Australia's current crop are almost 16,000km away right now, preparing for their final World Cup warm-up match against Hungary later tonight.

But back in 1923, their predecessors were hosting New Zealand in a historic fixture in Brisbane, in which seven players were awarded their debut for the team.

The Australian national team had been constituted the previous year - the meeting with New Zealand in Dunedin, on the South Island, on 17 June 1922 was the first full international match for both nations. On that occasion, the Kiwis earned a 3-1 victory.

In their formative years, Australia faced New Zealand 21 times across seven trans-Tasman 'test' series, as well as playing regular tour fixtures against fellow Commonwealth nations South Africa, India and Canada.

That was then, and this is now - the Socceroos, ranked 35th in the world, taking their final step of the journey to Russia to compete in their fourth consecutive World Cup.