Michael Cheika has said Australia will not flinch from the “Bodyline” campaign being promised by his rival head coach Eddie Jones before this month’s triple bill against England, the first time the two countries have contested a three-Test series.

Having named four uncapped players in his match-day squad of 23, including the tallest Australian new cap in history, Cheika is looking forward to matching his coaching wits against his old Randwick team-mate Jones and insists the Wallabies will not take a backward step in the opening Test at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

With the towering 6ft 9in lock Rory Arnold – nicknamed Three-Storey Rory – selected alongside the muscular midfield duo of Samu Kerevi and Tevita Kuridrani, Cheika’s selection has a distinct physical edge and he is unconcerned by English plans to rough up their hosts as Douglas Jardine’s cricketers did in the 1932-33 Ashes series on Australian soil.

“I understand the analogy but I’m not sure what it means,” said Cheika, after confirming his starting XV beneath clear blue skies at Ballymore, the traditional home of Queensland rugby. “I don’t know if it means head-high tackles or if it means aggression. If it means aggressive footy that’s good. That’s the game, it’s meant to be aggressive. It’s a contact sport and we love that. Respect to our opponents if they bring it on.”

The original Bodyline concept involved swift, short-pitched leg-side bowling aimed at discomforting the master batsman Donald Bradman and his team-mates and yielded a 4-1 series win for England. Cheika’s side, though, reached the World Cup final last year and, in David Pocock, Michael Hooper and Scott Fardy, possess as effective and durable a back-row trio as any.

The Wallaby scrum is also significantly improved, with the ever-dangerous Israel Folau lurking at full-back. “We’re up for it – the contact part of the game, the aggression,” continued Cheika. “I imagine that’s what Bodyline means because you’re not going to come out and do head-high tackles. I don’t think so at least. I think fair play to them, it’s good stuff.”

In addition to Arnold and Kerevi, the Western Force winger Dane Haylett-Petty will also make his Test debut, while the uncapped Reds scrum-half Nick Frisby is on the bench.