KEY POINTS:
To mangle further the catchphrase of United States presidential hopeful Barack Obama, it takes a fairly audacious chunk of hope to believe the Kiwis have any chance of winning tonight's Anzac Test.
The brief and unspectacular history of the event suggests the only real question regarding tonight's game is by how many points the Kangaroos will win.
Of the eight previous matches billed as Anzac tests (only the first Superleague-inspired encounter was actually played on Anzac Day), the Kiwis have won one and lost seven. The combined score from the eight contests is 271-98 in favour of the Kangaroos.
The New Zealanders' lone victory came on the one occasion the match was held in New Zealand, a 22-16 victory at North Harbour Stadium in 1998. At that point the ledger was 1-1 and there was a genuine prospect the event could develop into a meaningful annual contest.
But since then sporting decency has been sacrificed on the altar of the almighty dollar.
The match has never been about two proud countries honouring a long-standing rivalry at a time of year that inspires patriotism and spirit of brotherhood in equal measure. This game is about cashing in, plain and simple.
Playing the match every Anzac Day is a no-go because it conflicts with the NRL schedule and, besides, it wouldn't generate as much money as a regular Friday night slot. Playing the game in New Zealand ensures it won't make any money at all. So both are out.
For the last three years, the game has been played in Brisbane, where it has pulled the biggest crowds and where the Kiwis, devoid of many of their stars and denied anything like sufficient preparation time, have been routinely massacred. There has been a bit of sop to tradition this year with the match shifted back to league headquarters in Sydney, but that will hardly help the Kiwis.
The NZRL's reward for stumping up the Kiwis for an annual flogging has been a split of the proceeds from a commercially successful event.
During Graham Lowe's brief tenure as the NZRL's football manager, he decreed that this would be the last year that would happen. But given the regime change at NZRL headquarters and the parlous state of the organisation's finances, don't bet on it.
Despite the insurmountable challenges facing the Kiwis, hope springs eternal that this may be the year they kick sand in the face of harsh reality.
This year is no different, and there are some - albeit minuscule - reasons for optimism. For starters, the Aussie administration actually want the Kiwis to win, or at least come very close.
If the Kiwis continue to be the international embarrassment they were last year, the forthcoming World Cup looms as a disaster.
To that end, the Aussies have provided a coach and cash and even stepped in to help ensure our Australian fullback made the trip from Leeds. But if they really wanted to help they should have told their selectors to leave out Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, Mark Gasnier and Israel Folau, to name but five.
To counter that lot, the Kiwis have playmaker Thomas Leuluai getting off a plane from England little more than 48 hours before match day.
Where there's life there's hope, and all that. In reality, however, the best we can hope for is that the Kiwis play with the pride and fire in the belly that was conspicuously absent last year.
That, at least, would be a win of sorts.
* WHY THE KIWIS CAN WIN
1: WAYNE BENNETT
The Kiwis haven't just got a coach, they've got a supercoach coaching their coach. Maybe the Bennett factor can provide a difference. Then again, Bennett coached the Kangaroos when the Kiwis beat them in the 2005 Tri-Nations. Bluey McClennan coached the Kiwis then and the last time he led the team in an Anzac Test they lost 50-12. So where does that leave Bennett?
2: SONNY BILL WILLIAMS
Injury-free at last, the game's best ball-playing back rower has what it takes to unlock the Kangaroos' usually impregnable defence. But the Aussies haven't scored less than 30 in the last five Anzac Tests while the Kiwis haven't scored more than 12. Is any player that good?
3: PHIL GOULD
The outspoken former coach just may have gotten under Ricky Stuart's skin, with the pair trading insults in their respective newspaper columns. Has Stuart taken his eye off the ball? And is there any substance to Gould's claim that Stuart can't coach halfbacks? Then again, how much coaching does Johnathan Thurston really require?
4: THE FIX IS IN
If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, did it really make a noise? And if a champion team thrashes a rubbish team and there is nobody there to watch it, are they really champions? If only to justify their existence the Aussies need a Kiwis win even more than the Kiwis do, so both sets of administrators are working towards the same aim. Maybe the Aussies will chuck this match in the interests of the international game.
