Australia reasserted themselves as rugby league's No.1 outfit and sent a chilling warning south of the border as the all-Queensland backline put World Cup champions New Zealand to the sword with a 38-10 pummelling in Brisbane on Friday night.

Six months after their stunning World Cup triumph, New Zealand proved no match for a rampant Kangaroos side with Johnathan Thurston and Justin Hodges scoring doubles in the seven tries to two romp to continue an 11-year drought for the Kiwis in mid-year Tests.

New Zealand's pain would no doubt have flowed all the way back to NSW with Australia's all-Queensland backline providing all 38 points for the victors in an ominous warning shot ahead of the State of Origin series.

And while the win would have done nothing to ease the pain of last year's World Cup final loss, it did at least reassure Australia's status as top dogs, a mantle which had been under threat from the Kiwis.

"They won the World Cup last year and we can't take that away from New Zealand, we can only come out tonight and play the way we did," Kangaroos skipper Darren Lockyer said.

"You walk away from winning tonight feeling good about ourselves and felling proud about playing for Australia."

Asked if the win showed Australia deserved to be world No.1, Lockyer said: "I suppose, yeah.

Told by coach Tim Sheens that their defence in conceding 34 points in last year's World Cup final was unacceptable, the Australians responded.

"Our defence early in the first half set the platform for the night for us and sent a message to ourselves and the opposition," Lockyer said.

"That's where the game was won for us."

New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney admitted a poor ten minutes either side of the break cost his side as Australia turned a 10-6 lead into a 22-6 advantage.

"I'm disappointed obviously with the result, but the one thing I couldn't fault was the lad's effort.

"I guess a couple of instances in the game ... they were moments in the game that made it really tough for us."

The haka again provided a fitting fiery opening with new Kiwis skipper Benji Marshall eyeballing Kangaroos opposite Lockyer, but both sides were anything but red hot early in the game.

Cameron Smith's 40-20 attempt sailed over the sideline, but it had nothing on Iosia Soliola's gaffe when he coughed up possession from a scrum win five metres out from his own line.

Australia made him pay for the blunder with Israel Folau diving over out wide from the ensuing scrum but the Kiwis surged back with five straight sets on the home side's line.

The Kangaroos resisted every advance and were lucky to be let off the hook when an incorrect tip to English referee Richard Silverwood saw Jerome Ropati called offside, though the Kiwis went over at their next opportunity with Sam Perrett giving the visitors a 6-4 lead.

Having worked so hard to get in front, the Kiwis quickly relinquished it, Soliola and Adam Blair failing to lay a hand on Thurston with his 'show and go' putting the Kangaroos back on top.

The Kiwis were sucking in the big ones but a costly period either side of halftime proved telling with Justin Hodges brushing through a David Fa'alogo tackle to score just before the break and Thurston nailing his second three minutes after the restart.

Billy Slater kept the avalanche coming to open up a 26-6 lead, Manu Vatuvei hitting back with New Zealand's second try of the game.

It hardly mattered as the Australians smelled blood, Darius Boyd scoring his first Test try with a stunning acrobatic effort as he planted the ball over the back of his head before Hodges scored his second after Slater was denied the same honour due to a controversial obstruction call.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP