Daly Cherry-Evans is suddenly the only 30-year-old left in the Kangaroos team with Greg Inglis' retirement at the start of the year completing the biggest star exodus the national team has seen in decades.

The two-year march towards the World Cup starts in Wollongong on Friday night when five players debut for Australia against New Zealand.

The average age of Mal Meninga's Baby Roos is only 25, a huge shift away from the experience that underpinned the team just two years ago when thirty-somethings Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater all featured in the World Cup final.

Like Cherry-Evans, Meninga was the only player in his 30s during his final campaign for the Kangaroos in 1994.