Mal Meninga in major revelation about Mitchell Moses and wife ahead of debut for Kangaroos

Mal Meninga has revealed Test debutant Mitchell Moses and his wife Bri have welcomed the birth of their second child, ahead of Friday night's Pacific Championships Test against Tonga. Moses is set to partner fellow Test debutant Tom Dearden in the halves for the showdown against Tonga at Suncorp Stadium, as one of six uncapped players named in Meninga's new-look Aussie side.

And the Kangaroos coach told Sky Sports Radio's Big Sports Breakfast on Thursday that it hasn't been the most typical preparation for the Eels and Blues halfback, who's been travelling between Sydney and Brisbane, following the birth of he and Bri's second child on Monday. Moses famously sacrificed being present for the birth of the couple's daughter Aspyn in 2022 after choosing to remain in Townsville to play in Parramatta's preliminary final against the Cowboys.

Moses admitted at the time that former Eels coach Brad Arthur had encouraged him to fly back to Sydney for his daughter's birth but the Parramatta No.7 couldn't bring himself to abandon his teammates. “I can’t leave these boys," Moses said at the time. “(Brad Arthur) said, ‘what are you doing here? Get out of here’. I just looked at him and said, ‘I can’t’. I can’t leave these boys here given how hard we’ve worked all year. He addressed all the boys in the sheds and let everyone know I’d had my first child over FaceTime... It was a pretty special moment. All the boys got around me and I felt very comfortable on the field."

It's perhaps little wonder then that the 30-year-old has been so desperate to be by his wife's side this time around to welcome their second child into the world together. However, Meninga admits the wonderful Moses family news has provided an added challenge around his side's already limited preparations for the Tonga Test.

"It's been a short week, we've had a busy week with our halves. You know Mitchell and his wife had a baby earlier in the week, on Monday" Meninga revealed. "So he's been up and back from Sydney but they've mixed in really well," the Kangaroos coach added about his rookie halves pairing.

Moses and his wife Bri tied the knot at the start of this year in a secret wedding ceremony that was largely kept out of the public eye. Much like the birth of their second child on Monday, neither Moses nor his wife posted any photos on social media and details about the wedding were never shared publicly. The news only came to light thanks to photos posted by the wife of Parramatta Eels teammate Junior Paulo.

Mal Meninga praises chemistry in new-look Kangaroos side

Despite Moses' disrupted preparations this week though, Meninga says he's delighted with how the No.7 has clicked with his halves partner Dearden and the chemistry within his squad as a whole. "I'm really pleased with how the team has connected and really pleased with the team itself and I think our prep has been really good," Meninga said. "We have a captain's run today as we move towards tomorrow night's game."

Meninga has entrusted Moses and Dearden to steer the ship for the Kangaroos in the absence of experienced big-game playmakers Nathan Cleary, Daly Cherry-Evans and Cameron Munster. The Kangaroos coach has made a raft of changes from the Aussie side that went down to New Zealand 30-0 in the final of last year's Pacific Championships. And Meninga says it's been "refreshing" working with a new-look playing group.

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"We've done a whole lot of work on resetting our values and resetting what we want, what our purpose is," Meninga said. "It's a lot of new players and in that sense it's been really good, the players have really worked hard, they're connecting and getting that collective purpose around the reasons why they want to put that green and gold jersey on.

"That's really important on the back of what happened at the end of last year... it's been a really good week footy-wise and we've kept things pretty simple." Kangaroos No.6 Dearden has also admitted the Kangaroos are determined to avoid a repeat of last year's thumping defeat to the Kiwis.

"It was disappointing ... I know we'll be ready to go to make sure that that doesn't happen again," Dearden told reporters. "It means everything; I know as a kid, playing for the Kangaroos and wearing the green and gold, it's the highest honour there is in rugby league. To get the opportunity to be alongside and train alongside some of the best players in the world is really exciting.