WALLABIES coach Michael Cheika has embraced the underdog tag leading up to the opening Bledisloe Cup clash, and declared his team will “take the stairs instead of the lift” by refraining from asking new skills coach Mick Byrne about the All Blacks’ secrets.

Byrne spend the past decade honing the skills of New Zealand but is now in the Wallabies camp as Cheika’s assistant.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said earlier this week that he trusted Byrne not to give away their secrets, and Cheika said on Friday that he would not consider putting the skills mastermind in that position to forcibly divulge.

“I’m not the type of guy that’s going to go and ask Mick ‘what do New Zealand do?’ Cheika said.

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Wallabies coach Michael Cheika speaks to his players during training at Weigall Sports Ground. Source: Getty Images

“It’s cheap, that’s not why we wanted Mick to come over. We wanted Mick to come over and coach with us because he’s brilliant at helping develop skills.

“We’re not looking to take the lift, you know what I mean, we want to take the stairs.

“We want to work hard and earn anything we can get against our opponent.

“I don’t think asking him ‘what are they doing here, what about this, what about that,’ is going to solve anything for us.

“We’ve got to have that in ourselves already.

“And I like him - I don’t want to put him in that position either.”

Cheika added that the All Blacks will be a different beast to the side that defeated them in the World Cup final last November.

“The other team will be evolving anyway, they don’t stand still, no team does at this level,” Cheika said.

“I don’t see that (having Byrne) as an advantage. But he’s been very good, for our coaches as well.

“At international level, we’re still a relatively inexperienced coaching staff.

“Just to have someone to bounce ideas off and he’s got a very good demeanour - relatively opposite to mine sometimes - so it’s a nice balancing act.

“I’m really enjoying having him around.”

Cheika has trimmed his Rugby Championship squad to 33 players, leaving out Nick Frisby, Luke Morahan and Toby Smith from the original 36 that trained in Sydney this week.

Cheika could be leaning towards a surprise playmaking partnership of Quade Cooper and Matt Giteau in the opening Test at ANZ Stadium on August 20, though the media has been kept away from the bulk of training sessions so it remains unclear whether Friday’s brief open session was an insight or decoy.

Cheika did say he will likely start Israel Folau at fullback, even though he popped up at outside centre during the training run.

Michael Cheika has named 19 forwards in his Wallabies squad. Source: News Corp Australia

The Wallabies will be heavy underdogs against the Kiwis after failing to have a Super Rugby side qualify for the semi-finals, and after their 3-0 loss to England earlier this year.

“A lot of people will be saying we’ll be struggling to match them,” Cheika said.

“We understand we’re probably not going to be that highly regarded in the contest.

“But we’ll be bringing the best intensity that we can.

“They’ve shown they’re looking to play the game with a lot of speed and a lot of intensity, a lot of offloading — which is probably a slight step up.

“The use of the kick, the cross kick and the kick pass, they’ve brought that in across all the teams.

“They’ve improved their game across the board, no doubt.”

Australia’s Rugby Championship squad

Allan Alaalatoa, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Adam Coleman, Quade Cooper, Kane Douglas, Scott Fardy, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley, Will Genia, Matt Giteau, James Hanson, Dane Haylett-Petty, Reece Hodge, Michael Hooper, Rob Horne, Sekope Kepu, Samu Kerevi, Tevita Kuridrani, Ben McCalman, Sean McMahon, Drew Mitchell, Stephen Moore (c), Dean Mumm, Nick Phipps, David Pocock, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Tom Robertson, Rob Simmons, Scott Sio, Will Skelton, James Slipper, Lopeti Timani, Matt Toomua