Captain Cameron Smith says his under pressure Kangaroos don't have one eye on history, ahead of their must-win Four Nations clash with England on Sunday.
If England topple Australia at AAMI Park, they will put an end to 60 years of excellence for the Kangaroos and eliminate them from the final of a major tournament for the first time since the 1954 world cup.
At Friday's joint captains and coaches press conference, Smith wasn't interested in looking at the Kangaroos' past, instead at what lay before them.
"There is pressure on us to win this match and be a chance of making the final," Smith said.
"But we haven't spoken about history or when was the last time the Kangaroos missed the final of a competition
"The boys are aware of the expectation that is on our team and we have our own expectation too.
"We all realise that we didn't reach that expectation last week of ourselves.
"Everyone was very critical of the team performances and of individual performances and I think you will see a better performance this weekend."
Coach Tim Sheens missed the press conference due to a virus and was quarantined at the team hotel. But he is expected to recover in time for Sunday.
Assistant coach David Furner said playmaker Daly Cherry-Evans's chances of playing have improved as he continues to recover from a hip injury suffered in the first half against the Kiwis, that ruled him out for the rest of the game.
"He had a run yesterday, and we are expecting him to play," Furner said.
"He will have a really full hitout tomorrow to ensure that he is right.
"If Daly doesn't get through tomorrow session we have also been slotting Benny (Hunt) in there who looks pretty comfortable as well,
"But we want to give DCE the best possible chance to play."
Both sides will sport heritage jerseys to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Rorke's Drift Test in Sydney when a British team, reduced to 10 men, won the deciding Test 14-6.
England coach Steve McNamara said his side was aware of the great history between the two sides but were not concentrating on the chance to create more, merely on winning the game.
"We are keen to commemorate what was an outstanding feat by the Great Britain side at that stage," he said.
"But we are focusing on what we need to do to win this game, that's what we want.
"And knocking Australian out of the tournament would be a by-product of that."
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