The All Blacks, for all their Bledisloe dominance in the last 14 years, have never once taken anything for granted. There's no puzzle or confusion in any of this - they head into every test against the Wallabies knowing that fire and brimstone are coming their way.
It's no different this time round. Nothing has changed and probably never will. So what that the Australian teams didn't have a great Super Rugby competition? It hardly matters now because for the last few weeks, a squad of good Australian players - under the tutelage of a good coach - have been working their socks off to get ready to put a performance together.
The Wallabies are going to be a treacherously good side on Saturday night at a venue where the All Blacks haven't got the greatest record. That much is locked into the All Blacks' thinking, so Cheika is unlikely to gain traction by suggesting New Zealand don't believe they have much to fear.
The All Blacks can see that for what it is - an attempt by Cheika to push his own troops further into a siege mentality. It's all about creating the idea that the All Blacks don't respect the Wallabies; that they have come across the Tasman for a bit of pass and giggle and are too consumed by their own achievements to take little old Australia seriously.
"That's what they really think, so I understand what he's saying," said Cheika after hearing All Blacks coach Steve Hansen's comments on arrival that the Wallabies have "enough problems of their own".
"We'll just be doing our best when we play them. I know not many people are expecting us, as he [Hansen] isn't, to do much with that but we'll prepare to our best and see how we go.
"When they say we've got our own problems that's what they're referring to, the fact that we can't beat them. I don't know what he's upset about. For us, we know how we're thought of I suppose, we know that they think we're no chance to do anything."
Where Cheika has struck on something of genuine intrigue, though, is the choice Hansen must make at openside flanker and first-five. Sam Cane and Aaron Cruden are the men in possession but Ardie Savea and Beauden Barrett have been in sensational form.
Modern test rugby creates opportunity for all for to be effectively used but in the case of Barrett in particular, he's on such a good run at the moment that confining him to 30 minutes off the bench feels like it would be a waste of his talents.
Why use him sparingly this week? Why restrict his influence to a second half cameo as has mostly been his All Blacks' fate when he's shown that he can be a game changer when he starts?
It's a tricky decision for Hansen but it's one they are well set up to handle. Whichever roles the respective players are handed they will buy into that. There won't be any sulking, or dramas or secret undermining of the team. It's a big week, it's a long 80 minutes and while it's going to be fascinating to see which way the All Blacks go with their selections, they will be quite happy to be picking from the four options they have.
- By Gregor Paul of the New Zealand Herald