RLWC

Manly's Dylan Walker – the Dally M Centre of the Year – was an unfortunate casualty of the Prime Minister's XIII game in Papua New Guinea and would almost certainly have earned selection, but his absence leaves Chambers and Dane Gagai as the only Kangaroos to have played a minimum of five NRL games in the centres this season.

Instead, the proliferation of fullbacks at the representative level continued with Meninga selecting five players who have spent significant time in the No.1 jersey during the course of the season.

After featuring at the Four Nations tournament at the end of last season, Leuluai expected the pool play clash against Scotland – where he suffered a broken jaw midway through the match – would be his 36th and final Test for New Zealand.

But this week he spoke of his joy when coach David Kidwell confirmed he would be part of the 24-man squad despite the selection of UK-based Kiwi players being almost unheard in the current international environment.

The NZRL confirmed Foran's new club, the Canterbury Bulldogs, have made him unavailable for the World Cup so he can recover from a quad and back strain he played through for the majority of the 2017 season with the Warriors.

The Kiwis co-host the World Cup alongside Australia and Papaua New Guinea.

The tournament kicks off at the end of next month.