 Thurston played in the two wins over New Zealand |
Australia have made five changes to the team which started the Tri-Nations defeat by Great Britain 10 days ago for Saturday's return clash in Brisbane. Centre Jamie Lyon has been replaced by Justin Hodges, and Johnathan Thurston comes in for Ben Hornby at half-back.
Prop Brent Kite and hooker Cameron Smith are promoted from the bench, while Andrew Ryan moves into the second row in place of suspended Willie Mason.
Mark Gasnier was named at centre despite concerns about a hip injury.
606 DEBATE: What do you think of these changes?
Prop Antonio Kaufusi is set to make his Test debut off the bench after withdrawing from the first game against Britain with a hamstring injury, while winger Matt King was not considered because of a calf problem.
 | If we keep turning over the amount of football we did in Sydney we won't win |
Victory for the Kangaroos will eliminate Britain and coach Ricky Stuart is confident they can make amends for their defeat in Sydney.
"It's one of our strongest teams. We've trained well over the last four days and I think we're gradually improving," he explained.
"We've looked at our attention to detail more at training. We've been a little bit more intense in that area - making sure that we finish off our sets of six.
"We've done a lot of repetitive training this week to try and get our attack a little bit more fluent and get the cohesion there.
"But if we keep turning over the amount of football we did in Sydney we won't win."
Australia: Karmichael Hunt, Brent Tate, Mark Gasnier, Justin Hodges, Greg Inglis, Darren Lockyer, captain, Johnathan Thurston, Brent Kite, Cameron Smith, Petero Civoniceva, Andrew Ryan, Nathan Hindmarsh, Luke O'Donnell.
Replacements: Shaun Berrigan, Anthony Tupou, Mark O'Meley, Antonio Kaufusi.
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