Cronulla and NSW captain Paul Gallen is not guaranteed of regaining his place in the Australian team for next month's trans-Tasman Test which may include the reuniting of former Canberra bad boys Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan.

With the annual mid-season Test against New Zealand just three weeks away, Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga is preparing to announce his first Australia team since taking over the job from Tim Sheens and is battling selection dilemmas over the make-up of the outside backs and the backrow.

Australian captain Cameron Smith is a certain selection at hooker, along with halves Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk, props Matt Scott and James Tamou and bench utility Michael Morgan.

Greg Inglis and Darius Boyd are also guaranteed to be in the team if fit but where they play will have a bearing on the rest of the Kangaroos backline and whether Meninga considers Parramatta winger Semi Radradra after he changed his allegiance from Fiji to Australia until after the 2017 World Cup final.