As the saying goes, 'no pain, no gain' and the underdog Kiwis took the adage to extreme lengths on Wednesday.

New Zealand took their Four Nations frustrations out on each other at Brisbane's Langlands Park in a bid to fix their defensive woes ahead of Saturday night's final against Australia.

Prop Greg Eastwood (neck) was the collateral damage from a highly-physical training session where little was held back in opposed contact work.

While lock forward Jeremy Smith labelled last weekend's 34-20 Eden Park loss to the Kangaroos as irrelevant, the Kiwis training intensity and tackling focus told a different story.

"We thought defence was something we needed a lot of work on and hence the session today, and I think the boys will take a lot of confidence out of that session," said centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall.

"We've got one more session to go but we think all the hard work has been done in the week so far.

"There were some heavy knocks but I'm sure the boys will recover well."

Eastwood was the main victim as he was forced off early to ice a stinger to his neck but team management have no doubts he'll line up in the front-row against Australia's confident forward pack at Suncorp Stadium.

The Kiwis will again be without enforcer Frank Pritchard due to his knee injury while lock Smith sat out the brutal session to nurse a calf injury sustained last Saturday night.

"I'm looking after it and I'll be right," said the Dragons premiership forward, who added the lessons had been learned from the Auckland disappointment when the Kangaroos dominated early.

"The way we played last week (if it's repeated) I don't think we'll be beating anyone.

"But the good thing about this week is we have another chance.

"We have to pick up a few things and intensity is one of them."

Despite the poor start, Kenny-Dowall, who will ensure Willie Tonga has his hands full out wide, revealed a team viewing of the Kiwis' stirring finish to the dead-rubber had ensured confidence remained high.

"We had a look at the video of the last 20 minutes and that's what we're capable of and that's our strength," he said.

"We just didn't stick to our game plan in what we wanted to achieve in the game."

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