Newcastle has plenty of nice beaches, but skipper Darren Lockyer won't be demanding his Kangaroos teammates fight the Kiwis on them. Not for his sake, anyway.
"I am not going to go out there and make any Churchillian speech to get them motivated for me, I just want to goout there and play with some quality teammates and enjoy the game," said Lockyer of the latest stop on a farewell tour that has already included his last Origin game, last regular season game at Suncorp Stadium and last NRL match.
"Sometimes ... you can weigh yourself down with too much pressure.
"My message as it always has been this year is to focus on your own job for the team and that is the best thing you can do for everyone.
"We want to win as a team but it would be nice personally to finish on a winning note. And the supporters coming to the ground to support Australia, it would be nice for them to go home with a win."
Lockyer has more test caps than the entire Kiwis backline but he didn't think experience would be a huge factor on Sunday and he insisted he wouldn't target the likes of debutants Kevin Locke, Kalifa Faifai Loa and Gerard Beale for any special attention.
"I don't think you go out there to exploit that," he said. "Obviously Benji [Marshall] has been there for a while now and he'll be a calming influence on them. I guess if you look at our team there is a bit more experience but we just have to have the mindset where we don't go out there and beat ourselves.
"We have enough ability in our team that if we hold the football and do the basics really well then we'll put any opposition under pressure. That will be my message to the boys."
Lockyer said his surgically repaired cheekbone had withstood minor collisions in training but he was expecting the Kiwis to test it fully.
The Kangaroos have added Bulldogs centre Josh Morris to their squad in place of injured forward David Taylor. Coach Tim Sheens said Penrith centre Michael Jennings was next in line should Greg Inglis not regain full fitness.
