League: 'We let down fans'

Captain Benji Marshall, right, feels they let the fans down. Photo / Getty Images

Benji Marshall just wanted to start the Four Nations final as soon as last night's 34-20 defeat to Australia was over.

It would have meant many battered bodies taking the field again but Marshall was hurting.

As he ran out onto Eden Park in front of 44,000 fans, the biggest crowd for a rugby league international in this country, he felt it was the best atmosphere he had experienced.

Many of those fans turned feral as the match got away from the Kiwis and Marshall was smarting too.

"We have let ourselves down, our fans down and our country down," Marshall said.

"We will do everything to rectify that."

He was talking about Brisbane on Saturday. Many won't give the Kiwis much hope. They were comprehensively outplayed last night and Australia will welcome back the likes of Darren Lockyer and Billy Slater, who were both rested for the match at Eden Park.

But, in a bizarre twist of history, Kiwi sides who promise much often fail to deliver and ones written off often prevail.

In the last three finals they have played, they have won two and lost a third in golden point.

"We believe in ourselves and believe we can do it," Marshall said. "Tonight just wasn't good enough."

The Kiwis were poor in most of the things they did.

They failed to complete enough of their sets, made a number of poor defensive reads, lacked intensity and put too much pressure on themselves.

They played most of the game in their own half and sides, any side, won't beat Australia like that.

"It was very disappointing," Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney said. "I can't put a finger on it. I think we prepared as well as we could.

"I would hate to think the lads took it easier because of the changes they made to their side. We put our worst performance of the tournament out at Eden Park.

"The positive thing for us is that we have a lot of improvement in us. We couldn't play any worse than we did.

"But we don't like getting beaten like that. I'm confident we will batten down the hatches and prepare well for the final.

"We have to compete for every minute of the 80 minutes and we didn't do that tonight."

Australian coach Tim Sheens wasn't reading too much into the result.

He was delighted to have won - he told a colleague as many fans booed the Australian anthem it would be a "great win" if they came out on top - but always knew the bigger prize awaits in a week.

"We fired a shot across the bow, that's for sure, but it was always about next week, whether we lost or not. When the game was decided in the second half, we saw both sides thinking about next week.

"Only once have we beaten the Kiwis two times in a tournament in 11 years, so we can't be thinking we are going to win next week. Next week will be a new game. It's a final and when you get to a final, you are talking about a different intensity again."