Wayne Smith | September 11, 2008

AUSTRALIA captain Stirling Mortlock has been unmasked as the man to shoulder the playmaking duties should five-eighth Matt Giteau be injured in Saturday's Tri-Nations decider against New Zealand.

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has been at pains to conceal the identity of his back-up five-eighth at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, teasingly deflecting media questions again this week.

"We have to have some intrigue," he said.

He certainly has that.

There is not a single player in the Wallabies 22 who has logged any meaningful game time at No.10, this going into a match in which one of the greatest five-eighths in history, Dan Carter, will direct operations for the All Blacks.

Peter Hynes was being touted as a possibility on the strength of two pre-season runs for Queensland, but the most charitable thing that could be said of his performances is that, as a five-eighth, he makes a world-class winger.

After that, the speculation started to veer comically towards the outer limits - half-backs Sam Cordingley and Brett Sheehan, full-back Adam Ashley-Cooper and even flanker George Smith, who has, admittedly, always fancied his kicking game.

On Wednesday, assistant coach Jim Williams playfully dropped the hint that "even" Mortlock could play at five-eighth, but subsequent investigation suggests that he was parading the truth in the guise of a joke.

Certainly Mortlock at No.10 is no crazier a solution than anything else on offer. If anyone has the versatility to adapt to a demanding and totally new position in the din of a Bledisloe battle, it surely would be the Wallabies captain.

Mortlock played his first eight Tests as a winger before switching to inside centre, where he earned two more caps in 2000, before being consigned to the wilderness for the next 18 months.

When he returned, it was again as a winger before, in his 18th Test, he finally made his first appearance at outside centre, marking the man who ultimately would emerge as his only rival for the title of "world's best 13", Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll.

Mortlock was promptly banished to the wing for the next Test against England and one Test later found himself at full-back against Italy on the final match of the 2002 spring tour. Only in 2003 did he finally drop anchor at outside centre, strayingÊonly when circumstances demanded he pinch-hit at inside centre, which is where he finds himself this week.

Even that modest positional switch is not without its difficulties, All Blacks outside centre Conrad Smith said.

"A lot of inexperienced guys struggle with it and outsides don't realise how much of a difference there is (between inside and outside centre), but a guy like Stirling, he's someone who can do it," Smith said.

Certainly the Wallabies' plans hinge heavily on Giteau not just going the distance on Saturday night but replicating his most recent performance at Suncorp Stadium, against France on July 5, when he set up all four tries in Australia's 40-10 victory, personally contributing half of that total.

It was easily his most impressive display at five-eighth and should have reinforced to the Wallabies forwards just what he is capable of doing if they can supply him with front-foot ball.

Conversely, there was nothing even a player of Giteau's consummate ability could do with the rubbish served up to him at Johannesburg a fortnight ago, when the Wallabies reached their lowest ebb - statistically at least.

The consensus on both sides of the Tasman is there is only one explanation for the radical form swings all three Tri-Nations side have experienced this series: attitude.

"If you turn up with your attitude not quite on that edge, it's so easy to come second,"ÊAll Blacks captain Richie McCaw said.

The WallabiesÊenter this Tri-Nations grand final with the most un-Australian stat imaginable. They have let in as many tries as they have scored this season: 21.

Even allowing for the fact that Deans has introduced a new defensive system, those are numbers to shame this team given that Australia have been the best defensive team in world rugby for a decade.

While it raises the obvious question of whether defence coach John Muggleton should have been let go, it raises far more disturbing queries about the Wallabies' mindset.

Certainly the Canterbury-based All Blacks, who know Deans far better than the Wallabies, are waiting in some trepidation for the Australian response

"He wouldn't have enjoyed that,"ÊCrusaders and All Blacks second-rower Brad Thorn said of the 53-8 loss to the Boks.

"I've heard people say they weren't committed, but the one thing I know about Robbie is that he wants to win every game. It would have been a huge wake-up call for them and they would have copped a lot of grief, so that makes them really, really dangerous."