I've over in Sydney for tonight's Test and I can't wait to see how the boys go.

It's been a few weeks since the last Test and I'm sure the players will be champing at the bit to get on the paddock.

First up, I think Graham Henry has picked a pretty good team for the game.

Kieran Read's selection is a natural progression as far as I'm concerned. He's been playing really well, he's a very disciplined player and a very good lineout jumper.

He's probably a slightly better option than Rodney So'oialo at the lineout, so that gives us an extra jumper and we'll need that mix against the Aussies.

Rodney is still a little bit flat although he did pretty well the other night against the Bay of Plenty.

Hopefully he can make a big impact from the bench tonight and maybe that might be the role that Rodney plays from now on - a bit like how they used to use Sione Lauaki.

With Luke McAlister at second five you have two good kickers in the backline and that gives us plenty of options.

Ma'a Nonu doesn't kick a lot and when he's supposed to kick he probably doesn't.

He's more of a player than wants to play with the ball. Even Conrad Smith isn't a great kicker of the pill.

So having that extra kicking option does make a big difference. Okay, we lose Nonu's power but we're just going to have to turn around and be a good running side with a good kicking game rather than just bashing the ball up.

The Canterbury team at the moment is showing us that with small, nippy backs they can do a lot of penetrating in the modern game.

And I think Australia have gone that way as well with their backs.

All of the Aussie backline are good runners. They're not big but they're tricky on their feet, they've got good hand-eye coordination, vision skills and they kick well.

Robbie Deans is trying to breed a young set of players with a lot of good skills, so they're going to be playing more of a flamboyant game I think. They're fast and they can really mix it up a bit so it's shaping up to be a good game tonight.

There is one selection, though, that I find a bit strange.

Joe Rokocoko is extremely fortunate to be in the All Blacks at this stage. Okay, last week against Northland he scored two tries and did more work than he did a couple of weeks ago against South Africa, but I don't think it was enough to warrant selection.

And Joe's probably made more mistakes than Liam Messam made against the French and he got burned for his errors.

Liam didn't get a chance, but Joe's had quite a few. And I think that's quite sad. I think Graham has shown a few double standards with some of the players by giving the older guys the benefit of the doubt.

The key to winning the game tonight will, of course, be keeping hold of the ball but we also have to get dominance up front and get on the front foot.

We didn't get on the front foot at all against South Africa and we suffered from going backwards all the time.

If we end up on the back foot again we'll start throwing 50/50 passes and our game has just been very inaccurate in those areas.

I hope they've worked on their catching and passing game because it's the accuracy of those which have let us down big time.

I also believe we've looked a bit flat in our Tests this season.

I was talking to New Zealander Chris Boyd - who coaches with the Natal Sharks - at the weekend and he was saying the South Africans have no fear of the All Blacks any more. And I believe the Australians are similar.

And they don't fear us any more because we've become too soft.

We just play football. We're not the 'nasty' team that we used to be, like the uncompromsing All Black sides of the past.

We've had to curtail the really nasty side of the game but there's no reason we can't continue to out-physical a lot of these teams if we get on the front foot and start bashing a few of them at the rucks and the mauls.

I don't know why that's been lacking from our game. Is it because of the change in personnel?

Whatever it is, they've just got to find their form very quickly and ideally before the game tonight!

We know the players have the skills, but it's about much more than just showing it in training. It's about putting it out on the field under pressure and we haven't been able to do it consistantly this year.

If we look back to the Italian game earlier in the season, it was just diabolical considering the level of the All Blacks. And what's the difference between this team and the team that put 76 points on the Italians at the last World Cup?

I honestly believe someimes it is the attitude of just thinking we are going to win. They do play a lot of Test match football but they've got to bring their best game every time and not just expect to win.

They obviously don't go out there to lose, they try hard, but effort alone is not enough. They have to be accurate, non-compromsing and do the damage up front.

Another area that's been discussed this week is the Australians wanting to have a word with referee Johnathan Kaplan to try and ensure they get a 'fair-go' when it comes to scrum time.

I honestly don't mind coaches talking to the referees before the game. I think you've got to express what you would like to see from the man in the middle and ask questions on how he's going to referee and control certain areas.

For example, the scrum penalties in the Auckland Test were pretty pedantic rulings by the referee. When you've got almost a ton pushing against a ton you only have to be off a degree and it's going to go down.

But the referees don't seem to give any leeway for that. The scrum usually collapses on the contact and I think Australia have improved quite a bit in that area.

Their scrum against the South Africans was quite outstanding and I think it could well be a threat to us. They might even do the business on us!

I don't want that to be the case, but they've improved out of sight.

If the scrums do go down I just hope we don't get Kaplan being pedantic and just giving straight-arm penalties. I think we've got to give the players an opportunity.

And the fact is I just don't believe referees all know what goes on in the scrum!

Having said all that, I'm still picking the All Blacks to win.

But they've got to produce a very good performance tonight. I'm not worried about the game as such, I'm worried about the performance more than anything else.

The guys Graham has picked to win the game have got to stand up and show us they're All Blacks.

They haven't been showing that All Black brand that people in New Zealand know and love in recent games.

Hopefully we'll see a dramatic change in the way they play more than anything else, and a win would top that off nicely.

So what do you think? Has Graham Henry selected the right team for the job? And do you think the All Blacks will win?

I appreciate all your comments.