NRL Rd 11 - Raiders v Rabbitohs
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - JULY 25: Tom Starling of the Raiders celebrates victory in the round 11 NRL match between the Canberra Raiders and the South Sydney Rabbitohs at GIO Stadium on July 25, 2020 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Canberra Raiders hooker Tom Starling has revealed he may be eligible to represent Ireland at the 2022 Rugby League World Cup.

The Raiders' rake has become the main number nine a season before he was supposed to at the Raiders following the season-ending injury to the Parramatta Eels-bound Josh Hodgson.

After an excellent performance from the bench during last week's miraculous comeback victory over the Gold Coast Titans, Starling finds himself back in Ricky Stuart's starting side for this week's intriguing clash with the Manly Sea Eagles on Saturday afternoon in Mudgee.

While Starling doesn't want to get too far ahead of himself, he told The Canberra Times that a text message from assistant coach and former player Brett White - who also represented Ireland at the end of his career - tipped him off to the idea he may be eligible for the European nation.

"I'll have to look into it, but if there's the possibility I'd love to do it, but I'll have to see," he said.

"My nan's mum and dad are Irish so I'll have to see what the eligibility is like.

"Whitey sent me something yesterday - they did a line up that could happen because they saw that I had an Irish background - and he goes, 'How good would this be'.

"That's at the end of the year, it's a long way away I guess - a bit happening before then."

The 2022 Rugby League World Cup, which will be held in England, was originally supposed to take place in 2021 before being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ireland find themselves in Group C and with a reasonable chance of progression if they can beat Lebanon and Jamaica, with New Zealand also in the group. Their matches will be played in Leeds and Leigh.

The came after a heart-breaking loss to Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby prevented the Irish from making it out of the group stage at the 2017 tournament, despite other wins over Wales and Italy.

Ireland's most recent squad saw 37-year-old veteran Bob Beswick joined by youngsters Sam Cullen and Declan O'Donnell in the squad to play at hooker, however, none of those players play in the Super League, and Starling's addition would make a considerable difference to a squad who can also call on plenty of Super League talent in other positions.

Ireland will kick-off their tournament against Jamaica on October 16.