New Zealand captain Jesse Bromwich thinks the pressure on coach David Kidwell is unfair after the poor draw with Scotland at the weekend.
Speaking at the Four Nations Final press conference at Anfield, Bromwich said it was the players that let themselves down and the coach shouldn't be to blame.
"It's been unfair, it's been a tough competition, England is a tough team and we managed to beat them," he said.
"On the Scotland game, we just let ourselves down.
"Scotland did a great job but we let ourselves down. The way we turned up for the match. It was tough conditions, it was freezing, it was windy and the field was a bit small but that's no excuse for the way we played."
While Bromwich said nothing had to be said about how good Australia was, the 27-year-old was confident the Kiwis had learnt from their first match against them in Perth a month ago.
"I think we can take [from the Coventry game] that we improved from the Perth game.
"We went to Perth and got touched up by the Aussies but went to Coventry and put on a good performance together and we almost stole it at the end there."
He also said although the Kiwis were banking on Australia to win the game against England for them to progress through to the Four Nations final, he couldn't bring himself to cheer for the Kangaroos.
"It was tough sitting there watching the game, not going for Australia, but more hoping England would lose.
"We have a new lease on the competition now and hopefully we can go out there [in the final] with a bit more hunger and show our country that we're there to play for them."
The game against the Kangaroos is at Anfield on Monday morning (NZ time).
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