Lancer, I do not fly a 737, but struggle to understand how it is vastly different to any other aircraft of its size. They are flown by the numbers as you say in all operations, but if this was sufficient then why do they still come to grief in CFIT accidents? The largest cause is loss of situational awareness in a high workload environment, mostly in a perfectly serviceable aircraft, the overall flight path of the aircraft is misinterpreted. In some cases the loss of currency may not manifest itself in direct flight path deviation but some other area neglected as a result of the pilots focus on control.
I assume you refer to sim exercises which whilst is very good training, the crew are usually aware and well prepared for rather than just sprung at random when your fatigued at the worst possible time. Do you have to study for a sim or do you just turn up and pass because you've kept up to date during the 3-6 months between them? A lot is still left to the individual to ensure they maintain a constant state of readiness for the unusual in the interim period. If your a little rusty on the controls it only makes dealing with a problem that little bit harder.
Simulator training/checking is all part of currency and helps to make pilots subject to it safer overall. Emrgency procedure training/crew briefs/planning and basic hands on flying skill all add to safety. When mentioning currency earlier I was not just refering to the CASA minimums.
Just had to add that I agree that Aus does have good training/support & procedures for airline pilots, however we are also in an area with mild weather conditions and low terrain compared to Europe/Asia/Nth & Sth America.