League: Australia to target Marshall

LONDON - Kangaroos centre Justin Hodges says Australia will target mercurial New Zealand captain Benji Marshall in the opening match of their Four Nations campaign.

But Hodges expected the Wests Tigers star to instruct the Kiwis to employ similar tactics against Australian counterpart Darren Lockyer and Kangaroos halfback Johnathan Thurston on Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT).

"He's a great player and he's only a small bloke, so we're going to look to run our forwards at him," Hodges said on Tuesday.

"And vice versa - they've got some big guys who will be targeting Thursto and Locky and all those guys as well, so we'll be looking to target him a fair bit."

The Australian squad had their first full training session in London on Tuesday after arriving last weekend.

They are the overwhelming favourites to win the inaugural tournament, but Hodges said the match against the Kiwis at Twickenham Stoop was likely to be a bruising encounter.

"We lost our title as world champs and that's their mark at the moment so we've got a long way to come back to be No.1," he said.

"We've got to come out and play hard and rough and hopefully come away with the first win because that's the most important one. If we lose this, it's going to be a struggle."

Out injured for last year's shock World Cup defeat to New Zealand, Hodges was man of the match in Australia's 28-point revenge rout of the Kiwis in May.

Marshall credits New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney with creating a "disciplined family" atmosphere he believes is the team's strength.

"If (there's) anything that I think we've got going that they don't it's our bond as a team and how close we are, like a family," Marshall told AAP.

"When you play for your clubs back in Australia, it doesn't feel like home.

"When you go back into the New Zealand camp, everyone feels so close and you feel like brothers straight away."

England's Steve Ganson, Super League's leading referee, will be in charge of Saturday's match.

Ganson was video referee during the World Cup final and awarded the Kiwis a controversial penalty try with 10 minutes remaining after he ruled Australian winger Joel Monaghan had taken out Lance Hohaia as he chased through a Marshall grubber.

Australian fullback Billy Slater's proximity to the incident raised doubt as to whether the Kiwi No 1 would have got to the ball first.

Ganson will have Clint Sharrad (England) and Jose Pereira (France) as his touch-judges on Saturday, while Ian Smith will be the video referee.

Co-hosts England and France meet in the tournament's opening match at Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster on Friday.

- AAP