Former Wallabies coach John Connolly is struggling to find any signs that his former side can turn around a 38-13 loss against the All Blacks last weekend in Sydney.
New Zealand and Australia meet at Eden Park in the second of three Bledisloe Cup tests on Saturday night, with a Wallaby win the only result that will prevent the trans-Tasman trophy form being locked up for another year.
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Connolly, who coached Australia from 2006 until the end of the 2007 World Cup, believes the All Blacks are just too good and it will take a performance of a lifetime from Michael Cheika's side.
"It'll be a difficult night at the office," Connolly told Brendon Telfer.
"Outside something special from Kurtley Beale, you have to wonder how they will rack up a winnable score.
"The All Blacks are tactically brilliant so the Wallabies will need a bit of luck, some Kurtley Beale brilliance and a bit of complacency from New Zealand."
Coach Cheika has been under a whirlwind of pressure in the lead up to the second test, with his poor record since the 2015 World Cup final being highlighted.
Cheika has only beaten the All Blacks once in seven attempts since the final, while also overseeing home losses to England, Scotland and Ireland with mixed results oversees.
Connolly doesn't buy in to the talk that the 51-year-old could be dumped if Australia are soundly beaten, but he does believe there needs to be some changes made in the coaching set up.
"He [Cheika] will survive and go through to the World Cup," Connolly told RadioLIVE.
"Michael brings a lot of good stuff to the table but there may be a need for a few tactical improvements.
"As soon as a coach falls to around a fifty per cent winning record then you are going to be under the pump.
"There is no doubt that selections fall into the equation.
"We have had one first-five for the last five seasons in Bernard Foley but we haven't been able to develop another one.
"To have a great team you need great players and you could argue that we haven't developed any."
The Wallabies were hammered at set-piece in Sydney, losing seven of their own lineouts and copping five penalties at scrum time.
Cheika has made changes to his front row with Scott Sio and Allan Alaalatoa replacing Tom Robertson and Sekope Kepu.
Connolly isn't convinced the new prop duo will rectify Australia's scrum woes, but does expect a better lineout display from the Wallabies.
"The lineout they can fix," Connolly told RadioLIVE.
"They control the numbers on their own ball so they can remove some of the key All Black jumpers by going to four or five in the lineout.
"They can simplify things and try and get the ball in and out as quick as possible.
"I think we will see a lot of that at Eden Park.
"The Crusaders front row didn't exactly tear teams apart at Super Rugby this year but they demolished the Wallabies last week.
"Scott Sio should make a big difference to the Australian scrum but I'm not convinced dropping Sekope Kepu for Allan Alaalatoa will be of any benefit.
"Australia have to work out a way to break that black wall down and I'm just not convinced they can."
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