MELBOURNE (2015 FIBA Oceania Championship) - The rivalry between Australia and New Zealand can be frighteningly fierce in any sport, and as last week's Bledisloe Cup rugby union upset showed, favouritism is no guarantee when these foes meet.

So while the local media has hyped that Australia's roster boasts four NBA players, Tall Blacks coach Paul Henare isn't too worried ahead of the FIBA Oceania Championship opener in Melbourne on Saturday.

We need to respect them, but not too much. - Henare

"There will be no element of fear," he said ahead of the two-game qualifying series for the Rio Olympics.

"We know we can compete with them, we know their individuals well, and there's no reason we shouldn't be confident."

Henare was a foundation of the New Zealand team that matched the planet's best teams at the 2002 FIBA World Championship and the 2004 Athens Olympics, and he feels the spirit in the Tall Black camp is just as strong today.

"Our attitude doesn't change, no matter who plays. This group has traditionally been great at knowing as soon as that black strip comes on, it's all guns blazing," he said.

There is an element of difference come 2015, however. At the past four FIBA Oceania Championships it has been Nenad Vucinic pacing the sidelines, and with Kirk Penney unavailable the last playing link to New Zealand's 'glory days' has been broken.

We've got a young team, and we're a little bit naïve I guess and that sort of helps us. We just go out and just play no matter who we're going up against. - Webster

But shooting guard Corey Webster, the Tall Blacks newest superstar, thinks having a team with six players 23 and under could be an advantage.

"Some of the guys don't know much about the opposition so they play fearless which helps us on the court. Us guys who have been there before, we know what's coming, we've been priming for this part of the campaign."

Webster led his country's points tally five times on their seven-game tour of Europe and China, reaffirming his newfound standing as of international basketball's elite offensive talents.

But just as important were the impressive scoring cameos from Tom Abercrombie and Isaac Fotu in the Stankovic Cup, signalling to the Boomers they will have to subdue more than one man.

Abercrombie likes the way the team is built around the shooting brilliance of Webster, the range of big man Fotu to stretch Australia's defense, and the discipline of their role-playing teammates.

"Isaac has really shown what improvement he's made in the last year in Spain and Corey is scoring the ball extremely well. Other guys are buying into their roles and we all know what we need to do for this team to be successful," he said.

"We're ready and we're confident. We feel like we've had great preparation and we've got a team very capable of winning.

"I know the Aussies are stacked, but that just makes us even hungrier. We want to create a bit of history."

The 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship takes place on Saturday 15 August (20:30 local time/GMT+10) in Melbourne and on Tuesday 18 August in Wellington. Both games are live on LiveBasketball.TV (registration and subscription required; games geo-blocked in Australia and New Zealand). 

FIBA