League: Kiwis turn up the heat before opener

Simon Mannering. Photo / Getty Images

Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium, the venue for tomorrow morning's (Saturday morning NZT) opening match of league's Four Nations, had to be evacuated as smoke billowed from the main stand just minutes before the Kiwis arrived for their final training session.

Two of the Kiwis' management team, who were setting up for the team run, were among those told to leave the building when smoke was seen pouring out of an air ventilation duct.

Two fire appliances arrived moments later to discover the cause was a saucepan which had been left cooking unattended in a kitchen.

They had doused the fire and allowed everyone back into the building just before the Kiwis players and coaching staff pulled up outside the stadium for their training session. The run went ahead without issue, the players unaware there had been any hint of drama.

The day's events were somewhat appropriate, given the Kiwis' need to fire against Australia if they are to reverse their 42-6 defeat to their transtasman rivals a fortnight ago.

Coach Stephen Kearney believes the Four Nations gives the side the chance to build form.

"As tournaments have gone on in the past it has really benefited the group and allowed the players to get familiar with each other," he said.

"The last match against Australia was probably a good indicator of that in the sense that Australia have players in key positions who have spent the last six years playing in the Queensland Origin jumper together. When you're thrown together for a week, I think that's of assistance to them whereas we tend to get better as tournaments go on.

"But we understand it's the biggest challenge in the game to face Australia on the international stage and it's going to be no different tomorrow."

Kearney said there had been a major change in the players' approach in the past two weeks.

"It was a good wake-up call [in Newcastle] for all of us, myself included, of how far off we were and how much better we need to be to compete against Australia. I've seen a lot of sharpness in the players' attitude since that match and I think we'll be a lot more competitive tomorrow ..."

Captain Benji Marshall believed the Kiwis would be better off after what they endured in the 6-42 loss in Newcastle.

"We had a lot of inexperience and spending only limited time together it was harder to form combinations than it has been in the past," said Marshall, who has vowed to get more involved in the game than he was a fortnight ago.

"In saying that, those new guys who played their first game were probably our best and, if anything, a lot of the senior players ... we needed to wake up. I've seen the change in attitude this week and I think they're ready to go."

The two teams will meet on neutral territory this weekend before heading to Wembley next weekend in a double header also involving the other two teams in the competition, England and Wales.

Kearney said the key factor was performance and not location.

"It's not about where we play or the conditions or the crowd," he said. "When we look back two weeks ago at a 48 per cent completion rate and 60-odd missed tackles, it's not about where we're playing the opposition, it's about what we need to get right tomorrow night.

"We could be playing in Russia and I'd still like the lads to have a high completion rate and a low missed tackle rate. Where we play is not going to be an issue."