Samoa coach Matt Parish was Laurie Daley's right-hand man for the Blues team that ended eight years of Queensland domination and he revealed before Sunday's match against Australia that much of the team's preparation and training methods were adopted directly from what NSW did this season.

"I am using what Laurie has done in Origin and being associated with that has helped me in the preparation with these guys," Parish said.

"Laurie has got it right this year obviously and done a great job. He has been a great mentor for me; I have learned a lot off him and I have tried to bring as much as I can here to Samoa.

"We try to mimic and copy as much of the training sessions as possible. Nearly every training session we have done here has been an exact replica of what we did in Origin and the way we have prepared for games has been exactly the same. I think it is slowly playing dividends."

Besides Parish, Samoa also have the services of NSW team manager Andrew Farrar, the former St George Illawarra coach, while renowned wrestling coach Milton Dymock and Canterbury analyst Mohamed Ali have also joined the coaching staff for the Four Nations.

"I worked with Andrew in Origin and he is fantastic but from my point of view not only is he well organised and a great team manager, he has unbelievable football knowledge and he is always helping me and tipping off the players about little things," Parish said.

"I think the guys can see that the set-up we have is professional and that the people who are on the coaching staff have all got good input. They can learn off them, they respect them and they like them as blokes, which is really important."

Prop Mose Masoe, who played in the St Helens team that won last month's Super League grand final, said Parish had installed a belief in the Samoan team that they could match it with the big three of Australia, New Zealand and England.

"We have got the NSW assistant coach and he has brought a lot to the table," Masoe said. "NSW won State of Origin this year so that says a lot, and it has shown in our games."

One area Parish has improved on is defence and it appeared Samoa was set to shock New Zealand last weekend before conceding two late tries to go down 14-12. In the tournament opener they led England twice but lost 32-26 due to poor goalkicking.

Parish refused to accept the idea that they could not beat Australia at WIN Stadium on Sunday. However, regardless of the result the team's performance at the Four Nations has already earned them an invitation to meet Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi.

"I think we have all been proud of our efforts, but I think we need to be better," Parish said. "We want to be competitive and we want to play well, but we want to win too."

The key to their hopes of an upset in Wollongong will be the performance of centre Joey Leilua, who has been in devastating form in his first two matches. Brisbane prop Josh McGuire has also enhanced his reputation by playing for Samoa.

Parish said Leilua and centre partner Tim Lafai were being considered for NSW next season, and he expected Queensland coach Mal Meninga would be keeping a close eye on the form of McGuire and winger Daniel Vidot.

"I know Laurie is looking at Joey Leilua and Tim Lafai, and I am sure Mal would be looking at Josh McGuire's efforts and Daniel Vidot's efforts [which] have been great, too," he said.

"I think those guys have already played enormous in the first two games and showed they can play at international level."