IT’S been a long time between drinks but we will have an Australia v England World Cup final.

Mal Meninga v Wayne Bennett, and a whole host of positional battles on the field.

Here’s my verdict from the semi final weekend.

LIKES

Valentine Holmes: A simply extraordinary achievement. Five tries in the quarter finals followed by six in the semi. Never seen the likes of it before … and maybe never will again.

Cameron Smith: No arguments from me on the Kangaroos skipper being named man of the match against Fiji despite Holmes’ amazing try haul.

And so the fantastic year for 34-year-old Smith continues.

If he was to win man of the match and lead Australia to victory in the Cup final, I think we would have a version of a rugby league ‘grand slam.’

Wayne Bennett: Give credit to the master coach. He has achieved the first part of what he was appointed to do.

England looks a formidable opponent for Australia. What have they got to lose? Bennett will love playing the underdog card.

My concern is they have a plan ‘A’ and that will be to try and grind away with relentless forward charges. But do they have a plan ‘B’ if they fall behind on the scoreboard? Australia’s defence might prove just too good.

The Tongan crowd: What a fantastic image to see Mount Smart Stadium a sea of red on Saturday.

Then the atmosphere the fans provided throughout the contest made it a memorable afternoon.

In a country known for earthquakes and tremors, there is a chance one may have been triggered had Tonga got up in the final seconds.

An Australia v New Zealand womens final: It was never going to be anything but in the women’s World Cup, so bring on the next instalment.

Both teams have stormed through the pool games.

Potentially we could have the biggest moment for women’s rugby league of all time.

DISLIKES

The criticism of Matt Cecchin: I thought his call was spot on of the dropped ball by Andrew Fifita in the final seconds against England.

I think the reaction to his call proved what hypocrites many league fans have become.

All year I take on board complaints that: “The refs aren’t decisive enough. Why do they go to the video referee so much? We only need one referee.”

Well, you can’t have it all ways. We should be applauding Cecchin for making his call in such a pressure cooker moment. It’s the sort of refereeing I’d rather see.

Fiji’s record against Australia: It’s about as emphatic as it gets when you look at scorelines from the last three World Cups in matches between the two nations.

After Friday night’s semi final in Brisbane, Australia has now outscored Fiji in their last four clashes by a whopping 206 points to eight.

Josh Hodgson injury doubt: Because these Australia v England games are so rare these days, when they do go head to head, I want the strongest possible sides to take the field.

It’ll be a bitter disappointment if Josh Hodgson doesn’t overcome his knee injury for the Cup final.

New South Wales Origin selection talk: Congratulations to Freddy Fittler on his appointment as Blues coach.

I consider it a great decision and look forward to seeing what he brings to the series in 2018. But I can wait.

Please can we put on hold selection debate for the New South Wales side?

Let’s just say, every eligible Blues player are in contention at the moment, and their form will be assessed next season. Full stop.

There’s only one game to go: What are we meant to do this time next week? So what if it’ll be summer. Don’t let the season end. We want more league! We want more league!

Bring on the final!

Twitter: @AndrewVossy