Prior to 2010, the Junior Kangaroos was selected on an under-19 age basis. The best Australian players 19 years of age or younger, would represent the country against the likes of the
Junior Kiwis,
Papua New Guinea and
Tonga, sometimes as curtain raisers to the senior
Kangaroos games. Players such as
Greg Bird,
Matt Bowen,
Justin Hodges,
Luke Lewis,
Jamie Lyon,
Cameron Smith and
Johnathan Thurston represented the Junior Kangaroos early in their careers and went on to play at the senior level for Australia. The last Junior Kangaroos side selected under the under 19 rules was in 2007. This would be the last Junior Kangaroos team until 2010. In 2010, with the advent of the
National Youth Competition, the Junior Kangaroos was switched to an under-20 team and played in a two Test series against the Junior Kiwis. From 2011 to 2018, the Junior Kangaroos have faced the Junior Kiwis at the end of each season in a one-off Test match, usually as a curtain raiser to a senior level Australia-New Zealand Test match. In 2019, the ARL announced that Junior Kangaroos would be moving to an under-23 format and would play
France at
WIN Stadium. ==2010 series==