Stuart Barrow has backed England Women to prove they have closed the gap since their chastening Las Vegas thumping by Australia.
The Lionesses were hammered 90-4 the last time the rivals met in March 2025, representing a nadir for the English game.
But Barrow's new-look team are ready to show how far they have come when the nations renew their rivalry in Perth on Saturday.
"The youngsters coming in think that they can do better than what we did last time and I fully back that and believe them as well," said Barrow.
"I don't think they've been beaten internationally for a long time but that's exciting. If you're a young player coming into this group and coming to represent your country in a World Cup on the other side of the world, you want to play the best.
"People were saying, 'Do we want to avoid teams?' When you come all this way, you want to pit yourself as an athlete against the best.
"So there is excitement among the group but they're all very aware and very respectful of who we're playing."
England hammered Wales 70-6 in their World Cup opener but now face the ultimate test against the all-conquering Jillaroos.
Barrow admits that his side are fuelled by the outcome of the last meeting between the sides.
"We learned a lot from it," he added. "We've built on that through all our training over the last 18 months.
"We've got some senior players who were in that group at the time and it allows them to talk about what happened in that game to our young group.
"It allows them to talk about the difficulties, challenges and we can draw on the experience mainly from player to player."