Kangaroos selectors Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley and Darren Lockyer have named their Australian merit team, based on performances from the 2018 State of Origin series.
NSW players dominate the side with 12 players compared to Queensland's five, although one of the more controversial selections is Billy Slater at fullback ahead of James Tedesco.
Despite only playing in games two and three, Slater was named the Wally Lewis Medallist in the Maroons' 2-1 series loss, and has also been favoured by the selectors over Tedesco, who was one of the Blues' best and most damaging players all series long.
The spot is still likely Tedesco's at the moment, given Slater has retired from representative football.
The NRL released a statement from Meninga when the merit squad was announced, and the Kangaroos coach believes the squad is a good indicator of where national team selection is at.
“Once again, this is an important step for the national team to make, based on the pathway from state through to international level,” Meninga said.
“We named our first Kangaroos Origin merit team last year and there have been a significant number of changes based on performances through this year’s Origin series.
“There were some outstanding individual displays over the course of the series and it was a very challenging job to select a team based on those personal and team performances as well as individual values.
“Clearly over the course of the series NSW was the dominant team and they deserved to have a high representation in the merit team.”
Kangaroos' Origin merit team
1 Billy Slater
2 Tom Trbojevic
3 Greg Inglis
4 Latrell Mitchell
5 Josh Addo-Carr
6 Cameron Munster
7 James Maloney
8 David Klemmer
9 Damien Cook
10 Josh McGuire
11 Boyd Cordner
12 Tyson Frizell
13 Jake Trbojevic
14 James Tedesco
15 Jack de Belin
16 Josh Papalii
17 Paul Vaughan
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