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Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters has revealed six stars who travelled to England as part of the first Australian Ashes squad in more than two decades will not lace up their boots at all on the tour.
Walters has announced an unchanged lineup for the third and final Test in Leeds this Sunday, despite the match being a dead rubber after the Aussies took an unassailable 2-0 series lead following their 14-4 victory in Liverpool.
Mitchell Moses, Bradman Best, Ethan Strange, Jacob Preston, Dylan Edwards and Blayke Brailey are all set to fly home without taking the field.
With each of the small group who are being left out hailing from New South Wales, claims have since been made accusing Walters, who is a Queensland legend, of a bias against NSW players.
After Australia claimed victory last Sunday, Walters had mused aloud about the prospect of giving a 'reward' to fringe members of the squad by throwing them into the final Test at Headingley on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
Instead, despite plenty of calls for him to use the 'dead rubber' as a chance to field new Kangaroos with an eye on next year's World Cup, he's put out what he considers Australia's best 17 to go and finish the job ruthlessly in the northern rugby league stronghold of Leeds.
Mitchell Moses was the Kangaroos halfback in their maiden Pacific Championships triumph in 2024 - but he hasn't been given a chance to play in England
Newcastle Knights center Bradman Best earned a call-up to the Australian squad despite his NRL team finishing with the wooden spoon
Ethan Strange had a breakout NRL season for the Raiders, winning the Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year award and helping the club to their first minor premiership since 1990
'We've had to work exceptionally hard in challenging conditions to win the opening two Tests, and while we'd like to reward the extended squad for their outstanding efforts on tour, we just feel that the players who have got the job done deserve to play in Leeds,' Walters said.
'The playing group has had a few days off to freshen up and now it's back to work – we've trained well today and we've still got the captain's run to get our ourselves where we need to be for what is a very important Test match for both sides.'
So Panthers lock Yeo is the only change to the second-Test team that had to slog hard to overcome England in Everton.
The inspirational 30-year-old got just a few minutes of action in the first-Test 26-6 win at Wembley before a head-knock with Dom Young sidelined him.
But Yeo's been welcomed back to lead the side after undergoing all the necessary NRL concussion protocols, with second-Test stand-in Harry Grant handing back the armband.
Yeo comes in for his clubmate Lindsay Smith, who'll now move back to the extended squad for the final Test.
Walters' choice may not have gone down too well with those pundits who felt this would have been the perfect chance to experiment with the Ashes wrapped up for the 14th consecutive time.
Instead, the tour stands to be completed without six of the 24-strong touring squad seeing a minute's action.
Jacob Preston (pictured carrying the ball) has put together three consistent years of football for the Bulldogs, but he's been left scratching his head in the UK
Dylan Edwards is a six-time Kangaroos representative, but lost the Australian fullback jersey to newly crowned Broncos premiership winner Reece Walsh
Blayke Brailey (left) is one of the NRL's most improved rakes, and last month claimed the 2025 Dally M Hooker of the Year
Gehamat Shibasaki, who had not had the most impactful series, had seemed vulnerable to being replaced by Best, but the Newcastle centre remains as 18th man.
Another inaugural accolade to be settled on Saturday will be the player-of-the-series award, which is to be named the Fulton-Reilly award after two Ashes icons, the Kangaroos' Bob Fulton and England's Malcolm Reilly.
Favourites for the honour include Reece Walsh and Cameron Munster, who won the man-of-the-match awards in the first two Tests, as well as the exceptional Angus Crichton and Harry Grant.
Australia's team for third Test is as follows:
1. Reece Walsh, 2. Mark Nawaqanitawase, 3. Kotoni Staggs, 4. Gehamat Shibasaki, 5. Josh Addo-Carr, 6. Cameron Munster, 7. Nathan Cleary, 8. Patrick Carrigan, 9. Harry Grant, 10. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, 11. Angus Crichton, 12. Hudson Young, 13. Isaah Yeo (capt) 14. Tom Dearden, 15. Lindsay Collins, 16. Reuben Cotter, 17. Keaon Koloamatangi. 18. Bradman Best.
