Kumuls due opt out

WORLD Cup Kumul Nene Macdonald and boom South Sydney winger Alex Johnston have closed the door on any representative aspirations for Papua New Guinea.

Macdonald, 20, was given his first taste of representative rugby league at last year’s World Cup in England when Kumuls coach Adrian Lam picked the National Youth Competition

(NYC) talent from obscurity to wear the red, black gold.

The 192-centimetre, 101-kilogram centre/winger proved he was a star of the future playing well beyond his years against France, Samoa and New Zealand. The Port Moresby-born Macdonald was named in Australia’s

Junior Kangaroos team yesterday.

This comes off the back of the Queensland Under-20s jerseys he has earned in 2013 and 2014.

He represented the Australian Schoolboys in 2011 as well.

He has played seven games (scoring three tries) for the Sydney Roosters this year getting his chance in the place of injured Tongan giant Daniel Tupou and impressed coach Trent Robinson with his efforts in the top grade.

Macdonald moved to Cairns, Australia, as a youngster and developed through the ranks playing junior grade for Cairns Brothers before being signed by the Gold Coast Titans.

Macdonald is destined to cement his spot on the Roosters wing next season with the impending retirement of club great Anthony Minichiello.

Nineteen-year-old Johnston had a meteoric rise through the Rabbitohs ranks this year displacing the club’s all-time leading try-scorer Nathan Merritt (146 tries) in the No.2 jumper and he has gone on to become a try-scoring machine in his own right.

Johnston has scored an impressive 19 tries from 16 matches so far this season and has turned enough heads to become a bolter for Tim Sheens’ Four Nations squad.

With a rash of withdrawals by outside backs including Justin Hodges, Billy Slater, Josh Duggan, Will Hopoate and Michael Gordon, the door is ajar for Johnston to slip through.

In contrast to Macdonald’s powerful frame, Johnston’s lithe 185cm, 90kg physique was built for one thing only – speed.

The teenager, who at one stage expressed his interest in playing for his mother’s country, is considered one of the NRL’s fastest men.

His cheetah-like reflexes have left many seasoned backs open-mouthed and bug-eyed in 2014 and clutching at thin air as the Rabbitohs’ speed merchant burned all before him.

Bunnies coach Michael Maguire, normally a hard man to please, has kept faith with Johnston to devastating effect. 

Both men could line up against each other on Friday if Macdonald is required in Robinson’s 17 for the preliminary final showdown between the competition’s foundation clubs.

If not, Macdonald will focus on the test match against the New Zealand Junior Kiwis at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland on October 18.

Johnston, on the other hand will be crossing his fingers and hoping he can do the double of winning a premiership and making the wing on the best team in the world.

PNG Today/The National