"Obviously [we're] very happy, I thought we played pretty well," said Leuluai.
"The good thing about it is there is still room for improvement. Our attack in some areas was a bit sloppy, defensively I thought we were really good.
"Our performance was better than it was last week and it needed to be and we'll most probably need to be better again for next week," he said.
"I don't think it matters how close the game gets, a win's a win. We came up against a pretty good team there and they played really well and had a lot of good players."
Watch: League Highlights: Kiwis 16 England 14
Leuluai was a surprise inclusion in the starting side, with Issac Luke relegated to the bench, but the Warriors utility repaid the faith shown in him by coach Stephen Kearney by turning in a strong all-round performance.
As he was in the Four Nations opener against the Kangaroos in Brisbane, Leuluai was a defensive rock, and picked his moments well to run from dummy-half to help the Kiwis get the roll-on through the middle of the park.
He paid the price for his commitment on defence against the huge England forward pack, sustaining a head wound early on in the first half before suffering a shoulder injury in the latter stages of the match.
"That's [his head wound] nothing. To be honest, it doesn't hurt at all, it was just the fact that I was bleeding meant I had to come off. I really just wanted to get it stitched up so I could go back on."
The 33-test veteran was feeling good despite the knocks and is optimistic about being fit to play in the final.
"I feel not too bad, I suppose. The shoulder is a bit sore, we'll see how it pulls up. Obviously we can start preparing now for next week. There are a lot of bruised bodies there so we're going to have to see how we go. Hopefully the shoulder goes okay so I can get a crack."
The Kiwis maintained their focus would remain on their own preparations and Leuluai would not be drawn on discussing the pros and cons of taking on the Kangaroos in the capital.
"Look, we've just got to focus on ourselves and not change anything and that's what we've been doing this whole tournament, not worrying about who we're playing and not looking too much into it.
"We're just making sure that we look after our own backyard and we've got to keep doing that."
Three of the best Kiwis performers
Shaun Johnson
Johnson was on-song from the kick-off, with his kicking and running game both coming to the fore on the back of an improved effort from his forwards. His goal-kicking proved the difference.
Simon Mannering
Skipper turned in a typically efficient and composed game, leading the way for his side with 13 runs and 37 tackles. Nothing too flash but he can be relied upon to make the right decisions, while he enjoyed one line-break and gave the final pass for Manu Vatuvei's match winning try.
Shaun Kenny-Dowall
The left-centre bounced back from a disappointing outing against Samoa with his strongest showing of the tournament so far. Was busy right from the start of the game showing good awareness to rush up and shut down England's second-man plays and made several useful scoots out of dummy-half and was a willing support runner.Three tackle breaks and 18 tackles sum up his handy contribution.
