Exhausted Test and NSW skipper Andrew Johns admits he's finding it harder to cope with the demands of the gruelling representative season as he gets older.

Johns went into the final Origin match last Wednesday suffering from `flu and then played a rugged match against competition leaders Penrith two days later.

On Friday night he'll lead the Australian team in the Test against New Zealand at Aussie Stadium in his third match in nine days.

"It's been really tough this year and it doesn't get any easier as you get older," said the 29-year-old after Australian team medicals.

"It's been such a heavy workload for all the players. I was lucky to play Friday (against the Panthers) so I just put the feet up all weekend and stayed at home.

"I'm all recharged and ready to go. But Chris (Anderson) is a smart coach and I'd say he'd be pretty easy on us this week and make sure we're peaking at the right time."

Test coach Anderson allowed his players a relaxing day before they train together for the first time.

"We won't be flogging them but we'll make sure they do enough to get focused on the game," he said of the world champion's limited preparation.

"You just have to keep the routine going. The tiredness is mainly mental so we'll just have short, sharp sessions.

"Physically they can handle things but they've been under pressure in State of Origin so it's hard to get up mentally."

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