Rugby League World Cup Final 2008

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP FINAL
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Date: Saturday, 22 November Kick-off: 0900 GMT Coverage: Live on Sky Sports and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra; live text commentary on BBC Sport website; highlights on BBC Sport website, BBC One 1330-1430 GMT and Red Button

By Justin Morgan Hull KR coach and BBC analyst in Australia

One thing you can usually rely on from an Australian team, whatever the sport, is mental strength.

Being big favourites - as the Kangaroos will be when they face New Zealand in the World Cup final on Saturday - is not an issue. There is no danger of that affecting them.

Slater has been one of Australia's stars at the World Cup

Australians tend to thrive on the pressure of being expected to win and it is one of the reasons why Ricky Stuart's team are the best in the world.

Two of their players have stood out for me at this tournament: the new kid on the block and the old stager.

The 25-year-old Billy Slater has been outstanding at full-back. His attacking prowess has been known for some time, but his defensive efforts at the World Cup and for the Melbourne Storm all season have been brilliant.

At the other end of his career, captain and stand-off Darren Lockyer has stood the test of time and is still one of the greatest players in the world at 31.

Australia have shown at this World Cup they are far superior to the rest of the world. They are just so much faster than every other team and have such a potent backline they can damage sides from anywhere on the field.

However, we are talking about the World Cup final and anything is possible.

New Zealand have nothing to lose

You cannot write off the Kiwis but a lot of things are going to have to go right for them to win, including the bounce of the ball and the refereeing decisions.

Their strength is the physical way they play the game. It was evident in the first 50 minutes against England when they got lots of numbers in the tackle.

Whether they can do that for 80 minutes against Australia is another thing, but that will be the tactic they are likely to use.

The entire New Zealand team are going to have to play well if they are to win, but they particularly need the two props Adam Blair and Nathan Cayless and scrum-half Nathan Fien to shine.

Fien can kick well and direct the team, he has some good outside backs with the artillery to cause problems.

New Zealand have nothing to lose. In the first 20 minutes they need to play with passion - which they generally do - and if they can get on top that might frustrate the Australians.

The Kiwis have had two tough games and the Aussies two easy ones, so if Stephen Kearney's team can put some pressure on early then they might get on top in the last 20 minutes of the game.

606: DEBATE How do you expect Saturday's final to go?

Hopefully the Kiwis will put on a good show and it will be a close game. It will not be good for the competition if it is over by half-time, although as a rugby league fan I could still enjoy it if it meant seeing a faultless display by Australia.

But for people new to the game it is not necessarily what they want to see.

If you take the Aussies out of the competition it has been a close tournament for everyone and there have been some really good games. But everyone is playing catch-up to Australia.

I am a huge fan of international rugby league and we need to play more games.

Club rugby provides the money and the wages for players, but if we want rugby league to evolve we need to look at the world game.

But in the meantime I am going for a 24-12 victory to Australia on Saturday.

Justin Morgan was talking to BBC Sport's Andrew McKenzie