Kangaroos' warning for England

Australian captain Cameron Smith has warned England the Kangaroos won't play so badly again in Sunday's For Nations rugby league clash.

Australia's Captain Cameron Smith

Australian captain Cameron Smith has warned England the Kangaroos won't play badly again on Sunday. (AAP)

Kangaroos skipper Cameron Smith says England will feel Australia are ripe for the picking in the Four Nations rugby league tournament.

But he has a warning for them.

Australia's title hopes go on the line against England at Melbourne's AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon in the wake of their 30-12 defeat by New Zealand in their opening game.

England may feel the under-strength and new-look Kangaroos are vulnerable but Smith is confident they won't play as poorly again.

"There's a lot more left in the side, which is a positive," Smith said in Melbourne on Monday.

"I don't think you're going to see another performance like that from the Kangaroos.

"I don't think I've played in a tournament where we've played back-to-back games of that standard."

Playmaker Daly Cherry-Evans is rated long odds of playing after suffering a hip muscle tear which forced him to miss the second half of the Brisbane game.

Game-breaking fullback Greg Inglis, who succumbed to a virus mid-match, is also being monitored.

Smith said that even if Cherry-Evans did play, young Brisbane half Ben Hunt was set for a call-up to the bench, perhaps at the expense of reserve hooker Robbie Farah.

"Even if he (Cherry-Evans) was to get up and play I dare say that Tim (coach Tim Sheens) would be thinking of a utility spot for Ben.

"We were left short of a half on the weekend.

"Robbie Farah came on but his specialist position is dummy half ... this might be Ben Hunt's chance to show everyone what he's got."

Australia will spend the week focused on improving their defence, which will be key to bringing down the big Englishmen.

They also need to improve some very patchy ball control.

England opened the tournament with a hard-fought 32-26 win over Samoa but Smith said they would be better for the hit-out.

"We don't like living in the past but the way we won the World Cup last year was a great defensive effort in all the matches we played and that just wasn't there against the Kiwis so that needs to be improved a fair amount."

Smith admitted there could have been some early complacency after the opening Beau Scott try.

"I'd like to think it wasn't complacency because we scored a try in the first five minutes but there won't be any of that this week because it's do or die for us."


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