Australia v New Zealand (Sat)

Australia are red-hot favourites to be crowned world champions for the 10th time in Saturday's World Cup final against New Zealand.

The Kangaroos have won the last six tournaments, and bookmakers make them 10-1 on favourites to continue their dominance of the event.

Prop Steve Price has been ruled out by injury, while David Williams starts in place of Brent Tate on the wing.

New Zealand are unchanged from the side which beat England in the semi-final.

Australia - who have won their four games by huge margins, scoring 180 points and conceding just 16 - opened their campaign with a comprehensive 30-6 win over the Kiwis in the group stages.

But experienced hooker Cameron Smith said the result would have little impact on Saturday's match in the Suncorp Stadium.

"Although we've beaten them once in this tournament already, it's going to be a totally different story on Saturday," added Smith.

"As soon as we finished the game against Fiji, we spoke about putting all the past games behind us. They won't really mean much this week.

"Obviously we probably would have liked a close, tough game leading into the final but that's the way our draw happened to go.

"There's been some big scorelines but we think our preparation has been pretty good."

Brisbane has been hit by severe storms this week, the worst Queensland has seen in more than 20 years, with major damage caused by high winds and torrential rain.

"This is a major venue that is used to accommodating large crowds in all conditions - we have every confidence in their procedure," said World Cup tournament director Colin Love.

The conditions could be a major factor in the game, and Australia assistant coach John Cartwright admitted the weather could play into New Zealand's hands.

"If we get storms like we did last night, it's a big evener," he said.

"The side who handles the conditions the best generally wins the games in those situations.

"It's not necessarily the best side on paper or who prepares best, it's who handles the conditions on the night."

Australia will have to handle those conditions without Price after the veteran prop tore his left calf muscle at the team's final training session.

The Kangaroos are expected to promote Manly prop Brent Kite into the starting line-up to replace the 33-year-old, but there are question marks over whether Josh Perry will be fit enough to come in on the bench.

If Perry's shoulder injury does keep him out, Australia would have to go into the game without a specialist prop among their replacements - a dangerous situation against such an intensely physical team as New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Tate's place went to Williams, who scored a hat-trick on his Test debut against Papua New Guinea.

New Zealand captain Nathan Cayless and Sika Manu were both free cleared to play after escaping with cautions over high tackles.

Cayless said his team would have to produce the performance of their lives to secure a shock victory.

"Australia have been outstanding. Some of the football they've played has been exciting," he said.

"Their halves are playing well, Billy Slater is on fire and their forwards are going forward. There are no real areas in their game that we can identify as a weakness. A lot of players are on top of their game.

"We will need to have 17 players playing to the best of their ability. We can't afford to have two or three who are not at their best."

Kiwi coach Stephen Kearney has decided to keep Thomas Leuluai at hooker, after switching him there from scrum-half for the semi-final, with Nathan Fien continuing in the number seven jersey.

Kearney said his players would have a healthy amount of respect for Australia, but would not be overawed by the occasion.

"The Kangaroos have some wonderful players and they've played some fantastic football during the tournament so far," said Kearney.

"While we know we'll need to be a lot better against Australia, we're excited with the opportunity we have. We don't want to have any regrets on Saturday night."