Five-eighth Bernard Foley admits the Wallabies' disappointing first half left them with too much to do against the All Blacks in Saturday's World Cup final defeat at Twickenham.
"I'm absolutely gutted, the team's efforts for the last five weeks has been tremendous, and we've put everything into it," said Foley, who enjoyed a flawless day with the boot, kicking two conversions and a penalty in the 34-17 loss.
"We probably just missed the jump a little bit. Playing catch up footy on a game like this is always tough.
"We have so much belief in this side, so much desire and everyone had worked so hard for each other, so it's shattering to be here."
Thanks to the red-hot boot of Dan Carter and Nehe Milner-Skudder's try on the stroke of halftime, Australia trailed 16-3 at the break - the biggest deficit in final history.
A Ma'a Nonu five-pointer shortly after the restart blew the score out to 21-3 only for Michael Cheika's side to stage a brilliant fightback with tries from David Pocock and Tevita Kuridrani to close the gap to 21-17.
However, a Carter field goal and penalty followed by a last-gasp breakaway try from Beauden Barrett broke the Wallabies' stubborn resistance.
Foley conceded the All Blacks' strong opening wasn't a surprise and it was something the team had worked on preventing in training.
"We were expecting that for sure, they are a quality side with a number of quality players ... it was going to be a good night for them.
"But we were aware of that .. we came so close and we gave all we've got at the end, but it just wasn't to be."
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