Soon after the announcement of the upcoming Ashes Tour by the Australian Kangaroos, I suggested they should potentially have some warm-up games against A Yorkshire team and a Lancashire team, or potentially a combined Hull FC/Hull KR team to guarantee a visit by the Kangaroos to the MKM Stadium that many people believe should have been hosting an England v Australia test match.

Last night, when Nathan messaged me to say he had been ruminating over the idea of a combined team, I decided to take the bull by the horns and create said team, to which no doubt Nathan will reply and then hopefully, across the great divide, we can maybe come up with a suggested team that could at least be taken seriously and cause some debate.

So here is my combined Hull FC/Hull KR side which would take on the guise of wearing the white from Rovers kit and the black from the FC kit, it would be named Hull from the Rovers name and the FC from the Hull FC name and the game would obviously have to be played at the MKM Stadium.

1. Will Pryce
2. Lewis Martin
3. Peta Hiku
4. Oliver Gildart
5. Jordan Rapana
6. Mikey Lewis
7. Aidan Sezer
8. Herman Ese’Ese
9. Jez Litten
10. Suaso Sue
11. Jed Cartwright
12. James Batchelor
13. John Asiata

Interchange

1. Davy Litten
2. Liam Knight
3. Kelepi Tanginoa
4. Elliot Minchella

Of course that isn’t definitive, some people may put Arthur Mourgue in before Pryce, some will say I’ve picked Pryce because I’m a Hull FC supporter, but my actual argument is that Pryce has NRL experience, Mourgue doesn’t and when it comes to selecting an international team, NRL experience counts for a lot.

On the back of that, surely Joe Burgess would be counted as a better option than Lewis Martin, but the young flyer gets my vote based on the treatment he meted out on Bevan French in the cup match at Wigan and his impressive try-scoring stats so far this season, plus I believe him to be a better defender than Budgie!

The same goes for John Asiata starting with Minchella on the bench, he also has that bit of an edge as a big game winner (Wembley 2023) over his opposite number from the other side of the great divide.

I put Jed Cartwright in to start, because I believe Kelepi Tanginoa to be more of an impact off the bench, Jai Whitbread would also be close, but Liam Knight gets the nod ahead of him for his impact on the Black & Whites which has come after he had to train himself in the off-season down under and his form has attracted the attention of other sides, although I’m sure Nathan and any well-meaning Robins fan will undoubtedly disagree with me.

Hull FC fans may ask, why Davy Litten and not Logan Moy? The answer is that Davy Litten is an excitement machine, he is versatile and maybe slightly better developed than Logan because he’s been in the first team environment for longer, certainly Logan’s time will come and would certainly be part of the conversation for such a team in maybe 2028 when the Kangaroos are due to return to these shores.

If, however, you wanted to throw a few left field players in for such a game you then get into the realms of naming maybe Eribe Doro, Matty Laidlaw and the ones I would really like to see in this essentially training match would be the Kemp twins Liam and Callum, but in all seriousness, they’re for further down the line.

Other, more current left field options would probably include the likes of Jack Charles, Bill Leyland and Will Kirby who have all seen first team action in recent years.

The latterly named players are probably a bit of a stretch for the imagination, but it also shows the depth of talent that both clubs have moving forward and should be celebrated (while also giving Nathan a few pointers about who to put in his combined team).

Written by Ian Judson (site contributor & Hull FC fan)

Editor’s note: my contribution to this will be published later today!