Giant prop Rodney Blake is expected to be restored to the Wallaby squad for Saturday's Tri Nations rugby showdown with New Zealand in Brisbane after returning to action on Saturday night.

Queensland tighthead prop Blake impressed in his first two test outings against England, but missed Australia's last three matches with an ankle injury and hadn't played for over a month.

He reported no problems after playing for Australia A in its 80-9 demolition of Fiji at Melbourne's Olympic Park, where Wallaby coach John Connolly was among the most interested spectators.

"He (Blake) got through it pretty well," Connolly said today.

Asked if 23-year-old Blake did enough to put himself back in the frame for next week, Connolly replied: "Yes, we'll definitely consider him."

Blake said his ankle had pulled up alright.

"It was good to get some game time to try to and get my fitness level back," Blake said.

The 129kg front rower admitted he still had some work to do on the fitness front before his first tussle with an All Blacks front row - widely regarded as the world's best.

"Everyone would say they're ready and I'm ready, but I do need more training and to work on my fitness during the week," Blake said.

Former Wallaby tighthead Al Baxter, who has come off the bench for all five of Australia's tests this year, again lined up at loosehead on Saturday night.

Connolly said 36 test veteran Baxter was "improving" in his less familiar position and was "okay" despite coming from the ground early.

He took very little out of watching New Zealand's 35-17 win over South Africa in Wellington.

"I don't think the (New Zealand) team is going to bear any resemblance to the one that we're going to play," Connolly said.

Saturday's New Zealand starting side contained eight changes to the one that ran on against Australia in the Tri Nations opener in Christchurch two weeks ago and Connolly expects another reshuffle for the Brisbane encounter.

Connolly said Australia would need to improve "across the board" against the All Blacks from their first encounter this season.

He said a number of players had performed well for Australia A last night and put their hands up for selection next week, but didn't want to say who might be promoted to the senior squad.

Force fullback Cameron Shepherd, who made his test debut off the bench against England last month, starred in both Australia A team games against Fiji and Australia A coach Laurie Fisher described him as "the complete package."

Connolly felt last night's romp against a weakened Fiji still had some worth.

"It wasn't as hard as we would have liked, but I think we got a bit out of it," Connolly said.

"I think it was important to get Rodney Blake and Ben Tune and Cameron Shepherd more games."

New Zealand five-eighth Daniel Carter, who scored 25 points on Saturday, felt the All Blacks would need to step up against a Wallaby team he thought would be "pretty confident" after last week's 49-0 whitewash of the Springboks in Brisbane.

"They've got a good side and they'll be pretty gutted about the way they performed in Christchurch so we'll have to take another step up if we're going to have another win over there," Carter said on the All Blacks official website.