Australian halfback Craig Gower is confident he and Darren Lockyer are on their way to striking up a potentially match-winning partnership - an ominous sign for New Zealand ahead of Friday's rugby league Test at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

The Australian backline is sprinkled with club combinations, except in the halves - a fact not lost on coach Wayne Bennett, who admitted Gower and Lockyer would have to work on their combination in the lead-up to the Test .

But Bennett would have been delighted to hear a confident Gower predict he and Lockyer would have few problems gelling.

"I think I know how he plays and I think he knows how I play," Gower said.

"Wall just work on it at training and hopefully we'll have it down pat by Friday. Hopefully we can just feed off each other's instinct out there and that's enough.

"I am sure Locky will want some early ball as will I. But I'm sure everything will be fine by Friday.

"Playing with a class player like Darren, it's going to be a thrill for me and I'm just looking forward to that opportunity."

The Penrith captain is also looking forward to wearing the green and gold No.7 jersey, something that seemed beyond his reach in the pre-season.

At that time Andrew Johns was ready to return from a neck injury and Brett Kimmorley was on a high after winning man of the series on last year's Kangaroo tour.

The spectre of Kimmorley still looms over Gower, but the classy Panthers half isn't allowing that to enter his thinking.

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