Kangaroos halfback Nathan Cleary will have the chance to prove his doubters wrong when Australia take on Samoa in the Rugby League World Cup final.
And both Greg Alexander and Braith Anasta are expecting the 25-year-old to do so in spectacular fashion.
Coach Mal Meninga named both Cleary and Daly Cherry-Evans in his 19-man squad for the final at Old Trafford at 3am AEDT, however the latter is tipped to drop to 18th man like he did for the semi-final.
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That is despite the criticism Cleary has copped over the last week for failing to take control in Australia’s two-point win over New Zealand.
The Kangaroos’ attack has come under fire — and even prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard conceded on Fox League’s World Cup preview show that it’s been “clunky” and “unorganised.”
Campbell-Gillard, who successfully returned from a cork in the semi-final, did declare though: “We’ve addressed it, we’re going to fix it and we have only one shot to do that… It’s do or die now.”
While Cleary is a two-time premiership-winning halfback, he’s copped some flak over the years for not delivering on the representative stage.
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Cleary was somewhat quiet in the Kiwis clash and the week before it was his halves partner Cameron Munster that stole the show, setting up four tries to Cleary’s none.
Alexander — a former Kangaroo — acknowledged that some uncharacteristic errors have crept into his game, but declared the Australian halfback role belongs to him amid calls for Cherry-Evans to replace Cleary.
“He’s made a couple of errors and you could watch two months of NRL and not see Nathan make an error,” he said.
“It’s just those things combined with the fact that Australia’s attack just hasn’t been fluent.
“(Cleary) should be there, he’s the best halfback in the game without question. It’s just taking him a little time to feel comfortable with the players around him.”
Meanwhile, Anasta believes Cleary would take the criticism “personally” and is tipping him to produce one of his better games on the weekend.
“He would take this personally. He hasn’t been bad by any means, he just hasn’t been at his usual classy best,” Anasta said.
“But you don’t think he’s sticking around after training working on his kicking game, his passing game and his combinations with Cam? Of course he is.
“I expect him, the type of player he is, to bring his best (against Samoa). I think it’s a scary proposition for the opposition because it’s not very often you see him making errors or not playing at a very, very high standard.”
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Anasta also turned the heat up on Meninga and questioned whether his decision to rotate players earlier in the tournament has backfired.
“In the halves, he plays with (Jarome) Luai and they’ve been together since they were 15 or 16-years of age — their combination is faultless,” he said.
“No matter how good of a player you are, you come into a new Australian Test team and you’ve never played with Cameron Munster before in your life. It’s not easy and it takes time.
“That’s why I was a little bit critical of Mal in not solidifying or not having the same combinations throughout the group stage because these guys have not played together.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re the best player in the world or not, it takes time to get that fluency and that cohesion — especially in the halves.
“So to just step in there and think they’re going to be at their best from game one is just a bit unrealistic.”
Besides a scare from New Zealand, the Kangaroos have cruised through the tournament. But the same can’t be said about their opponents.
Samoa kicked off their World Cup campaign with an embarrassing 60-6 loss to England. The team’s culture was slammed and the ability of coach Matt Parish was questioned once again.
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But somehow they got it together to smash Greece and France before sealing a two-point win over Tonga in the quarter-finals and then a one-point win over England to book a spot in the final.
Skipper Junior Paulo told Fox League’s World Cup preview show it was a “tough conversation” after their first clash with England that set the team up for the rest of the tournament.
“For us coming into camp we knew we had a quality outfit but it was more so having time on our side and getting combinations right,” Paulo said.
“It’s hard coming into a team, everyone’s got different playing styles and systems at their club level. You come into camp and figure out what works and us it’s going back to basic and having our guys in the halves step up to really steer the ship around.
“But after that first loss to England, I had a tough conversation with the boys at full time and just told them it’s going to be hard, we just had to challenge each other and ourselves and have the same belief that we had coming into camp.
“I think that’s the one thing that’s going to get us through this whole campaign — the belief within this group.”
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Samoa made history when Stephen Crichton slotted the matchwinning field goal in golden point last week to send the nation to their very first World Cup final.
Regardless of what happens at Old Trafford their turnaround in the last five weeks has done wonders for the international game.
“Samoa has always had so much potential, but did we think they would come this far?” Anasta questioned.
“It says a lot about the game, it says a lot about international rugby league, it says a lot about Samoa to get to this point in a World Cup final against the Aussies.
“That first game against England, everyone wrote them off. It just shows the desire and passion that this country (has).”
Alexander added: “If they were to roll Australia, that’s unthinkable at the moment, but it could happen… The way they’ve bounced back has been incredible. To get past those nations (Tonga and England) after their start has been a remarkable turnaround.”
