Test axe falls on Papalii

CANBERRA rugby league forward Josh Papalii has been axed from the Kangaroos team after pleading guilty to a drinkdriving charge in court on Thursday.

The Raiders announced it would wait until Monday before deciding on a punishment for their star player, however, the NRL stepped in prior to next week’s Kangaroos camp.

“Given that Josh pleaded guilty to drink driving we believe it is inappropriate for him to join the Kangaroos camp,” NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said yesterday.

“We would expect that the decision to stand him down from the Test will be taken into consideration when the Raiders board considers the matter next week.”

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga said the decision was made in the best interests of the team, but hinted the 24year-old could rejoin the squad for the World Cup at the end of the year.

“The game has made a really strong stance against this behaviour and I’m a very strong believer that this stance is the right course of action,” he said.

Papalii’s place on the Kangaroos’ interchange bench has been taken by clubmate Shannon Boyd — with Manly’s Jake Trbojevic named as the 18th man.