It was perhaps appropriate the Kiwis went 10-pin bowling in Liverpool overnight because they were knocked over like skittles by Australia when the two teams met nearly a fortnight ago.
They trailed 26-0 inside 34 minutes and never recovered as the Kangaroos ran riot in Darren Lockyer's final game in Australia.
But if there is something to give New Zealand fans hope ahead before the sides meet again on Saturday morning (NZT) in the opening match of the Four Nations, it is the fact it's not uncommon for Kiwis teams to disappoint before they get their act together and become very competitive by the end of a tournament.
This was perhaps no better illustrated than at the 2008 World Cup, when they were easily beaten 30-6 by Australia in the opening game of the tournament but had improved significantly by the final when they toppled the highly-fancied Kangaroos 34-20.
That side, however, had most of the best players available.
Coach Stephen Kearney doesn't have that luxury and has been shorn of as many as 13 players this time around, including Manu Vatuvei, Sam Rapira, Shaun Johnson and Steve Matai who all played in the NRL grand final.
Kearney has largely left it up to the players thumped 42-6 by Australia in their last outing to make amends when the teams meet in Warrington.
He has made just two changes to that side, and one was forced on him with the suspension of Russell Packer for his dangerous tackle on Lockyer.
Packer's Warriors teammate Ben Matulino will start in the front row and Wigan utility Thomas Leuluai, who remained in England instead of travelling out to Australia, will start on the bench in place of Nathan Fien who drops out of the squad.
Leuluai is the most capped player in the squad with 27 caps.
Otherwise the team remains the same, although Kearney has made a positional change with Melbourne second rower Sika Manu brought into the starting line-up for Brisbane's Alex Glenn, who goes to the bench and Issac Luke starting at hooker.
Adam Blair remains unavailable as he serves the last match of his suspension dating back to Melbourne's fiery regular season NRL clash with Manly.
Kiwis wing Jason Nightingale said they hadn't really spent much time looking at how Australia will play, with so much to improve in their own game.
"Obviously there are a lot of things we have to work on before we focus on them,'' he said.
"We have a chance to rectify what happened a couple of weeks ago, and we want to take that opportunity.''
Australia coach Tim Sheens has named an expanded 20-man squad for the side. Beau Scott, Greg Inglis and Corey Parker join the 17 who beat New Zealand so comprehensively, although Inglis is a doubtful starter with an ankle injury.
One of the few Kiwis players to emerge from the Newcastle encounter with credit was Warriors fullback Kevin Locke, named the team's player of the day after his test debut. He scored New Zealand's only try, made 161m from 15 runs and produced eight tackle breaks.
As a 20-year-old NRL rookie, he wasn't given any game time when he first visited England with the Kiwis for their 2009 Four Nations campaign and knows his first test here will be difficult.
"It is going to be very tough on Friday night,'' he said. "We've just got to try to forget about the game we had in Newcastle. It was a poor performance by us but it's a new week, a new team and hopefully we can bounce back with a good performance.''
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