Burgess accused the English official of deliberately evening up the penalty count during Sunday's 36-18 Australian win, which eliminated the host nation from the Four Nations.

Hicks has been selected as the reserve referee on Sunday when the No.1 ranking in international rugby league will be decided by the Australia-New Zealand final at Anfield.

Hicks himself works in the Rugby Football League's legal department. It is not yet known whether South Sydney's Burgess faces any sanctions over the comments.

However, Meninga told Fairfax Media: "I thought that was a little bit out of order.

"The penalties at the back end of the first half that he thought was evening up, I thought were warranted.

"And I hate talking about referees, to be honest with you, unless there's some critical element we need to discuss.

"All I'm after, I want the referees to be non-existent. I just want the game to be refereed in a fair and just way."

But the iconic former Australian skipper believes more must be done to prepare match officials for tournaments such as the Four Nations and next year's World Cup – particularly since the NRL is the only competition to employ a two-referee system.

"Obviously international rules is one referee," he said. "So maybe to be fair on some of our Australian referees, give them some experience refereeing by themselves through the year,

"I don't know how they do that.

"It's fairer on the referees because I thought at the beginning of the tournament they were a little bit off the pace because of that. The NRL refs weren't used to it, it was a bit unfair on them."

Meninga wants top NRL referees to have guest stints in other countries where they can lift the standards while also brushing up their own skills at controlling games solo.

He says if necessary, some referees might have to be dropped to Under 20s or the State League before next year's World Cup – for their own good.

"Give them some experience in Intrust Super (Cup and Premiership), where there's only one referee," he explained.

The Kangaroos and Kiwis are expected to name their squads in the next 24 hours. Shannon Boyd and Jake Trbojevic are competing for one Australian bench spot, while Tohu Harris is the hot tip to replace injured New Zealand five-eighth Thomas Leuiluai.

David Fusitua is reportedly pushing for a wing spot and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (knee) is back in training, having not played since the opening weekend of the series.