Three predictions for tonight's Four Nations final between the Kiwis and the Kangaroos at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
1. Forward battle crucial
The Kangaroos forwards have redemption in mind after they were thoroughly outplayed by the Kiwis big men in their tournament opener in Brisbane three weeks ago.
Australian propsAaron Woods, Josh Papalii, and interchange forward David Klemmer will be relied upon to get the Kangaroos on the front foot, while their back-row of Sam Thaiday, Greg Bird and Corey Parker will hope to work the ball out on the fringes of the ruck and link with their halves, Cooper Cronk and Daly Cherry-Evans.
If they can achieve this, the Kiwis outside backs are in for a busy night, especially down the vulnerable looking left side, where centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall and wing Manu Vatuvei can expect plenty of traffic to come their way.
The Kiwis are sure to apply plenty of pressure upon the Kangaroos' backline rookies, with centre Dylan Walker, who had an unhappy debut in the Suncorp Stadium defeat, and wingers Sione Mata'utia and Josh Mansour sure to come under heavy scrutiny.
The trio are all capable of hurting the Kiwis on attack but with just eight tests between them they are short on big match experience and remain susceptible to committing errors under pressure.
3. Kiwis execution needs to be spot-on
Since beating the Kangaroos in game one of the tournament the Kiwis' backs have failed to execute effectively in both matches against Samoa and England.
While they were able to engineer a late escape against the Pacific side and held on for a tense victory against England, the home team will need to be more accurate in tonight's contest.
Passes need to find their man, handling, fifth tackle kicks and running options must improve, and playmakers Shaun Johnson and Kieran Foran need to demonstrate greater patience when down inside the attacking zone.
