Coach Steve McNamara insists England's 11 changes for Sunday's Four Nations battle with Australia were tactical rather than a knee-jerk reaction to last week's loss to New Zealand.

Not only will the Lions field three debutants in the AAMI Park clash that they have to win to stay in contention for the November 13 final, but they have also dumped their full-back from last week and have a new halves combination.

But McNamara claimed that the changes reflect the opposition and not the 24-10 loss to the Kiwis in Wellington.

"No, no we've just selected a team that we think is the right team to play against Australia this week," McNamara said.

"We've made a couple of changes there that we feel are more suited for this week's game."

"We're pretty comfortable with what we've got there."

"The personnel that we've got we're very happy with and some young boys there who have been extremely good in not playing the first two games who are ready to play and we feel it's the right time."

As for what he believes England needs to do to beat a team that last week saw off Papua New Guinea 42-0, McNamara said he wants his players to be switched on from the outset.

"We'll have to do quite a few things well," he added.

"First and foremost we need to have a fair share of the ball."

"At the start of the game last week we certainly coughed up the ball and gave what is a very good New Zealand side plenty of field position and possession."

"And as I said earlier on we got a long way behind on the scoreboard but stayed in there and managed to nearly fight our way back in the game."

"So we certainly want to start the game a whole lot better than we did last week."

Aware that Australia's backs have caused England all sorts of problems in recent times, McNamara believes his men can win the game provided they play to the potential that earned them international selection in the first place.

"We know we've got the capabilities of doing that," McNamara said.

"I will say the players are very excited and focussed ... in terms of what needs to be achieved this weekend."

"I will say we're going about it with a smile on the face and we're enjoying the practice, we're enjoying being in Melbourne and we're enjoying what is going to be a great game at the weekend."