Coach Tim Sheens has demanded Australia’s forwards display a fiery intensity in Saturday’s Four Nations final that was missing in their previous clash with New Zealand.

“We have to maintain the rage and not clock off,” Sheens said at Friday’s pre-match media conference at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium, venue for the tournament decider between the Kangaroos and Kiwis.

By their own admission the Kangaroos were comprehensively dominated in their 30-12 round robin loss to the Kiwis in Brisbane three weeks ago.

“That was disappointing in the first game,” said Sheens.

“We had our pants pulled down, it was tough to take.

“It is something we have worked very, very hard on.”

In subsequent wins over England and Samoa Australia’s forwards have stood up.

But the Kiwi forward pack led by Jesse Bromwich with Adam Blair and Jason Taumalolo as back-up present a step up in class.

New Zealand’s big win over Australia and their unbeaten run through the tournament has fuelled their nation’s hopes of a Kiwis win.

But Kiwis coach Stephen Keary says the resurgent Kangaroos will be a very different proposition to that faced by his team last month.

“We understand the circumstance we are facing,” Kearney said.

“For the Australian side in the first match the conditions were taxing and a lot of the Aussie guys hadn’t played for a while.

“We’ve watched Australia with their improvement the last couple of weeks.

“We know what we are in for.”

He agreed playing the final at home “can be of assistance”.

“But essentially it will come down to the 17 guys who take the field and execute what we’ve been training on during the week.”