Gallen will play in final

Kangaroos assistant coach John Cartwright is confident that lock Paul Gallen will take his place in Saturday night's World Cup final against New Zealand.

The Sharks forward has been in doubt this week with a thigh injury, but Gold Coast Titans coach Cartwright said in Brisbane on Friday that Gallen is likely to come up for the Suncorp Stadium decider, with Anthony Watmough on standby if he doesn't.

"He'll run today (Friday), (we'll) see how he pulls up afterwards and then we'll make a decision on him later in the day but I think he's looking pretty good at this stage," Cartwright said.

"Probably Watmough will come in if Gall's out, he's had a bit of a light run earlier in the week Gall, I'd say he'll be ok at this stage but like we've done all tournament we're just going to use all precautions."

While Gallen is tipped to be fine, winger Brent Tate will miss the game with the injury he suffered in last week's semi-final against Fiji, scans on Thursday confirming he has a tear in his hip flexor.

With Manly's cult hero David Williams, known to most Sea Eagles fans as 'The Wolfman' because of the bushy beard he sported during the NRL season, replacing Tate in the team, Cartwright expects him to acquit himself well.

Williams was called on for the final pool game against Papua New Guinea and scored a hat-trick of tries to mark his international and representative debut but was then left out when the Kangaroos fielded a full-strength team against the Bati.

"He attacked that and there will be no reason for him to change," Cartwright added. "He's had a great year with the Sea Eagles and he's prepared all week like he's going to play so there'd be no problems there."