The changes Australia must make for England clash

Exactly as NZ struggled they got cheap play the ball penalties to get out of their half and Australia's penalties were for obvious foul play (so hard to ignore) or cheap play the ball penalties as they attacked the NZ line to prevent a try to keep the score down . No wonder he gets all the games...

So Cummins is doing the Kiwis v Scotland where the Scots have to get closer than 30 points so that if England beat Australia (Cummins reserve ref even though Sutton is idle) then England are in the final. Hmm. The big C's game plan is always to give a cheap play the ball penalty to the team trailing on the scoreboard when they are struggling in their own 20 and if the team leading on the scoreboard is attacking the opposition goal line and threatening to score a try then give the attackers a penalty so they will go for goal and keep it a one score/2 score game. Predictable as paint.

Well, it will be interesting if it was through a thrilling match.

In a way, I agree. Australia have been the top nation for many a year now. In my view, however, they have been the best because they haven't really had any opposition. Yes, Great Britain/England and New Zealand jagged a win every now and then but ever since the decline of the English, Australia has had it relatively easy. But then the Auckland Warriors were admitted into the ARL and ever since then, New Zealanders have had a legitimate pathway towards rugby league professionalism. Since then, they have won half the titles on offer. New Zealand definitely have a lot more room for improvement. So do Australia, by the way, but it is interesting now that we have to nations essentially equal competing against each other regularly. All we need now is for England to properly join the party (which I believe they will) and well, we will see what we will see.

Hahhahahahahahahhhhahahahhaha... Nope never has been will be or forevermore there wont be a foreign born player in the Wallabies.. Both eleigibility rules are similiar

Ok, whatever you say kiwi. I don't know what's sadder; your comments or that you are actually still trying to convince people that you are an Aussie.

Simple - NZ RL picks heritage players eg Grandma born in NZ to make it even whereas the Wallabies don’t . You have to be a resident to qualify for the Wallabies ie we don’t pick a Wasps player for the Wallabies whose grandmother is Aussie born. Saying that – they imported a centre from NZ and he played for Qld reds but as his grandma was a Aussie he was rushed in to the Wallabies team but only one game – a tall goalkicking centre who name escapes me but he was the exception and he had to be playing in Australia.

........they continue to improve and gain territory on us, so two steps forward and one back JD.

NZ RL picks heritage players eg Grandma born in NZ to make it even whereas the Wallabies don't . You have to be a resident to qualify for the Wallabies ie we don't pick a Wasps player for the Wallabies whose grandmother is Aussie born. Saying that - they imported a centre from NZ and he played for Qld but as his grandma was a Aussie he was rushed in to the test team but only one game - a tall goalkicking centre who name escapes me but he was the exception and he had to be playing in Australia.

.......I still do. Look at how far they have come over the past 5 years or more while we have stood still comparatively speaking. if the Wallabies were half as competitive v the AB's as the Kiwis are in RL, I expect we would be singing their praises with gusto. NZ Rugby League, (with much largesse from Australia), has not yet reached its full potential yet it has arrived to be a threat to the supposed great Rugby league pedigree of Australia. That is concerning.

.....denial is sadly a very strong Australian trait which you again, display in spades here. I am an Ozzie to be sure, but the exception when it comes to burying my head in the ever deepening pit of bull dust.

........yet the code commands a niche profile only in NZ compared to Oz. No one seems to be able to answer why NZ is so competitive. An analogy may be our Union status compared with theirs which they also dominate and are expected to. NZ still only have around 5 mill population to draw on compared to our 23 or so mill. In this context, there are NO excuses for the Kangaroos and league in Australia in my opinion.

But the Nine commentators said it was terrific - the 50-50 decisions went NZ's way and the Aussie video ref was also keen to keep it entertaining as Cummins let 3 forward passes go in the last NZ raid before the final try....It wasn't boring just close as usual under the Big C

I would love to see Morgan play in the centres. He gets on the outside of opposition players with speed and can put a winger into space with ball in hand or kicks behind defenders. Agree with Jake Trbojevic. He is the best young back rower in the game and i'm laughing as a Queenslander he didn't play SOO instead of Gallon this year. Gillett is a starter for my team but Cordner can be explosive of the bench. Given the size of British pack Woods would be a starter. Ferguson looked good last game running outside Morgan with time and space and I wouldn't have had him in the side before last weekends game.

Republican did forecast that NZ was on the cusp of an era of world domination. However, their results over the past 12 months have not been impressive. This time last year they toured England an played a three test series, which they lost 2 - 1. They have actually played Australia three times this year and lost all three tests. Not an auspicious beginning to a new era of world domination.

Such sensible writing TB. I'm not sure why Morgan isn't used differently. If one of our starting halves are being targeted in defence, I would consider replacing them with Morgan, even for 10 mins. That would get him into the game in his most familiar position, change our style of attack, refresh the targeted half... I'm not certain it would work. Attack patterns etc might change...would change interrupt flow / control by starting halves...but it's a tactic NEVER used, and I'm not certain why

I agree wholeheartedly that Origin draws far too much energy though I don't think that the Australian players are not proud to wear the green and gold. My view is that the Kangaroos have had it relatively easy for so long playing against 'amateur opposition'. Once the Warriors were admitted into the Australian competition, a professional conduit became available for New Zealand players that wasn't really available before. The result since the professional era has seen the Kiwis win half the international tournaments on offer and achieve world number one ranking. No doubt that if Australia picks up its act, it can reconquer but then, so too can New Zealand.

Whilst I would love to see Australia make these changes and win the 4 nations, for the good of the game I hope they lose this one.

Population stats don't count, only the score at full time. The Australians have defeated the Kiwis twice so far this year pretty easily so don't really know where you are coming from. Overrated with Smith, Cronk, Thurston and Boyd, to name a few, in the team? Aren't you the guy who predicted a long period of total Kiwi dominance would start this year? Two losses to Australia and a one point win against England so far I see. Is that the total dominance you predicted?

It has to be succeas through a thrilling match. I do somewhat agree with Epi, Australia is just turning up and grinding out a win. Although the commentators being in Australia dont help at all.