Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters is expecting to stick with the same team that defeat Samoa for Sunday’s Rugby League World Cup final against New Zealand.
After chopping and changing his line-up for the first three matches, Walters found the right formula in the semi-final as the Aussies produced their best performance in the 44-12 victory.
Walters is set to officially announce his squad on Tuesday afternoon, but isn’t expecting any changes unless there is a fresh injury.
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“Yeah (same team), unless there’s anything that pops up in the next couple of days,” Walters said on The Agenda Setters on Monday night.
“Certainly I feel like that was our best performance and those guys that were given the opportunity put their hand up to take it.
“It’s a long week and lots of things can happen, but I’d say we’ll be sticking pretty tight to that same 19 players that took part in the game on Sunday.”
It means the team will looking slightly different to one that defeated New Zealand 24-22 in the opening game of the tournament.
Latrell Mitchell, who started that game, will be relegated to the reserves to allow Bradman Best to continue alongside Kotoni Staggs in the centres.
And Keaon Koloamatangi, who was promoted to the starting line-up against Samoa in what Walters described as a “little switch”, will likely hold that role with Pat Carrigan to come off the bench.
Australia’s forward pack have copped a lot of criticism this tournament, but Walters wasn’t having any of it.
“It’s tough in the middle and Corey and Woodsy will vouch for this in international league and particularly at elite levels, it’s hard going through the middle and you can’t always win the middle all the time,” he said.
“I feel like our guys have been really trying hard to win that middle of the ruck at different stages throughout the game and getting that consistency and last night I thought they really showed their true colours.
“The little switch, I think it was just an energy thing and just to give players a different role and a different mindset.
“Keaon is used to starting in the middle, in the front row in club land so I feel like he’s been doing that well all season for Souths and Patty Carrigan, well he’s a great player Patty and I’ve got so much respect for him, so I felt like a little swap there in consultation with our leaders to make that little switch and it was one that worked really well for us.
“Keon got us off to a great start, him and Tino. I thought Tino was the best middle forward on the field the other night and then Patty off the bench along with Cameron Murray just added that little bit of spark and that little bit of difference so it worked really well for us last night, that’s for sure.”
Walters was also full of praise for Reece Walsh after the superstar fullback produced another dazzling performance.
