Wallabies coach Michael Cheika: Nobody expects us to win

Rieko Ioane runs away to score a try against the Wallabies. Photo / Photosport

Michael Cheika reckons supporters would be well within their rights if they didn't give the Wallabies a hope in hell on Saturday.

Few outside the team bubble do.

Bookmakers have installed Australia at the longest odds they've ever been heading into a clash against world champions New Zealand.

Then, on the eve of the match, came one final insult - Australia's chief aggressor, Adam Coleman, succumbed to a shoulder injury and won't play.

With him went the last flicker of hope for the Wallabies faithful.

Cheika - an 'ideas man' if there ever was one - gets it.

"I think no-one does (expect us to win), to be honest," he said on Friday.

"People would be justified to think that.

"It's up to us to write our own chapters if we want to change that attitude around.

"Like I've said before, only we can turn that around on the field. We do lots of good stuff away from the field but what counts is on the field for everybody. We know that.

"We've got to let our game do the talking tomorrow, that's it."

Coleman's absence means a daunting debut for rookie second-rower Izack Rodda, who only made his first Super Rugby appearance this year.

He will come off the bench and be confronted by a New Zealand team determined to make up for a late lapse from which they conceded 28 unanswered points last week in Sydney.

The All Blacks have lost the second half of their past three matches and rarely let problem parts of their game linger for long.

"A more dominant team would have finished the job and that's something we can improve on," skipper Kieran Read said.

A win for New Zealand would see them retain the Bledisloe Cup for a 15th consecutive year, and to avoid it, Australia need their first win across the Tasman since 2001.

Now that would be something to take straight to the pool room.