When coach Mal Meninga named North Queensland's Morgan at pivot for Friday night's opening quarter-final against Samoa at Darwin's TIO Stadium, he made it clear the 25-year-old had seen off the challenges of James Maloney and Cameron Munster during the pool matches.

"If we get a good result on Friday, it will be hard to go beyond the 17," Meninga said. "I'm pretty well settled on my top 13, but we'll have a look at our bench as we progress through the tournament, hopefully."

That means Morgan replaces the injured Johnathan Thurston at club and international level - a situation that may not have been seen in an Australian team since the 1982 Kangaroos took away Manly's first and reserve-grade hookers, Max Krilich and Ray Brown.

But while Meninga picked the team and Morgan played well enough in the finals to get into it, Morgan has spoken about how it was the widening influence of Cronk that played a profound role in this chain of events.

Cronk took Morgan aside when they were in camp for the Anzac Test in Canberra and told him what he was doing wrong. Immediately, Morgan returned to 1300SMILES Stadium and asked coach Paul Green to give him more responsibility.

"The chat with Cooper was, I guess, simplifying a few things and making it clearer to myself," said Morgan, who is bracing for having to tackle Frank Pritchard more than a few times on Friday night.

"It was, at that stage, a lack of confidence more than anything. He just made it clear I was in that team for a reason and put it pretty simply for me.

"It was that, and I just tried to take it forward and do my best with what he was trying to put across."

Morgan has spoken about Cronk's pep talk before, but he is now seeing the benefits of it as he becomes Thurston's full-time deputy, starting on Friday. When Thurston retires, Morgan will have first dibs on a jersey worn by one of the greatest players in history.

Does Morgan now feel like a leader at Test level as well?

"I am, but at the same time, the guys that are in this team are the more dominant guys in their club as well," he said. "There's never a lack of talk or communication on the field because everyone wants the ball and wants to be given an opportunity with the ball to do what they can do.

"Again, it's my job and my role to be more dominant and direct with what I'm doing. I do feel more comfortable doing it, yes, that's for sure. Given the way this season went for me.

"Being in the starting side, I have to be comfortable."

Both teams will wrap up their preparations on Thursday, with Darwin getting behind the event and a decent crowd of more than 14,000 expected.

The Australians would appear to have a tougher road to retaining the World Cup, with the team they have played in the past three finals, New Zealand, switching to their side of the draw following the historic loss to Tonga on the weekend.

"That's just part of the deal," Meninga said. "If New Zealand play to their potential, it's more than likely going to be New Zealand in a semi-final.

"That's a great semi-final battle at Suncorp. I think everyone would have predicted us being the two finalists, but that's how it's panned out and I'm sure England and Tonga would be pretty happy with that."