Australian hooker Danny Buderus believes the Kangaroos' Tri-Nations campaign is still on track despite last weekend's shock loss to New Zealand, pointing to the side's ability to rebound from an early setback last year to take out the tournament.

The Australians will seek redemption in Friday night's return match in Auckland after the defending champion went down 38-28 to its trans-Tasman rivals in Saturday night's tournament opener at Telstra Stadium.

The Kangaroos had a similar slow start to last year's series, coming away from Auckland with a 16-all draw against the Kiwis in last year's tournament opener before recovering to win all four of their remaining matches, including a 44-4 win over Great Britain in the final at Leeds.

"We've had our backs to the wall at times before and we've always come through," Buderus said.

"We're not dead and buried, it's only the first game and we'll take a lot of confidence out of what will hopefully be a good performance on Friday night."

Buderus said the team had taken longer than expected to overcome the rustiness in the squad, with many of the players playing little or no part in the NRL finals series. He said the team would be better for the hit-out, especially with every match a must-win game now if the side is to guarantee itself a start in the final.

"There's no need to press the panic button, but there were a few areas that were pretty glaring (in Saturday night's loss) and we've fixed them up this week", the hooker said.

"We're gelling well as a team and blowing a bit of rust out.

"It's a short week, which is a good thing for us if we're to turn it around. The boys would have liked to have played again straight away after the disappointment of last Saturday night."

Buderus could be in for a busier night at Ericsson Stadium on Friday night, with back-up hooker Craig Gower left off the bench in preference for St George Illawarra skipper Trent Barrett.

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