Cameron Smith says experience counts with Kangaroos’ short time in camp

AFTER the failed Four Nations youth experiment, Australia captain Cam Smith says the Kangaroos should make the most of their experienced stars.

KANGAROOS captain Cameron Smith says the Australian team deserves to be picked on ability, not age.

Outspoken Blues identity Phil Gould has criticised the selection of the Kangaroos, saying only players who would be under the age of 32 for next year’s World Cup should have been selected.

Nine Kangaroos named to take on the Kiwis on Friday night are 30 or over. But with just four days to prepare, Smith said experience was crucial.

“Based on this match, I find it hard to have inexperienced guys in the team,” Smith said.

“Having experienced guys given the short preparation is a huge advantage. To ask a debutant or two to come in, you don’t know how they will handle it.

“If the experienced guys are playing well in clubland, why not pick them?”

Smith said Australia had been forced to “go young” for the 2014 Four Nations and it had backfired.

“People said we needed to look to the future and we didn’t get the job done, so I agree with the way Mal has gone this time,” he said.

“He has picked experienced forwards, people keep questioning Paul Gallen’s age but he gets up and gets the job done. You need guys who you look at in the 60th minute and know they will get the job done.”

Australia have lost their past three games against New Zealand and are now the second ranked team in the world.

The Kangaroos were outmuscled by the Kiwis 26-12 at Suncorp Stadium last year, which prompted Gould to write over the weekend that a rebuild was required.

For that to happen the likes of Johnathan Thurston, Corey Parker, Cooper Cronk and Smith would be put out to pasture.

Australian Kangaroos' Jonathan Thurston(left), Greg Inglis(2nd left),team captain Cameron Smith(2nd right) and coach Mal Meninga sit together during a team photograph session at Coogee beach in Sydney, Monday, May 2, 2016. (AAP Image/David Moir) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

“As a result of that match and the dominant performance by the New Zealand team, I would have envisaged our selectors realising the writing was on the wall for this current group of senior players and that we should begin a program of rebuilding towards the next World Cup,” Gould wrote.

“If the Australian coach and selectors have made a decision to wheel out this ageing group for the World Cup 2017, then I think we are virtually handing the trophy to the Kiwis.”

This is likely to be 36-year-old Gallen’s final Test as he is retiring from representative football next year. He is unlikely to be selected for the Four Nations tour at year’s end but 35-year-old Parker is arguably the best lock in the game.

Originally published as Cameron Smith says experience counts with Kangaroos’ short time in camp