World champions Allan Oldfield, based in Hutt Valley but from Geraldine, and Tony Dobbs, of Fairlie, will shear the blade shearing match, and first-time New Zealand representatives Cushla Abraham, of Masterton, and Angela Stevens, of Napier, will contest the woolhandling match.
Daniel McIntyre, a New South Wales shearer who beat Te Huia, Stratford and Samuels in the New Zealand Merino Shears open final in Central Otago town Alexandra on October 1, has shorn in the winning side in 10 of his 13 transtasman tests.
He will team up with South Australian shearer Nathan Meaney, in his 5th test, and Sam Mackrill, from Victoria, making his international debut.
Australia has won 36 of the 67 machine-shearing tests since the annual home-and-away matches started in 1974, dominating the series, particularly since New Zealand last won in Australia at Hay, NSW, 12 years ago.
At that time, New Zealand had won 27 of the 48 matches to date.
In the Blades test, New Zealand defends an unbeaten record in 14 tests since the first in 2010, with Dobbs having shorn in 10 of the matches - the last three with Oldfield.
Opponents Johnathon Dalla, a sheep stud farmer from South Australia, and Ken French, from Victoria, will be together as the Australian team for the 10th time in the tests, Dalla shearing in his 13th test.
While Cushla Abraham, of Masterton, and Angela Stevens, of Napier, will be making their international debuts in the woolhandling test, they will be up against a vastly experienced opposition.
New South Wales woolhandler Rachel Hutchinson is contesting an Australian-record 11th transtasman test, with Aroha Garvin, based in West Australia but from New Zealand, in her 8th transtasman test.
New Zealand has won 34 of the 44 woolhandling tests, since the first in 1998.
Determined to make the most of their opportunity, Te Huia and Samuels each headed to Australia early to shear in New South Wales ahead of the tests, Te Huia mixing-it with Dorset rams and lambs and is now shearing Merinos around Bathurst and Samuels with a mainly New Zealand crew out of Wagga Wagga.
Te Huia, who has shorn world tally records on both sides of the Tasman, and on both strong wool and fine wool, said he’s “pretty proud” to be representing New Zealand, which came as a result of his second-placing, the best New Zealander, in the New Zealand Merino Shears final.
“But to be honest I was just trying to win the Alex[andra] show,” he said.
“That was my goal this year.”
Thus, it adds needle and some hope of revenge in the meeting again with McIntyre, in a test in which the Australian dominance on the Merino component has been to the fore in recent years.
Te Huia has shorn extensively in Australia, where he set a world Merino ewes record of 530 in nine hours in 2015, and where the pre-tests shearing in New South Wales is an annual assignment.
The 39-year-old has been a highly-rated shearer for many years, helping set a four-stand strong wool lamb shearing record in 2013 and then shearing a solo ewes record in 2017.
But, despite having also shorn a lot in Australia, he did not start figuring prominently in New Zealand competitions until he won the Otago Shears open final in 2020, with just a single open final win previously, at the West Otago A and P Show in Tapanui in 2014.
He was selected for the team as a result of winning the national shearing circuit final in 2021 and said it was a dream that started when he realised he could make the team about three years ago when he began making open finals.
“Making open finals was becoming more frequent for me and to win the odd one on the way…that sparked it all for me.”
But for the global pandemic, Samuels would have been making his international debut last year.
“I wasn’t too sure I was going to get the chance, with all the cancellations and all,” he said.
“I hope to do my country proud.”
The team is managed by Greg Stuart, of Alexandra and who will also be a shearing judge, while the woolhandling judge is Gail Haitana, of Feilding.
