Kangaroos’ rookies cop baptism of fire

It was hard to wipe the smile off the many rookies’ faces when they assembled on Saturday for the Kangaroos’ first Four Nations training session.

Still, coach Tim Sheens thought he’d give it a try.

Excitement soon turned to exhaustion – and in poor Boyd Cordner’s case, much worse – as Sheens cracked the whip in brutally hot conditions in Brisbane.

For almost two hours, Sheens hammered his depleted squad in an opening training session to remember – for all the wrong reasons, unfortunately, for Cordner.

While many appeared green around the gills as Sheens demanded drill after drill, Cordner was the poor soul who finally relented and was physically ill in front of everyone.

“That’s good. We must be doing something right if someone is spewing,” Sheens bellowed while clapping his hands.

And when Cordner finally regained his composure, the Sydney Roosters’ back-rower was required to complete the wrestling drill he missed out on while being ill.

It was fair to say it was a baptism of fire for the 11 rookies in the 24-strong Kangaroos squad ahead of their Four Nations opener next Saturday against New Zealand.

“At the first session back, they gave it to us but what do you expect? We are getting ready for a Test match,” rookie and fellow Rooster Aidan Guerra said.

“Thankfully, there were no up-and-unders from me.

“I have been coached by a few in my time and, obviously, everyone has their different ways.

“There’s nothing like a welcome to camp like today – that was hard work.”

Even team practical joker Sam Thaiday kept his head down as any thought that Sheens would go easy on his rookie-riddled squad was quickly dismissed.

“I do feel really old coming into this camp and I haven’t hit 30 yet,” Thaiday said of the many new faces.

It was a huge reality check for the likes of Newcastle’s Sione Mata’utia who is poised to become the youngest Test player in Australian league history, having been picked at 18 and after just seven NRL games.

“I am shocked. I am still shivering,” Mata’utia told reporters.

“Tim Sheens rang to tell me I was in the team and straight away he said ‘it’s not a prank’.”

Yet, Sheens reckons the teenager wasn’t the most excited coming into camp.

“Daly Cherry-Evans – he was over the moon,” he said.

“He reminded me of Cooper Cronk when he got his first chance after Darren Lockyer retired – there was no one more excited than Daly Cherry-Evans.”

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