Samoa coach Ben Gardiner says the move of star centre Stephen Crichton to No.6 can give his side an element of surprise and unpredictability against Australia.
Penrith's grand final hero Crichton has made the positional switch due to regular five-eighth Jarome Luai's shoulder injury but Gardiner said it was a role the 23-year-old had embraced ahead of the Pacific Cup clash in Townsville on Saturday night.
"It probably does make us more unpredictable," he said.
"We'd spoken about Jarome being out and that being a difficult thing for us as a group.
"Critter (Crichton) and I sat down and spoke about him playing a running role as a six and being in the front line for his defence.
"He is one of the elite outside back defenders at the NRL level so I'd expect he'd bring that to a new level in a Test match.
"Being able to move one position in gets him a little closer to the ball and gets the ball in his hands a bit more.
"He is excited about doing it and putting his best foot forward and I am really happy for him."
Samoa lost last year's World Cup final 30-10 to Australia under the guidance of former coach Matt Parish.
Gardiner takes over after the most successful performance by a Samoan outfit, but he is not daunted.
"I am super proud to coach this team. It is a real privilege and responsibility, not only to be able to represent Toa Samoa but my family as well," he said.
"The biggest challenge is to put the best team on the field at the right time of the year.
"Even this time around we have a few injuries to key players like Jarome but you also have an opportunity to blood new players."
North Queensland forward Heilum Luki will make his international debut off the bench while clubmate Murray Taulagi will play for Samoa for the first time after previously lining up for Australia at the World Cup.
Manly rookie Gordon Chan Kum Tong makes a highly anticipated Samoa debut, as does Wests Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu.
"That is what we want moving forward," Gardiner said.
"It is vital that we have people here that want to represent Samoa as their first choice and we are headed in that direction."
