Dixon has said recently, that in hind sight it would be good to have the 777 in the fleet. If they had ordered them 5 years ago, they wouldn't be left scrathing their heads now about how to replace the 747-400's which burn more fuel than the 777. Of course the 777 doesn't carry the same number of pax, but it is pretty close to what QF use on their Pacific config 747-400's.
To me the whole will we/won't we on the B777 at QF is short term management at it's finest. Not only does the 777 has the capacity to cover existing routes, but over the last 5 years we could have expanded the QF network again. A lot of other airlines MH, TG, SQ and CX all operate 3 or 4 times a week to ports QF says are impossible to make money on with this type of frequency. These airlines all use 777's on these routes, and they have been for years. Either these airlines like to bleed cash, or a 777 contributes to making the economies of these routes sustainable.