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New Zealand captain Benji Marshall is excited about finally getting the chance to display his talents in front of a British audience.
The Wests Tigers stand-off has been one of the leading lights in Australia's National Rugby League for the last four years but only made his mark on the international stage last November when he helped the Kiwis to their shock World Cup final victory.
And, after missing out the 2004 and 2005 Tri-Nations series as well as the ill-fated 2007 Kiwi tour because of injury, Marshall is hoping to impress on his debut on English soil when New Zealand take on Australia in the Four Nations at the Twickenham Stoop tomorrow night.
'It's a long time coming for me,' said Marshall, who was also injured when Wests Tigers played Bradford in the 2006 World Club Challenge at Huddersfield.
'It's my first time in England so to get the opportunity to play for my country over here is going to be special.'
Despite their 34-20 defeat in Brisbane, the Kangaroos are firm favourites to regain their number one world ranking but Marshall insists the Kiwis will not lack confidence.
'Any team can win this competition,' he said. 'We definitely have the belief that we're good enough to win it.
'We're underdogs every time we play Australia - that's okay. We were underdogs in the World Cup final. If anything, the pressure is more on them than it is on us.
'It will be a tough ask but we've had a pretty solid preparation coming into this tournament. We played a trial match against Tonga and we're building nicely. Hopefully we can have a good start to the competition.'
Marshall took over the captaincy when Nathan Cayless retired from the international game after the World Cup final, and he was in charge for the Anzac Day Test when Australia gained a measure of revenge with a 38-10 victory.
Marshall has dismissed that experience as an irrelevance and insists the Kiwis will be far better prepared to take on the old enemy this time.
'Anzac Day Tests are pointless sometimes,' he said. 'We had four days to prepare and it's hard to bring a team together in that time.
'We've had a couple of weeks now to prepare and, the more time we spend together, the better we seem to play.'
Marshall also believes a forecast of wet and windy conditions for west London can play into his team's hands.
'It was cold and wet when we played against Tonga and we seemed to handle it all right,' he said. 'It might slow a few of the other teams down.'
One man used to an English winter is Wigan's former London Broncos half-back Thomas Leuluai, who is the only Super League player in coach Stephen Kearney's squad.
Leuluai came through a torrid start to the World Cup to become a member of the final-winning team and flew to Auckland after Wigan's semi-final exit from the Super League play-offs to play in New Zealand's warm-up match against the Tongans.
'I've got a lot of time for Thomas and what he can do as a footballer,' said Kearney.
'I'm always keen to have him as part of the group. I made it very clear to Thomas that he needs to be playing good football to get picked in the Kiwi team and I think he's done that this year.
'I'm pretty sure you'd say he's been one of the most consistent Kiwis playing in the competition over here.
'I've spoken to Brian McClennan a number of times and he says he's been probably the best of the bunch.'
