Kiwis coach Brian McClennan says league administrators are guilty of not showing the Anzac test enough respect.
With the annual test against Australia once again slipped into the schedule on a Friday night between two full rounds of NRL club football, some of McClennan's players could arrive in camp as late as four days before the April 20 game in Brisbane.
He says finding a blank weekend for the fixture is now long overdue.
"I think throwing this game in on a Friday night between (NRL) rounds isn't right," said McClennan. "This is how it is this year, and we will be doing the best we can with it and making no excuses, but in future, I think something needs to be done.
"The Australians appear to think more about the NRL and Origin and the scheduling needs to be thought through better ... you have got to give a test match the respect it is due."
New Zealand haven't won an Anzac test since the game was restored to the schedule in 2004, but McClennan says he has noted a sharp increase in appetite for test football from the Kangaroos since the Kiwis' Tri-Nations form lifted. "The Australian team and their coaching staff are really enjoying these test matches now they are in for a contest."
McClennan says this year's Anzac test is already being considered as the first step to the world cup.
Planning and key player identification for the tournament has already begun, with eight test matches left before the cup begins in October.
"Every test you go into you want to perform well and win and we will be doing our best to win this test, but in the context of preparation for the world cup, this is very much the starting game," McClennan said.
"We've just come out of a final (the 2006 Tri- Nations final) and over the past two years we have really focused our energies on winning the final game of the year. We're very proud that we've won one convincingly (the 2005 final) and run them close (in the other, a golden-point loss to Australia).
"It's a philosophy that is shared by all the selectors and the board, and it is a sound philosophy that our whole focus is on the world cup ... that we are getting a team ready for that."
The All Golds tour of Britain will also be used to introduce some younger players to test football before the world cup. McClennan has identified fullback and hooker as positions where there is some work to be done, with some young talent (such as Newcastle's Terence Seu Seu) emerging at No 9, and a dearth of cover for Leeds' Brent Webb at fullback leaving the Kiwis looking for options there.
"We are probably getting healthier in the halves, and we'll be even more so by the end of next year," says McClennan. "There are more guys to choose from now than there were two years ago. We've improved in that area, we're starting to get some young ones blossoming through at hooker, but we're still a little light at fullback. If there is a young Kiwi boy out there who's a good outside back, he should be pestering his coach to have a shot at fullback."
For this next test, Webb, now with the English club Leeds, is a certainty for the No 1 shirt, and he could be the only Super League player brought back for the match.
Either Ben Roberts, of the Bulldogs, or Jeremy Smith, of South Sydney, will play halfback, with Roberts holding the edge. Last year's incumbent Thomas Leuluai has no chance of a recall.
Benji Marshall will be the Kiwis standoff, despite his critics, with McClennan issuing a strong defence: "I've listened with interest to the commentators who have talked about Benji's form and what I've seen I am really happy with him. I can see him improving every week and he is progressing along well. We have to keep in context what he has gone through. His rate of improvement each week has excited me."
A standby squad shadows the official 19 in camp, and McClennan won't name his new skipper (Roy Asotasi and David Kidwell are the frontrunners) until four days before kickoff. A new leadership group must also be selected - which should include Asotasi, Kidwell, Webb, Marshall, Nathan Cayless and Tony Puletua.
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