The 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup involved players from the national rugby league football teams of five countries: Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. As the World Cup was played over four years during normal international tours, these groups of players never assembled in one place as an entire squad.
Australia
Coaches: Bob Fulton
Tim Brasher
Willie Carne
Steve Renouf
Mal Meninga (c) Michael Hancock Brad Fittler Allan Langer Glenn Lazarus Steve Walters Mark Sargent Paul Sironen Bob Lindner Bradley Clyde Chris Johns John Cartwright David Gillespie Kevin Walters Gary Belcher Michael O'Connor Tony Currie Wally Lewis Des Hasler Sam Backo Tony Currie Paul Vautin Bruce McGuire Dale Shearer Mark Carroll Alan Langer Andrew Ettingshausen Martin Bella Brad Mackay Laurie Daley Kerrod Walters Mark McGaw Cliff Lyons Greg Alexander Ricky Stuart Ben Elias Rod Wishart Craig Salvatori Mark Geyer Geoff Toovey Gary Coyne Scott Gourley
France
Coach: Jacques Jorda/ Michel Mazaré
Pierre Aillères (Toulouse Olympique) Adolphe Alésina (XIII Catalan) Christophe Auroy (XIII Catalan) Abdrajah Baba (XIII Catalan) Jean-Marc Balleroy (Avignon) Pascal Bomati (XIII Catalan) Christophe Bonnafous (Albi) Alain Bouzer (Pamiers) Gérard Boyals (Saint-Gaudens) Thierry Bernabé (Le Pontet) Denis Biénès (Saint-Gaudens) Thierry Buttignol (Avignon) Didier Cabestany (XIII Catalan) Éric Castel (Albi) Pierre Chamorin (Saint-Estève) Philippe Chiron (Carpentras) Régis Courty Guy Delaunay (XIII Catalan) Lindsay Delpech (Pamiers) David Despin (Villeneuve-sur-Lot) Daniel Divet (Carcassonne) Gilles Dumas (Saint-Gaudens) Patrick Entat (Avignon) Pascal Fages (Pia) Philippe Fourquet (Saint-Gaudens) David Fraisse (Carcassonne) Jean-Marc Garcia (Saint-Estève) Mathieu Khedimi (Saint-Estève) Patrick Limongi (Carcassonne) Bernard Llong (XIII Catalan) Francis Lope (Toulouse) Jean-Pierre Magnac Patrick Marginet (Saint-Estève) Jacques Moliner (Pamiers) Pierre Montgaillard (XIII Catalan) Roger Palisses (Saint-Estève) Jacques Pech (Pia) Bertrand Planté (Villeneuve-sur-Lot) Cyrille Pons (Saint-Gaudens) Jean-Philippe Pougeau (Saint-Estève) Jean-Luc Rabot (Villeneuve-sur-Lot) Hugues Ratier (Lézignan) Éric Rémirez (Carcassonne) Franck Romano (Carpentras) Jean Ruiz (Saint-Estève) Claude Sirvent (Saint-Gaudens) Yves Storer (Saint-Gaudens) Marc Tisseyre (Carcassonne) Patrick Torreilles (Pia) Thierry Valéro (Lézignan) Daniel Verdès (Vileneuve-sur-Lot) Yves Villoni (Pamiers) Robert Vizcay (Saint-Gaudens)