The smarting Samoans candidly concede the pain of losing the 2022 Rugby League World Cup final is a huge driver ahead of a semi-final showdown with Australia four years on.

Skipper Junior Paulo on Wednesday stopped short of revealing revenge was the prime motivation but admitted the shattering feeling of losing 30-10 to the Kangaroos in the last title decider still stings.

“Look, to lose a grand final like that, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t burning,” Paulo said ahead of Sunday night’s shot at redemption at Allianz Stadium.

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“We’ve only got a few boys who (were) part of that squad. I’m not going to compare the two teams, given ‘22 was one of those achievements that we thought would probably not get to.

“But that’s ‘22 and this is 2026 and, with the squad that we’ve got now, everyone’s just keen on moving forward and obviously you want to look back and find ways to motivate the team.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for us this week.”

Paulo says it’s imperative the class of 2026 see this opportunity as a chance to create something special for the people of their tiny nation.

“I had plenty of off-season time after that last World Cup, but it’s still going to be burning and for those guys who were part of that team too,” he said.

“So it’s a privilege to be in this position for us and it’s an opportunity to be a part of history and hopefully what can be one of the biggest upsets.”

Samoa skipper Junior Paulo is still hurting from his team’s loss to Australia in the 2022 final. Credit: AAP

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Samoa find themselves trying to conjure that upset against the three-time defending champion Kangaroos after falling 20-18 to fierce Pasifika rivals Tonga on Sunday.

The despairing defeat sapped the Samoans as much psychologically as physically.

“It was such an emotional time for everybody,” Paulo said.

“We’ve had a good couple of days now just to emotionally regulate. I guess the immense pressure that sort of came with the game as well, it was really good for us to get a bit of change of scenery to come here to Coogee and give the boys a couple of days off to pretty much reset.”

The Kangaroos have come under scrutiny for escaping late with unconvincing wins over New Zealand and Fiji, but Samoan prop Francis Molo said it would be foolish to “buy into that”.

“We’re expecting a lot from the Australians. They’d be be pretty fired up by a lot of criticism,” Molo said.

“Yeah, definitely, Australia’s a quality, quality side from the one to 19. You couldn’t expect anything less from them.

“We’ve got to worry about ourselves, get ourselves right and get our confidence.”

Molo, though, also fired a subtle warning to the tournament hosts and favourites following Samoa’s narrow loss to Tonga, who face New Zealand in the first semi-final in Newcastle on Saturday.

“Even though we went down by two, we took a lot of confidence out of that game as a team,” he said.

“Our best is yet to come. We’re still building combinations that we’re working on and I don’t think we’ve hit our straps just yet.”