Gold Coast Titans superstar David Fifita has been chosen in a Tongan extended World Cup squad that also includes NSW Origin players Kotoni Staggs and Daniel Tupou, despite their injury concerns.

Mate Ma’a Tonga coach Kristian Woolf and his management team have selected the 38-strong list, which will be shaved to 24 at the end of the month.

While there were nothing like the bombshells that fell in 2017 when key players led by Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita turned their backs on Australia and New Zealand to represent the island nation, the selection of Fifita will be a talking point because he is also in Australia’s train-on squad.

RLWC2021 contacted Woolf through is club St Helens to confirm it was 22-year-old centre David Fifita, not the 33-year-old Wakefield prop of the same name.

Fifita is also one of 15 players named by the green-and-golds so far from clubs that have dropped out of the NRL premiership race, to train in preparation for representing the World Cup holders.

Under International Rugby League rules, if Fifita misses final selection for Australia, he can represent his tier two nation of election, which is clearly Tonga.

WOOLF’S QUIET CONFIDENCE
Read: https://t.co/x8xBjasTC7

By @SteveMascord | #RLWC2021 pic.twitter.com/fvozlwTcLz

— Rugby League World Cup 2021 (@RLWC2021) September 11, 2022

Brisbane centre Staggs, meanwhile, reportedly needs a shoulder reconstruction while winger Tupou’s recovery time for a back injury was put at six weeks from the beginning of September.

There are 13 survivors from the 2017 Mate Ma’a campaign that changed the face of international rugby league.

Young Dolphins signing Isaiya Katoa – formerly of Penrith – also gets recognition. Hull FC’s Mahe Fonua – who finished the season with an ankle injury – and York City’s Ata Hingano are notable omissions. Hull’s Manu Ma’u has a broken arm.