League: Player profile - Darren Lockyer

Darren Lockyer

The clash that decides tonight's test may well be the one in the halves between rookie Benji Marshall and Australia's test-hardened captain Darren Lockyer.

It's not one the 28-year-old from Roma in Queensland is taking lightly.

"He's young and he's got a good step on him - he's going to be out to show me up," Lockyer said of his opponent from the Wests Tigers.

Lockyer will be running the same backline the Kangaroos used in the Tri-Nations final in which they slew Great Britain last year.

The Australians are taking some heart from that fact and hoping the combinations work as well in that game, where fullback Anthony Minichiello carved up the Lions after running around on Lockyer's shoulder waiting for breaks.

Marshall's injection would not alter his approach, he said.

"My game doesn't change, I don't think anyone's game changes."

The Kangaroos leader expects "a very physical contest" given the size of the Kiwis and the impact many of them are making in the NRL.

In training this week defence has been a focus for them, working to prevent off-loads and to block the holes support runners would try to use.

"It [defence] is three-quarters of the way to winning, I believe."

Lockyer agreed that in he and Brett Kimmorley the Australians had a field-kicking advantage but they will not take anything for granted, he said.

"Brett is a first-class kicker but we will not be relying on him to win the game for us. I remember all this talk coming up before the test at North Harbour in October last year and it finished in a draw. We won't be relying on Brett's kicking to get us points."

All week in training Lockyer and coach Wayne Bennett have been in each other's pockets, walking the fields together in discussion prior to, during and after trainings.

That key understanding, carried over from the Broncos, is no doubt a huge plus for the Kangaroos. Lockyer knows what Bennett wants and how to deliver it.

The Kangaroos' sessions have been shorter and less intensive than those run by Kiwis coach Daniel Anderson.

Anderson sees containment of the Australians' kicking game as a key to victory and has impressed on his side the need to get off their line fast in defence.

* Of 600 players registered in the S.G. Ball (under-16s) and Jersey Flegg (under-18s) competitions which are feeders to the NRL clubs, about 100 are eligible for New Zealand.