The New Zealand Warriors captain will partner the in-form Shaun Kenny-Dowall in the centres, while Isaac Luke has won the contest for the starting hooker role ahead of Nathan Fien.

Fien has instead been named on the bench alongside Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, debutant Jesse Bromwich and Alex Glenn.

It means Broncos centre Beale and Cowboys second-rower Jason Taumalolo - 18th and 19th man respectively - have missed out.

Kearney said it was Mannering's and Frank Pritchard's experience that saw them get the nod.

"When you play against Australia in these circumstances it's important that you have some experience there," he said.

"It's going to be physical right down the middle. We'll need some big guys and all of them can play fairly good minutes so that's going to be some real positives for us."

New Zealand team: J Hoffman, J Nightingale, S Kenny-Dowall, S Mannering, M Vatuvei, B Marshall (capt), S Johnson, B Matulino, I Luke, S McKendry, A Blair, F Pritchard, J Smith.

Interchange: N Fien, J Bromwich, J Waerea-Hargreaves, A Glenn.