Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has laughed off suggestions Australia would be favourites going into the first Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney next week.

It's been a few days since New Zealand coach Steve Hansen made the unlikely assessment, via a squad announcement press release, that the Wallabies would be the bookies' favourites to win the first Test of the Rugby Championship.

'I was a bit surprised': Michael Cheika, right, responds to an audacious claim from New Zealand coach Steve Hansen. Credit:AAP

Hansen's assistant, Ian Foster, was left to hose down the assertion later in the week but the missive didn't escape notice across the ditch in Australia. Cheika grinned widely when asked about it in Sydney on Friday.

"I was a little bit surprised," he said. "Hansen's a fine coach, he's obviously a great rugby mind, he's leading the team that's the best in the world, he's a great coach. But I think he may have had that one wrong because I don't think many of his players would believe it to be honest."