Hardaker keen to finish season on a high with Kiwis Test series win

The Leeds Rhinos full-back is confident the hosts can secure a series win despite having lost 9-2 last week.

“I think we can turn it around, massively so,” he said.

“If we defend like we did last week it’s not often you lose a game.

“To be fair to the Kiwis, they did play better than us, but we know we have got a lot more in the tank.

“We can produce a lot better attacking performance than we did (last week), so that is quite encouraging to know.

“We had a weekend at home with our families, then came back in and regrouped.

“We’ve looked at where we can improve and we’ll try and apply that on Saturday.”

Ahead of his last game of a remarkable 2015, Hardaker admits it has been a fatiguing campaign for him having won the treble with Leeds, going all the way in the Challenge Cup and Super League play-offs.

“It has been a really long year for me and some of the other boys,” he said.

“But it’s playing for your country and you have to put everything into it.

“We all have, not just myself. It has been a tough year, but we have got one last game to play and then we get a few weeks off.

“We’ll give it 110 per cent for this last game.

“I’m looking forward to getting through this one and then having a rest – I haven’t even started thinking about next year yet.

“Hopefully I can get back into training in January and take it from there, but we’ve got to focus on one last hurrah first.

“If we can do that it’ll be a good end to this very, very special year for myself.”

The 23-year-old added: “To win the series would be fantastic for all the players and staff.

“For the country as well it would be really good, it would put us on the rugby league map.

“That’s what we want to do. It has been two tough, physical games and it is one-all, which I think is a fair reflection on the games so far.”