England five-eighth Gareth Widdop is ready to tackle Kiwis danger man Benji Marshall if called on in the crunch Four Nations clash at Hull's KC Stadium on Saturday.
The talismanic Marshall, shortlisted for international player of the year, is the man England must contain if they are to reach the November 19 final against Australia.
Widdop has been on the bench for each of England's three end-of-year matches, including their warm-up international in France, but he has been gradually gaining more game time and could start against the Kiwis if coach Steve McNamara decides to switch Kevin Sinfield to loose forward, where he finished last Saturday's 36-20 defeat by Australia.
"I got a few more minutes than the week before and it would be good to play more but it's whatever the coaching staff feel is right," the 22-year-old said.
"Even if it's only for 10 minutes, it will be good to contribute. We haven't spoken about it yet, it's our first day back in."
McNamara, who has fielded the same team for all three matches so far, is due to name his line-up at a press conference in Loughborough on Wednesday, but may delay an announcement to give key forwards Jamie Peacock, Gareth Ellis and James Graham more time to recover from injury.
The England camp are confident the knee injury sustained by captain Peacock is not as serious as first feared following the results of scans and say both Graham and Ellis are responding to treatment on lower-back injuries.
"Under the expert guidance of the England medical team, ongoing investigations and intensive treatment are being carried out on the three players," said McNamara.
"They are responding to treatment and we will get a clearer picture on their level of fitness later in the week."
McNamara will be tempted to go with an unchanged team if possible after they pushed the Kangaroos close at Wembley and spirits, according to Widdop, remain high.
"We were disappointed we didn't get the win but it's gone now," he said.
"This is do or die and everybody is really confident.
"I haven't seen much of New Zealand but no doubt they'll be fired up and ready to go. It's do or die for them too so they'll be ready for a big effort."
Having faced Melbourne team-mates Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk at Wembley, Widdop is now preparing to come up against two of the Storm forwards who promise to be key players for the Kiwis.
Adam Blair is expected to move up from the second row to help plug the gap caused by injury to prop Sam McKendry, while back rower Sika Manu will be aiming to build on his two-try display against Wales.
"It was good playing against the Melbourne guys in the Australian team and I'm looking forward to coming up against the Kiwi boys," Widdop said.
"Everybody knows what Blairy can do. He's just come back into the team and was probably feeling his way a bit last Saturday.
"Sika has been going well for us all year. He's very dangerous, big and strong, so we'll definitely have to keep an eye on him."
Widdop acknowledges, however, that the biggest threat will come from skipper Marshall.
"I've played against Benji a few times this year," he said.
"He's a great player and we are all going to have to be switched on against him.
"We've just got to