Meninga wants to rotate all 24 players through the early rounds of the World Cup but Smith said he won't be knocking on his coach's door asking for a week off, despite coming off an enormous NRL and representative season.

Smith's Melbourne Storm won the grand final but the hooker said he wouldn't be requesting any breaks despite absorbing 26 rounds of punishment in the middle of the field, a Test against New Zealand and three intense State of Origin appearances.

Brisbane's converted hooker Ben Hunt is the only real back-up option in the squad and he will see game time at some stage. But Smith doesn't want it to be at his expense, saying he treasured every appearance in the jersey and you never knew when it would end.

"Everyone wants to play every game. You never know when you're going to represent your country again. We know we're very fortunate to be in the position we're in ... I don't really want to be going to Mal's room and asking for a week off," Smith said at the official tournament launch in Brisbane.

Meninga said he had largely settled on his first-choice 17 for the clash against England, with the race for the No.6 jumper the main point of discussion. James Maloney, Michael Morgan and Cameron Munster are the three options, with form during the tournament a likely pointer to who gets the nod towards the business end.

"We're confident those three guys will fill JT's [Johnathan Thurston's] boots. We haven't got him, so we can't worry about it too much. We'll see who comes out in front as the tournament progresses," Meninga said.

"All 24 players will play in the qualifying rounds. I'll talk to Cameron and some of the leaders in the squad and finalise the team in the next 24 hours. We don't have to name a squad of 21 until Tuesday but I've got a fairly good idea of who will start against the English.

"Important game for both sides ... first game of the tournament. We rate them highly. Our preparations will have to be good."

The Australians are short-priced commodities to win their 11th World Cup but things don't always go according to plan. Smith was in Brisbane nine years ago with the Australians were stunned by New Zealand in the final.

"I have not got fond memories of the last home World Cup in 2008, so we will be looking to turn that around," Smith said.

"We didn't [win] and that was pretty disappointing I must admit. We're not hiding the fact we'd love to win this on home turf. We're not looking five weeks down the track. We're worried about five days time in Melbourne."

The weight of favouritism again falls on the Australians, whose key rivals New Zealand have been weakened by the departure of Jason Taumalolo to Tonga. Smith said all of that had been tuned out before game one against the Wayne Bennett-coached English.

"We've got enough experience in our squad to handle that. I know there are some new faces in our team as well but they are all grounded players. We won't get carried away with expectations outside of our own and what we want to achieve this campaign.

"What the public and bookmakers say doesn't really concern me. We really want to get away to a good start and victory helps set up the rest of our tournament."