Black Ferns captain Les Elder expects a stung Wallaroos side to play with a point to prove after their 47-10 humbling in the opening leg of the Laurie O'Reilly Memorial Trophy.
Wallaroos coach Dwayne Nestor said his team allowed themselves to be "bullied" by the Ferns last week and Elder is expecting a more physical approach from Australia at Eden Park.
"I think they'll come out with a bit of a point to prove, they won't be happy with the physicality or the contact area of the game, I don't think, so we expect they're going to come out with a bit more fire," she said.
"It's definitely something we're (expecting to) ramp up another level."
Elder said she was not fazed by Nestor's use of the word "bully" and warned the Black Ferns were ready to ramp up their game even further on Saturday.
"I don't mind what gets said really," she said.
"For us, we would like to take it up another level from last week, so the level of physicality and what we're asking of the girls - we're asking for more."
Nestor's comments were a criticism of his own side's inability to get into the game, rather than a sledge of the opposition and while Australia has vowed to bring a more physical approach on Saturday, the Ferns are adamant they won't let that happen.
"I wouldn't say (we were) surprised at them, I'd just put credit to our girls for the physicality that they brought," Elder said of the Wallaroos' inability to get into the contest last week.
"We went into that game with that expectation, we wanted to dominate that contact area and I thought our girls did really well to do that."
Coach Glenn Moore said there had been a lot of talk in the lead-up to the first game of the Wallaroos' physicality, something the Ferns took on board.
"We approached that game wanting to be very phyiscal, very clinical. We knew where we wanted to attack based on footage that we'd seen … but at the end of the day, we went out there and focused on what we needed to do and a big part of that was to be physical," Moore said.
"And I want that turned up another 10 per cent yet."
While they have brought new players into the team, including 20-year-old Grace Brooker, who will make her debut off the bench on Saturday, that does not come with a drop in expectations.
"It's important we keep winning, that's always our focus even when we're in a rebuild phase.
"That's what it's like in New Zealand, the expectation is that you win and that's the expectation we have of ourselves and each other."
The Black Ferns take on the Wallaroos at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday, August 17, kicking off at 5pm AEST (3pm local), with the match shown LIVE on Foxtel, Kayo and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO.
