Kefu will steer a historic selection, headlined by Indigenous Wallabies veteran Kurtley Beale, at Marvel Stadium next Tuesday night between the first and second Wallabies Tests against the Lions.
The Australia-Kiwi team were thrashed in a 48-0 thumping at Adelaide Oval, with Kefu an observer in the coach's box.
He said while the signs were good heading into Saturday's match the AUNZ team failed to fire and didn't match the physicality of the tourists.
"The players would be more disappointed than anyone but I think from the coaches' point of view, in some aspects of the game, we just didn't turn up," the former Wallabies great said.
"Mentally we were just a little bit off the pace and if you don't defend that first kind of crash or collision, they get on a bit of a roll and it's really hard to stop.
"However, the prep turns out this week, when the whistle goes and they cross the white line, they need to flick the switch and be ready to play."
Following that result and with only a week's preparation, few are giving Kefu's men any chance of upsetting the best of the four-nations.
But with nine Wallabies in the squad which represent cultures from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands, Maori and Indigenous Australia, Kefu said his side would do their best to cause a boilover.
The squad could also have some late additions from the Wallabies camp should Test coach Joe Schmidt look to give some players a run.
"Everyone's thinking that on paper they've probably got a much better team than us," said Kefu, who was part of the Wallabies' 2001 series triumph over the Lions.
"But if we've got the right mindset, we've got good enough cattle there.
"There's a couple of things ... if we want to enjoy some success  in this game there's some critical things that we need to execute."
