By Kevin Sinfield Great Britain international and BBC Sport Online columnist

It will be an unusual feeling taking on an Australian side without the legendary Brad Fittler.

He has been a permanent fixture for so long that it will be strange to see someone else leading the Kangaroos out at Stadium Australia on 12 July.

Andrew Johns seems to be the favourite to take over the captaincy but Gorden Tallis has his supporters as well.

Tallis flattened O'Connor with a flurry of punches

There aren't many players tougher than Tallis.

I remember him hitting Terry O'Connor with a flurry of punches in a World Club Championship match between Wigan and Brisbane in 1997.

Gorden is a player who you just can't help but respect.

There are others - and the Great Britain side will have their work cut out next week.

To play the world champions on their own patch is the ultimate challenge and I can't wait for the action to begin.

It's been a while since GB has been over there, so it looks like being a massive occasion.

A lot has been made of the fact that we won't have a warm-up game prior to the game in Sydney, but it's not something that concerns me.

The majority of the players in the 19-man squad were involved in the Ashes Series last year, so it will be a pretty settled set-up.

It looks a balanced squad on paper, with plenty of experience and its fair share of youth.

Pratt deserves his place in the 19-man squad

The young lads like Karl Pratt - my club-mate at Leeds - and Martin Gleeson fully deserve their place on the trip.

And I'm thrilled to be involved again.

There's a Super League game to negotiate before we make the trip down under and I just hope I don't get injured.

It's tempting to take your foot off the gas and avoid any big hits, but that's likely to backfire.

You have to go in with all guns blazing otherwise so you could end up paying for it.