a full circle: do we invest in the staff, the players or the environment, and that’s what you want for things to be better.

“Yes, it’s about money, but it’s also about strategy and how you grow the game in Europe. What the NRL have done here is a perfect example to follow.”

Pressed on his impassioned plea, he was asked which specific area he wanted to improve in France in the coming years.

“Grassroots first, definitely,” he continued.

“There are some great Super League clubs; Catalans is a great Super League club like Wigan, they’re already well-settled.

But instead of having four clubs in their region, can we have 10 (feeding in)? Can we have more children who play rugby league in France and in Europe.

“That’s what we want; that’s the start.”