Corey Parker caps his best ever year with Kangaroos bench spot for World Cup opener Corey Parker trains with the Kangaroos. INSPIRATIONAL Bronco Corey Parker has capped a season of personal triumph by being named to make his Test return in Saturday's World Cup blockbuster against England at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Two years after Parker made his first and only Test appearance in Wales, the veteran forward revealed how he was overcome with emotion the moment Australian coach Tim Sheens told him he was going to be playing a part in the tournament opener coming off the bench. Sheens will officially announce his squad later on Thursday but Parker said the coach pulled him aside at training and broke the good news. "Tim grabbed me and said "you are going to start on the bench" and to be fair other than who I was replacing the rest of what he said was a bit of a blur," an emotional Parker said. All I heard was that I was on the bench coming on for Gal (Paul Gallen) at some stage. Personally, it is a dream to be honest. To be here at the World Cup and getting ready to take on England in Wales, if you would have said that to me in January, I would have told you that you were dreaming. It was always a dream to get the green and gold back on but I realised there was a lot of hard work that needed to happen in between and fortunately it has all paid off. Parker will take his place on the bench along with Robbie Farah, who gets the nod over Daly Cherry-Evans for the utility spot. Queensland veteran Brent Tate has won the race for Justin Hodges" vacant right centre position and Cronulla's boom prop Andrew Fifita will also be named to make his Test debut off the bench. Earlier this month, Parker cleaned up at the Broncos awards night. Asked if this was his greatest year, Parker said: "I'd say so. I feel I try to improve all the time. Whether I'm getting better or not I'm not sure but personally I'm never satisfied in terms of what I want to achieve and what I want to do in the game. Sheens said Parker's performance in the recent game against PNG was the deal-clincher. "He reminds me of Nathan Hindmarsh in "09, he's just had a stellar year," Sheens said. Corey had an outstanding State of Origin series, Mal gives him a great rap. And Laurie Daley worked with him in PNG and made a comment to me specifically about him. He said he never appreciated his ability as much as he should have until he actually coached him. And he is very good in the group. They look to him. Aside from Tate's inclusion, the Aussie backline is as expected. Billy Slater is fullback, Darius Boyd and Brett Morris the wingers, Greg Inglis and Tate the centres and Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk the halves. The starting forward pack is Paul Gallen, Greg Bird, Sam Thaiday, James Tamou, Cameron Smith and Matt Scott. While Sheens will announce a 17-man squad, unofficially he will keep a squad of 20 players to prepare with Nate Myles, Jarryd Hayne and Cherry-Evans all on the emergency list. Australian squad to play England: Billy Slater, Brett Morris, Greg Inglis, Brent Tate, Darius Boyd, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Matthew Scott, Cameron Smith (c), James Tamou, Greg Bird, Sam Thaiday, Paul Gallen (vc). Interchange: Andrew Fifita, Luke Lewis, Robbie Farah, Corey Parker.