Brisbane’s famous venue, nicknamed The Gabbatoir for its ferocious atmosphere, has not seen a home defeat in 28 matches spanning 29 years.
But the England captain insisted his side have the personnel to emerge with a first Ashes win there since 1986 to put their hosts on the back foot going to the day-night Test in Adelaide.
“We are going to go out there to try and upset that [record] and we fully believe we are more than capable of doing that,” said a bullish Root.
“It would certainly put them under a lot of pressure because they haven’t lost here for such a long period of time and that is our main goal.
“But to do that we have to make sure we are absolutely ready. If we get our heads around that we will be in a really good place after five days.”
England are understood to have finalised their line-up for the series opener with Jake Ball recovered from his ankle sprain and set to be confirmed in a four-man seam unit.
But they are considering swapping around Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow with the off-spinning all-rounder a possibility to leapfrog the wicketkeeper to No6 in the order.
Moeen insisted he was yet to be told where he will bat but was happy to help out at any place in the order from five to eight. And he fully backed up his captain’s hopes when it came to landing the early victory.
“There is genuine confidence that we can win here,” he said. “It’s going to be tough for us but records are there to be broken and hopefully we can do that.
“We have guys who’ve batted well here before. It would be great to come away with a win and get a good start to the series.”
England downplayed suggestions in Australia that Ben Stokes, currently awaiting the outcome of a police investigation into an incident in Bristol in late September, was any closer to joining up with the squad. A spokesman for the side insisted there was “no change” in the all-rounder’s situation.
However Root did call on his players to step up and fill the gap left by his absence.
“It’s very difficult to replace Ben Stokes, but rather than replacing him it’s more important the guys bring the best version of themselves out there and not try to replicate something he would do,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity for everyone to step up and do special things like Ben can do on the field. We’re all capable of doing it in our own way so this week is a chance for someone to go out and do that.”