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Former Australian coach Wayne Bennett played a "massive" part in the Kiwis World Cup win the players say, improving their attitude and approach and instilling in them an unshakable self-belief.
It was Bennett's unravelling of Aussie team tactics and the abilities of individuals and his motivational approach to big games that gave the New Zealanders a winning edge.
Bennett was in charge last time the Kangaroos were embarrassed by their poor cousins, beaten 24-0 in the final of the 2005 Tri Nations in England and not reappointed to the job.
He has long promoted the benefits of international football and it was his involvement as coach of the 2007 All Golds tour to England that fuelled his desire to go on assisting the Kiwis under coach Stephen Kearney.
Kearney himself is a meticulous planner with a methodical approach that is laid down and played out until instinctive. While Kearney led the trainings, Bennett worked with individuals to build confidence that the game plan was right and that if they stuck to it, they would win.
"Right from the Tongan game [in warm-ups] he kept telling us that we had the talent, we had the ability and as long as we believed in the game-plan and had faith in each other to execute it then we would win," said centre Jerome Ropati.
"It was all about improving through the tournament. We knew we were improving. We knew that if we competed in the grind, if we completed our sets of six, that we would get them," he said. "It was due to that pressure. We kept them in their half and they kept coming up with errors. When Billy Slater chucked that ball away and Benji [Marshall] scored, that was it."
The Kiwis could sense their opponents tiring through the second half. "We knew we had them. When Craig Fitzgibbon dropped that ball it was a telltale sign."
The significance of their achievement was still sinking in as Ropati, Evarn Tuimavave and Manu Vatuvei and team management returned to Auckland yesterday evening. "We put a lot of work in so it was good to get the reward, it was good to see everyone so happy," Ropati said.
The Warriors centre has no doubt where the kudos lies. "It was down to Stephen and Wayne, they never let up working on us about our attitude and our self-belief."
Kearney acknowledged Bennett's help in his first year in the Kiwis' job. "It's been significant the whole campaign and his knowledge, obviously, of big games was very important."
