One eye will be looking off into the distance where the Four Nations final sits, awaiting a few of its friends to come join it on park bench near Anfield when the Kiwis and Kangaroos do battle this weekend. Maybe not one eye, just a slither of a gaze from either camp as both teams will be eager to land a few body blows and of course, in sport you never know what can happen with the prospect of England upsetting Australia still possible.

After beating England, Aotearoa edge ahead and assuming that England beat Scotland, England's only hope of making the final will be in beating Australia, or sending a prayer up to Jah that Scotland can beat Aotearoa. I mean, Mal Meninga hasn't selected Cooper Cronk and David Kidwell has opted to roll with Gerard Beale on the wing in place of Jason Nightingale while Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will sit out with Greg Eastwood coming on to the bench; two changes to the Kiwis squad forced by niggling injuries, the sort of injuries that Nightingale and Waerea-Hargreave would probably battle through to play in a final.

Beale's selection is interesting as it's hard to fathom that he is a better winger than Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Watene-Zelezniak's absence since Kidwell took over has puzzled me somewhat. I just prefer Watene-Zelezniak to Beale but hey, Beale hasn't done anything wrong this season in doing whatever Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan asked of him. 

Where Eastwood plays will also be low key interesting as he featured on the edge for the Bulldogs this season where his skills and footwork was very difficult to stop. Adam Blair will start and along with Jason Taumalolo, they can play big minutes in the middle of the field while Jesse Bromwich will also play more than 40 minutes. Last week against England, Taumalolo played 77 minutes in a boom-bastic display of grunt through the middle and given must-win nature of that game and that there's a high chance that we'll see Kiwis vs Kangaroos part three in the final, I'd suggest that Taumalolo may enjoy a longer stint on the sidelines. 

That should allow Eastwood to get a nice chunk of minutes along with Martin Taupau and we've seen Kidwell bring Manu Ma'u, pushing Tohu Harris into the middle. Eastwood will need to bring as much energy as Blair did against England, with Blair also required to bump around enthusiastically as the work-horse as a starter. 

Last week saw the Kiwis get back to their blueprint which involves quick-footed forwards and backs plowing through the middle. We weren't treated to this in Perth and while there's a chance that Kidwell doesn't quite show all his tricks, the Kiwis will be eager to rectify what went down in Perth and dominate the Kangaroos forward pack.

Matt Scott, Aaron Woods, Trent Merrin, David Klemmer and Shannon Boyd have been named to play through the middle for the Kangaroos as part of a 19-man squad while Boyd Cordner, Matt Gillett and Sam Thaiday are the edge forwards named. There's no weakness in either forward pack, although the lack of speed and power in the Kangaroos forward pack could play into the hands of the Kiwis. Taumalolo and Taupau will be crucial here as they will look to use their speed around the ruck, making big metres, sucking defenders in and playing the ball quickly which will see Issac Luke come into his own. 

A few jokers have talked about the need for the Kiwis to throw the footy around and that makes a bit of sense to an extent. The Kangaroos will be happy for the Kiwis to play sideways and will look to push the Kiwis out wide where Greg Inglis and Justin O'Neil - who had some epic low key defensive plays in Origin - will be waiting. Offloads will be great and we saw last week how effective an offload can be as Ma'u slid a ball to Jordan Rapana to score, the Kiwis strength though is up the guts and it's so much more than the standard cliche.

This Kiwis team has freaks who are massive blokes with speed and footwork, which when combined with the speed of Luke and then Shaun Johnson gives them their niche. Options and varied attacking points will definitely help the Kiwis pose a threat; speed of play through the middle will determine how successful the Kiwis will be. 

I'm just more interested to see how each team plays as they'll be looking to walk the fine line of building on last week and not laying all their cards on the table. I do know that the Kiwis will be keen to provide the same whack and intensity in defence as they did against England, a ploy that will help them counter Australia's play-making advantage.