KEY POINTS:
The Kiwis and Kangaroos will use the teams who won their semifinals when they meet in the World Cup decider at Suncorp Stadium this weekend.
The coaches yesterday named unchanged lineups to start and on the interchange.
The Kiwis have no injury concerns. The Kangaroos listed Brent Tate,
who left the field during the 52-0 win over Fiji last weekend with a hip flexor problem, and Paul Gallen, who suffered a corked thigh in the game.
Neither trained yesterday but the Kangaroos camp seems sure they will play, with just a slight doubt over Tate and Manly's David Williams on standby to take over.
The Kiwis skipper, Nathan Cayless, and bench forward Sika Manu escaped with cautions from the World Cup match committee after a review of the 32-22 semifinal win over England. Cayless was warned about "unnecessary contact" to the head/neck of opposing prop Adrian Morley in the 24th minute and Manu for using "unnecessary force" to the arm/shoulder of Gareth Ellis in the 45th minute.
The Kiwis had no choice but to name the same lineup - they have no silver bullet to bring from the sidelines. At least they are in form and will front with the background of two physically tough games against decent opposition in the 36-24 come-from-behind win over England a fortnight ago and the led-from-the-start win last Saturday.
The Australians front after demolishing New Zealand 30-6, England 52-4, Papua New Guinea 46-6 and Fiji 52-0. They are concerned at the lack of a decent test, their coach Ricky Stuart citing that lack of hard matches against skilled opponents as their weakness.
They don't have many others. It is near impossible to see the Kiwis beating the Australians and, in fact, if they do better than the 30-6 achieved in the opener five weeks ago that in itself will be something of a victory.
They simply do not have the personnel, especially in the key positions.
Break the game down to Cameron Smith versus Thomas Leuluai at hooker, Johnathan Thurston versus Nathan Fien at halfback, Darren Lockyer versus Benji Marshall at five-eighths and Billy Slater versus Lance Hohaia at fullback - the Aussies might possibly take Benji into their side but wouldn't want the rest, while the Kiwis would happily include all four of the Kangaroos if they possibly could. And then they have Greg Inglis as a fifth playmaker and the huge Israel Folau out wider.
The bookies yesterday had the Aussies at A$1.12 and the Kiwis at A$5.80 and the only reason those odds aren't further apart is that they'd never attract a bet.
This is a great Kangaroos team, there is no doubt. The Kiwis side on the other hand is well short of New Zealand's best available (barring injuries) or best-ever.
The Kiwi teams that won previously all included star playmakers and world-beating forwards - the likes of Stacey Jones, Ruben Wiki, Matthew Ridge, Stephen Kearney, Gary Freeman, Jarrod McCracken, Dean Bell, Shane Cooper, Hugh McGahan.
This team has just Marshall as a truly threatening playmaker and it is too easy to close one man down. Manu Vatuvei is a great weapon but how often will he get the ball?
The Kiwis have played the Kangaroos 115 times for just 28 wins, a one-in-four record. Australia are eight-from-eight since they lost 24-0 in the 2005 Tri-Nations decider. It is impossible to see anything other than them that pushing on to nine on Saturday night.
Suncorp Stadium, 10pm Saturday
AUSTRALIA
Billy Slater
Joel Monaghan
Greg Inglis
Israel Folau
Brent Tate
Darren Lockyer (c)
J. Thurston
Petero Civoniceva
Cameron Smith
Steve Price
Glenn Stewart
Anthony Laffranchi
Paul Gallen
Interchange: Karmichael Hunt, Craig Fitzgibbon, Anthony Tupou, Brent Kite.
NEW ZEALAND
Lance Hohaia
Sam Perrett
Simon Mannering
Jerome Ropati
Manu Vatuvei
Benji Marshall
Nathan Fien
N. Cayless (c)
Thomas Leuluai
Adam Blair
Bronson Harrison
David Fa'alogo
Jeremy Smith
Interchange:: Issac Luke, Greg Eastwood, Sam Rapira, Sika Manu.