Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga confirmed he would pick the brains of his Panthers players for as much intel as possible on the premiership-winning players littered through Samoa's ranks.
Australia are the only team standing in the way of a historic and monumental World Cup result for the pacific nation, and Meninga believes that his team will benefit from some insider knowledge more than their opponents.
โWe'll pick brains. Initially it's about recovering and getting themselves ready for the battle that's coming on Saturday,โ Meninga told SENQ.
โThen we'll make sure we look at how we can improve our game from the team's point of view. As the week goes on, we'll look at Samoa and how well they're going, and what are their strengths.โ
With both sides consisting of a number of players who play together in NRL clubland and on the Origin stage, Meninga offered some advice for his troops after facing a number of teammates in his own storied international career.
โThey're just faces, it's a jersey. I put a Maroons jersey on, I played against Laurie Daley (Raiders teammate).
โI don't see Laurie, I see a Blue jersey โ and after the game we'll shake hands and congratulate each other.
โYou don't see faces, you see jerseys. You see Jarome Luai trying to go off his left foot to go in the middle of the forward pack. There's Isaah Yeo โ he won't identify that it's Jarome Luai, he'll identify a Samoan player he needs to tackle.โ
Meninga also confirmed he would make no technical changes to the team that faced New Zealand in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm premiership winner and Kangaroos and Origin legend Glenn Lazarus has claimed that Toa Samoa have โno chance' of taking their historic Rugby League World Cup run a step further and claiming the title against Australia next weekend.
Lazarus โ a former teammate of Meninga's ย told SENQ Breakfast that while he admired the passion of the island nation and their stars, the fairytale run was doomed to end at the hands of the Kangaroos.
โSamoa will be absolutely desperate to win it,โ Lazarus said.
โI don't think that they will beat Australia. I don't think their defence is good enough.
โIt's great that they made the final and England will be ruing the opportunity. I think it will be a great game but I do think Australia will win.โ
The game kicks off at 3am on Sunday morning (AEDT).
