Canadian ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky isn't a noted rugby fan, but some of his insight about the game he played could well apply to the red-hot All Blacks.

According to Gretzky, "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

In the first two Tri-Nations tests, New Zealand, as a collective, were great players and South Africa good.

Playing with a unity of purpose and vision, the All Blacks dominated the games because they knew what they were going to do with the ball -- if not with every play, over the course of a string of phases.

With a clear priority to keep the ball in hand, they played at supreme pace, while ensuring the ball carrier always had support and the playmakers had multiple distribution options. There was glorious structure in their apparent attacking frenzy as they repeatedly found a way to put themselves in the right place at the right time.

In defence, they also knew ahead of time, in a sense, where the ball would end up because South Africa were generally so predictable -- inevitably Richie McCaw was the first to the breakdown, or suddenly the plodding South African ruck would be swarmed with Kiwi counter ruckers. Trying to attack and going nowhere fast, the frustrated Springboks would kick, chase and hope, doing exactly what the splendid counter-attacking All Black back three expected them to do.

When Australia dusted the tired and clearly fragmented Boks last week, there were flashes of the same sort of great play. Quade Cooper only kicked once the entire game and the Wallaby backrowers - secure in the knowledge of how the Saffers would play - were all over the breakdown.

The 30-13 victory was particularly impressive because it's not as if the South Africans were in any doubt about how the Wallabies would approach the game in light of the All Blacks' success the previous weeks.

So when the trans-Tasman rivals face off on the controversial Etihad Stadium surface in Melbourne this weekend in the first Bledisloe Cup game of the the year, how will greatness be achieved or thwarted?

It would seem self-defeating for either team to go back into their shell, but without the hulking, angry Boks as the opposition, adjustments need to be made, running rugby ambitions tweaked.

Additionally Australia will be without their most influential player, Cooper, through suspension. His replacement Berrick Barnes is a fine rugby thinker (and will start at 12 rather than 10), but often it seems his first instinct, especially on his own side of halfway, is to kick.

Not that kicking won't have a role in this match for Australia. Attacking kicks can be a useful weapon especially if they are a mixed bag of grubbers, short stabs and hoofs into space, enthusiastically chased down by a posse of players with prior knowledge of the ploy.

New Zealand, too, are likely to try and put the ball in behind the opposition with the boot because, unlike the Boks, the Wallabies think on their feet and have the ability to plan a couple of phases ahead.

And the Australian lineout is not as intimidating as the Boks, so the comfort of finding touch will be in the back of Dan Carter's mind more in this match than against the Saffers.

Regardless, keeping the ball in hand will be of paramount importance as will be avoiding predictable, static attack - a disappointing feature that occasionally creeps into the Wallabies play, particularly in later stages of Test matches in recent years.

Even against South Africa last week they went into their shells, stumbling around around pointlessly for a period in the second half, helping to hand the momentum to the Springboks who threatened to come back with a late flurry before a soft Will Genia try snuffed things out.

By contrast, the All Blacks' intensity throughout the entirety of the two tests against the Springboks has been awe-inspiring and, indeed, they have developed a winning habit against the Wallabies in recent years, coming home with the wind in their sails.

The Australians have lost the last seven of their matches to the rampant All Blacks and haven't held the Bledisloe Cup since 2002.

Incredibly, in five of those seven Tests, the Wallabies have actually led at halftime.

"You've got to go at the throat for the whole 80 minutes and that's something the All Blacks have been good at over the last couple of seasons and something (where) we've fallen a bit short," says Australian hooker Stephen Moore, who will have the task of leading the still-shaky Australian scrum against the impressive NZ eight.

Five eighth Barnes rightly suggests it was the "experience" of some of the players that helped the All Blacks to finish the stronger in those Tests, but it also comes down to squad depth, self belief and the ability to absorb the physical battering these Tri-Nations clashes necessitate.

Last weekend, Australia's forwards were human wreckage at the end of the match. Captain Rocky Elsom looked utterly ravaged, but his terrific performance, along with David Pocock's had set the platform for the win.

Even greater commitment, intensity and self belief will be required against the All Blacks. Not only do the Wallabies have to back their own ability to control the game, they have to find ways to upset the Kiwi cart.

Oddly this intriguing contest between two athletic, running sides might be one of the more bruising encounters of the year. Against the South Africans both Australia and New Zealand actively avoid trying to get caught up in a slugfest, preferring to run the Boks off their feet.

But the Kiwis suspect the Aussies are soft and the Wallabies know trying to outflank the New Zealanders will be near impossible unless they first get go-forward in tight. That could set up some pretty fiery exchanges.

It's been speculated that New Zealand's style of rugby this season has taken a page or two from Queensland's playbook in attack during the Super 14.

But it was a defensive performance the Reds produced against the high-flying Canterbury Crusaders early in the season that might be the most valuable lesson going into this test.

The Reds smashed the Crusaders in defence, especially early in the game when they were in their faces relentlessly, completely destroying their attacking rhythm and undermining their attempts to mix up play.

The Crusaders looked shell shocked, mistakes crept into their ambitious attacking game and Queensland grabbed control.

Cooper went on to make galahs of the Kiwis in that 41-20 win. Sure, test rugby is another step up and the Reds playmaker will be missing in Melbourne, but five-eighth Matt Giteau and scrum-half Genia are capable of pulling the strings for the Wallabies if the Australians can win or at least match it in the physical contest.

New Zealand, on the other hand, deserve their strong favouritism. The form of No.8 Kieran Read and their locks has been outstanding. McCaw is an inspiration, Dan Carter is back to his cool, controlling best and Mils Muliaina has been impactful with almost every touch. The Kiwis will be disappointed too, if hey don't dominate the scrum.

The New Zealanders will target James O'Connor in only his second test on the wing as he marks the bustling Joe Rokocoko (O'Connor must be still having nightmares about his performance at fullback against NZ in the last Tri-Nations match last year) and do everything in their power to haul Elsom into the dirty work, rather than have him clubbing into the inside backs.

They will try and work away from Pocock at the breakdown, constantly shifting the point of attack and trying to set up mismatches between their very athletic backrow and the Wallabies' little backs.

A few important jokers in the pack are the condition of the slippery surface at Etihad, which has caused such concern in the AFL and how referee Craig Joubert decides to adjudicate the breakdown and the offside line.

Both camps have dismissed worries over conditions at the stadium, but players will likely be wearing heavy studs rather than cleats which could impact the flavour of the contest. South African whistleblower Joubert, however, will be the man to set the tone. With both sides boasting cheeky 'cheats' as fetchers, he will need to be consistent if not to the letter of the law in his rulings.

Also, both sides will be anxious to negate the flair of their respective backlines and will be scurrying up to try and disrupt the play before the ball gets wide, so how Joubert polices the offside line will go some of the way to determining whether it's more of the same from the dominant All Blacks or whether this young Australian side can break the shackles against a wonderful opponent and establish themselves as real challengers for the Tri-Nations gong this year.