Saturday, 18 November 2017: The Kangaroos are likely to stick with the same 17 that beat Samoa in their quarter-final for next week's semi-final in Brisbane.

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga is unlikely to make any changes to his team for next week's Rugby League World Cup semi-final after being impressed by his bench against Samoa.

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Australia are just 80 minutes away from advancing to their 14th straight World Cup final after thrashing Samoa 46-0 in their final-eight clash on Friday.

Meninga challenged his bench to perform in the Darwin Test, and the four substitutes all responded with solid outputs in humid conditions.

Rookies Jordan McLean and Reagan Campbell-Gillard both cracked the 100-metre mark.

"I thought the bench gave really good impact to the team when they come on. I was very pleased with their efforts," Meninga said post-match.

Meninga's comments mean squad players James Maloney, Cameron Munster, Felise Kaufusi, Tom Trbojevic, Josh Mansour and Ben Hunt will find it tough to break into the 17.

"It could possibly (change), but we'll assess it in the next few days. I think the bench is really important in the modern game. We'll make sure we pick our best 17 again," Meninga said.

The undefeated Kangaroos coach also insisted recovery would be key ahead of a semi-final against the winner of the quarter-final between New Zealand and Fiji.

Australia fly to Brisbane on Sunday afternoon.

"One of the more difficult things for us is around recovery, considering the conditions this week. We need to do a really good job on the players around getting them fresh to tackling whoever we play next Friday," Meninga said.

"I still think we've got some more improvement in us, certainly with the footy. I couldn't have asked for much more defensively."

While delighted with his team's defence, Meninga credited their improved ball handling for what was arguably their best attacking performance of the tournament.

The Kangaroos led 30-0 at halftime against Samoa.

"I just wanted us to complete, get to the end of the sets. We talked about it all week," he said.

"In these conditions, we had to do that and we did, and put the Samoa side under a fair bit of pressure and made a few errors from their own end. We capitalised on all that effort we put in."