Welcome to our complete RLWC 2026 Australia v Cook Islands Match Hub. Here you’ll find all the pre-match information, including team lists, predictions and stats you need and want, key players to watch and why you should bother watching the game at all. Plus we ask AI to do better than us with a predictions and AI Greg Norman pays a visit for his thoughts on this and all RLWC 2026 games.
After the game stop by for just enough of the opinion and post match stats you could need to keep up with each match of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.
RLWC 2026 Australia v Cook Islands Preview
Match Details
TEAMS
Australia:Â 1. Reece Walsh, 2. Jack Bostock, 3. Kotoni Staggs, 4. Bradman Best, 5. Tom Trbojevic, 6. Cameron Munster, 7. Tom Dearden, 8. Patrick Carrigan, 9. Harry Grant, 10. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, 11. Jacob Preston, 12. Liam Martin, 13. Isaah Yeo (c), 14. Ethan Strange, 15. Keaon Koloamatangi, 16. Cameron Murray, 17. Reuben Cotter, 18. Lindsay Smith, 19. James Tedesco, R. Sam Walker, R. Latrell Mitchell, R. David Fifita
Cook Islands:Â 1. Valentine Holmes, 2. Paul Ulberg, 3. KL Iro (c), 4. Reubenn Rennie, 5. Cameron Brown, 6. Maui Winitana-Patelesio, 7. Brad Takairangi, 8. Davvy Moale, 9. Rua Ngatikaura, 10. Rhys Dakin, 11. Amare Milford, 12. Delahia Wigmore, 13. Mason Teague, 14. Esan Marsters, 15. K-CI Newton-Whare, 16. Makahesi Makatoa, 17. David Tuariki, 18. Chaev Kolone, 19. Glassie Glassie, R. Brody Tamarua, R. Pride Petterson-Robati, R. Esom Ioka, R. Reuben Porter
TEAMS TALKING POINT:
Big names and big positions is the team news rage heading into this weekend’s clash. But given the Cook Islands aren’t top shelf opposition, perhaps some moves could be tactical. Anyways, Reece Walsh grabs back the fullback spot from James Tedesco, but for how long? Both have been good in different ways. The halfback battle was won by Tom Dearden, which may be a blessing given the amount of Offield bullsh!t going around Sam Walker and the Roosters. Another big name to miss out is Latrell Mitchell who joins the reserves list. Ethan Strange is named on the bench to make his international debut, which is exciting given his NSW debut was pretty good. Some topliners returning to the sides are Harry Grant, Liam Martin, Isaah Yeo. For the Cook Islands last weekend’s hat trick hero Esom Ioka is replaced by Paul Ulberg through injury.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
Ethan Strange – It might only be from the bench, but given Ethan Strange’s NSW debut this season and his general play over the last few season we look forward to seeing him roll out for Australia from the bench.
Reece Walsh – Obvious one, but he is hard to ignore either way.
Tom Dearden – always a solid performer at rep level but still needs a big game to keep Sam Walker on the bench.
Valentine Holmes – Big name for Cook Islands and they’ll need his experience at the back.
BATTLES TO WATCH:
Centres – Fair to say that Australia’s centres have underwhelmed so far this World Cup and with Latrell Mitchel on the bench they lack a little star power. The Cook Islands have KL Iro as one of their centres, and he’s been very good for Cronulla this season, so this could be one area where the Cook Islands aren’t too far behind.
Forwards – Australia on paper should smash the Cook Islands in the forwards, but that same paper also said Australia should it against Fiji last weekend and didn’t. If the Cook Islands pack can get in Australia’s face early it could be another uncomfortable match for the Aussies.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THIS GAME
Australia have been pretty underwhelming so far this tournament, so one does wonder if this is the game where it clicks. And if it doesn’t even better, as it will be an upset for the ages.
PREDICTION
Australia should win this by more and more, especially given the Cook Islands try scoring hero from last weekend is out.
Australia by 72
STATS
OVERALL H2H – First meeting between the sides.
- Australia have won 19 World Cup games in a row.
- Australia are 5/5 for games in Townsville across three different venues.
- Cook Islands have an ok record for games played in Australia – five wins, one draw, eight losses. They won their only game in Queensland when beating Samoa 22-20 in Cairns in 2009.
AI GREG NORMAN’S PIC-REDICTION
AI Greg Norman is always on hand to give his opinion on anything sport related, and we harness the power of AI and his imagination to come up with a pictorial prediction.
This is going to be pretty one sided, so all the attention will be on how to get the best out of Reece Walsh and James Tedesco. AI Greg was given free reign by coach Kevin Walters and came up with this.
AI PREDICTION
Since everyone else is using AI, why not us for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.
We asked AI the following: “Predict the winner of this 2026 Rugby League World Cup based on historical H2H records, each team’s record at World Cup, each team’s International record from the last 10 years with a recency bias on the last three years, relative toughness of each team’s forward pack, and overall courage of the general population from each country.”
AI SAID:
