Kangaroo stars playing for their legacy in World Cup final Australia's five-year wait for redemption is almost here, as they take on current World Cup holders New Zealand in Sunday morning's final at Old Trafford. Australian captain Cameron Smith and New Zealand captain Simon Mannering with the Rugby League World Cup. KANGAROO captain Cameron Smith admits Australia's reputation as the world power of rugby league is on the line heading into the World Cup final blockbuster against the Kiwis at Old Trafford. While Australia boast some of the greatest players of all-time in this current squad, the fact is they have had their pants pulled down by the Kiwis at the 2008 World Cup and in the 2010 Four Nations final. New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney pointed out during the week that the Kiwis had only beaten the Kangaroos two times in the past five years _ but the magnitude of those victories wasn't lost on the Australian skipper. I was just thinking when Stephen was saying that they have only beaten us twice in the last five years. Those two games were big matches," Smith said. It was the World Cup final and the 2010 Four Nations final. Look, I think it doesn't matter what game you turn up to play in a Kangaroos jersey, I think there is always reputation at stake. If we win people will say that we have got the strongest side here _ and if we lose it is failure. So there is a lot of pressure on us and we know that. But we have a pretty high expectation of ourselves to go out and win. We know it is going to take a fair effort to do it, they are a very good side. A lot of people are talking about it at home that this is the best Kiwi side that they have seen. It is going to take a special effort by us to get a victory. This is likely to be 30-year-old Smith's last shot at World Cup glory and that goes for Johnathan Thurston (30), Cooper Cronk (29), Billy Slater (30), Paul Gallen (32), Corey Parker (31), Greg Bird (29) and Brent Tate (31). League historian David Middleton said it is the oldest Kangaroos team in history but if they win on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) they could also be remembered as arguably the best. League legend Arthur Summons said during the week that he would rate this current Australian side the equal of his champion team of 1963-64 that is rated the greatest touring Kangaroos of all-time. But while Smith understands the significance of tonight's match, he refuses to concede the result from one game will or should influence the legacy of some of Australia's greatest modern day champions. Corey Parker is enjoying the most significant year of his international career. He's starred at the World Cup and hopes it finishes with a win on Sunday. "For myself personally and I believe I can speak on behalf of most of the boys in the team or all the boys in the team, when our career comes to an end whenever that may be we are not going to look back and judge it off one match or one result," Smith said. We would like to think that we have done a fair few things over our career in multiple matches that people can look back on. But there is no doubt we'd love to win and the Kiwis boys would love to win as well but at the end of the 80 minutes there is only going to be one winner and hopefully that is us. I certainly haven't put a date on the last chance I will play in a World Cup. Hopefully this won't be the last. I think myself and the guys that you are alluding to, Gallen, Thurston, Billy, for us it is an opportunity to win a World Cup. We don't look at it as our last opportunity and we don't see it as a chance to make up for what happened in 2008 because nothing will make up for that. The New Zealand boys won that and they will always be the champions so we just want to go out there and play the very best we can for our football side and if that results in a win then that's great. If we play the very best we can as a team and it is not good enough then so be it. But I think that is the great thing about this football side, we don't go out there trying to build a reputation off one match or one result. We are out there to do the very best for that game for our country and that is the way we are approaching this match.