With just two wins from six matches this year, the Wallaroos enter the inaugural WXV1 as the ultimate underdogs as they open the tournament against the No.1 team in the world England in New Zealand on Friday night.
Winning their way through to the tournament with a strong showing against the USA in the second edition of the Pacific Four tournament in Canada earlier this year, the Wallaroos have yet to post a win since, trounced by Canada 45-7 before they were hammered 43-3 by the Black Ferns last month. It was their second such crushing defeat to their trans-Tasman rivals this year after they were smashed 50-0 in June.
Despite their struggles so far this season the Wallaroos have belief they can compete with the top tier as they prepare to face not only England but No.3 France and No.6 Wales. Australia currently sit fifth on the world rankings.
"Yeah, definitely [we deserve to be here]," Wallaroos halfback Layne Morgan said before the opening Test. "I do believe that our team thinks we deserve to be a tier one team, but I do understand that we haven't given the performance that we've wanted to in these last couple of games.
"I do think we deserve to be here and are definitely top contenders in this competition and I think every girl out there would agree and we can't wait to share what we've got this WVX."
Preparing to face an England side that pounced in the wet weather and sent the Wallaroos packing in last year's World Cup quarterfinal, Wallaroos captain Michaela Leonard echoed her halfback's thoughts as her team looks to turn their fortunes around.
"100% [we can match the top tier], I mean we're here for a reason, right?" Leonard told media on Wednesday morning. "Our work through Pac4 and our work in World Cup last year, we've shown that we can compete with these teams and against these teams and I know I have the belief, the coaching staff have the belief, and the girls all have the belief that we can do it this weekend.
"We've been building to sort of refine our set piece and our structures and our sets so that we can come out there, but the belief's definitely there, we just need to get it out on the field and execute it now."
While WXV2 and WXV3 kicked off last weekend with some lopsided results, the Wallaroos will get the chance to open the tier one version, where they hope to be on the right side of the ledger, and although the odds are stacked against them there still remains a feeling of excitement amongst the squad.
"Yeah, definitely it's really exciting," Leonard said. "I think I've said a few times over the last few months that we want to keep challenging ourselves to be the best in the world and to do that we need to compete with the best in the world.
"I think getting the opportunity to play against England, France and Wales during this campaign is just gonna help building on, I guess, what we've learned over the last few months against the Black Ferns and help put us in good stead to challenge that sort of world standings and keep moving up that ranking."
The Red Roses, meanwhile, will enter the tournament with a point to prove after they were stunned by the Black Ferns in the World Cup final, ending their world record 30-game win streak. The Wallaroos won't be hiding away from the task ahead, with assistant coach Sione Fukofuka challenging his "underdog" side to show their "mongrel".
"We know we're playing the number 1 (England) I the world this week, number 3 in the world next week (France) and building into a very good Welsh team, so each game we want to improve our performances," Fukofuka said.
"We have nothing but respect for England (and) we know the threats they can bring, but we're also pretty confident that if we can get in the fight and disrupt their ball, we're a chance at creating scoring opportunities and turnovers to play off.
"We need to be a bit more mongrel; we need to be bit more aggressive if not a lot of more aggressive in those areas around our line speed, our contact and competing at the ball both sides of the breakdown."
According to Leonard, they've displayed glimpses of that mongrel before, particularly in their 37-minute effort in the second half against the Black Ferns last month where they prevented New Zealand from scoring a point after they conceded a downpour of tries in the opening half.
"Yeah, we take a lot of heart out of that sort of 30 minutes in that second half there," Leonard said. "It's been a big focus and a big mentality we've been trying to bring in as a squad over the last few campaigns; that Aussie battler, sort of never give up, mongrel sort of style, so we took a lot out of that.
"It really showed us that we know we can do it and I guess, yeah, we've been working a lot on that mental skills element now so that we can come out and make sure that we do that all the way through to the final minute."
One area the Wallaroos know they'll face the biggest challenge will be set-piece where the Red Roses are well known to dominate, heavily relying on their impressive rolling maul that took them within metres of winning last year's World Cup.
"Obviously [they're] very set piece dominant and will take us to our set piece fairly regularly," Wallaroos coach Jay Tregonning said. "We know the Black Ferns like to attack from anywhere and are a bit more unpredictable, whereas England, we kind of know what's there and it's obviously down to us to try to stop that.
"We've been working hard during the week from a set piece point of view as well, where again, it's an awesome opportunity for the Wallaroos to play against Six Nations teams and for this to occur every year to increase the experience of the group is outstanding."
Meanwhile, Tregonning has defended his ever changing line-up with the coach forced to make several changes with fullback Lori Cramer out through injury and prop Bridie O'Gorman suspended following her red card against New Zealand, while he explained his decision to move Siokapesi Palu from the centres to the backrow.
"I'll probably challenge that a little bit," Tregonning said when ESPN asked about his chopped and changed squad. "We've made some changes [this year], and obviously there's a few changes within the starting 15 here.
"We were fairly consistent over the Pac 4, giving people opportunities and, you know, the way that obviously comes from a game point of view, we're looking at how players have performed in the game, but also how players have performed at training and rewarding people on performance.
"We're building in connections there, and I think there's some key connections and consistency there as well. I think as a squad we've been very consistent, and the players have been working really hard together.
"Palu has been floating all year as a bit of a utility for us there, floating between the centres and the back row. She's really come a long way over the last two campaigns and has been working with the forwards more predominantly there. She brings a bit of a good line out option and a great ball carrier for us."
Wallaroos line-up:
Brianna Hoy, Tania Naden, Eva Karpani, Michaela Leonard, Annabelle Codey, Siokapesi Palu, Emily Chancellor, Kaitlan Leaney, Layne Morgan, Carys Dallinger, Ivania Wong, Arabella McKenzie, Georgina Friedrichs, Maya Stewart, Faitala Moleka.
Replacements: Adiana Talakai, Bree-Anna Cheatham, Emily Robinson, Atasi Lafai, Ashley Marsters, Sarah Dougherty, Cecilia Smith, Desiree Miller.