The Wallabies believe a win over the All Blacks in Wellington will buy them time they need to fulfill their potential under new coach Ewen McKenzie before a deciding Test in October.
After being humbled 47-29 in Sydney, Australia must beat the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday night to keep alive any hope of wresting back the Bledisloe Cup, which they haven't held since 2002.
They then don't face New Zealand again until after the end of the Rugby Championship, meeting in a third Cup clash on Oct 19 in Dunedin.
Wallabies flanker Michael Hooper believes the team will continue to improve significantly under McKenzie in that time, potentially setting up a mouth-watering decider.
"It's one game this weekend and then we don't meet the All Blacks until the end of the Championship, so to get this win and then go into a decider is really exciting," said Hooper.
"We're going to grow as a group so if we can get a win this weekend it will be massive for us."
The 21-year-old, who was voted the Australian players' player of the game after the ANZ Stadium match, said the Wallabies had taken confidence from their performance despite the heavy loss.
He said their focus had to be on better ball retention after handing their opponents too many attacking opportunities which they fully capitalised on.
Hooper, who also announced he had re-signed with NSW and the Australian Rugby Union until 2016, said he believed the Australian pack had the ability to dominate the All Blacks and they needed to up their work-rate.
"We have a good mobile pack and I feel like we can exploit that and really get over the gain line.
"We're mobile and get through a lot of carries.
"Hugh McMeniman, Kevvie (James Horwill) and Simmo (Rob Simmons) are all big guys but they keep getting up, keep making tackles, you just want more and more from them."
Hooper admitted the Kiwis had a psychological edge after dominating the Bledisloe series for so long but said that came with its own baggage.
"They've held the cup for the last 10 years or so so there's definitely a bit of that.
"In saying that, they'll be nervous about losing it and we really want it.
"We've got two games now to claw it back and it's going to be tough over there but this group's hungry for success."
Hooper hoped McKenzie would retain the same line-up, giving new combinations another week to gel.
Like many Australian fans, he wanted to see the Wallabies back three of Jesse Mogg, Israel Folau and James O'Connor get more involved.
Code-jumping winger Folau barely touched the ball.
"We had a good game plan to take these guys on," said Hooper.
"Obviously we've got plenty of talent back there.
"You want to see those guys with ball in hand, I know I do.
"They've got x-factor written all over them and they're the guys who can score and finish tries."
