Cheika's journey as Australia's coach begins when the Wallabies play the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday morning (AEDT), and the NSW Waratahs championship winner admits he is nervous.

The Wallabies hope the match will end a turbulent period, dominated by the ongoing Kurtley Beale-Di Patston saga and coach Ewen McKenzie's decision to quit.

But while the perception of Cheika paints a fiery picture, he says he won't treat the players like they are in prison and jokes the easiest way to prevent off-field drama is to make them work so hard at training they are too tired to do anything else.

"It's been a bit hectic … I was only sitting on my couch last week, I wasn't planning on screaming and yelling at guys," Cheika said.

"One thing that guys aren't going to get in our set-up is [being] spoon fed. You need men to win things, men have to stand up and take responsibility, be accountable for their actions.

"If we can get more united in switching on and switching off, that will give us an edge. We're representing the whole country every time we play, we want to make sure everyone is proud of the team. We can do that by getting every day at a high quality … more about self-belief to say we're going to be in this fight, we're going to be competitive in every match we play and believe we can come out at the right end."

Cheika has had just 10 days to make his mark on the Wallabies after signing a three-year deal to replace McKenzie.

The five-game spring tour of Europe looms as crucial preparation for the World Cup, given the Wallabies won't be back together until June next year.

To fast-track the game plan and team environment, Cheika has already made a few things clear to his players. He wants physicality, passion, a united front and honesty. Those aspects of the team set-up are non-negotiable, as well as a ban on using mobile phones at team dinners or walking between drills at training.

"It's not prison. It's about balance around a united team and having normality in your life," he said. "We're starting to build a few team rules along the way and finding some novel ways about how to introduce them ... it's just about everyone respecting everyone."

Cheika led the Waratahs to their inaugural Super Rugby title this season.

For many of the Wallabies he was a rival coach just last week, but now they are putting their faith in the man who handed out golf clubs to NSW players before the Super Rugby grand final to inspire them.

"I was excited to come in, I'd been told about things and you get over the rivalry early on," ACT Brumbies playmaker Matt Toomua said.

"You gain things from your coach instead of having hurdles or juvenile feelings towards it. This is the start of an exciting tour; we can try to do something special as a team. There are less distractions."

Cheika's vision for the Wallabies is simple: he wants to create an environment to make Australia's best players even better and so enjoyable they don't want to leave.

"The way we can keep a lot more players in Australia - let's just forget about money for a bit - is if we make sure they come to play in the national team, that they enjoy it and like what they do," he said. "When that happens, it makes it hard to leave because you're going to the unknown [overseas].

"Yes, there might be other baits and trappings that come with that … let's make this one of the best places to play rugby and, if you leave, you may miss out."

Cheika played in Australia and overseas and cut his teeth as a coach at Leinster in Ireland and Stade Francais in France before joining the Waratahs.

Coaching the Wallabies was a pipedream until two weeks ago when McKenzie quit after losing the Bledisloe Cup to New Zealand.

The Wallabies job could be viewed as a poisoned chalice, given the ARU is onto its third coach in 16 months. The Wallabies are in desperate need of stability.

So what has Cheika brought to the Test squad?

"He's been outstanding, one of the things he's brought is honesty and accountability to the group," halfback Will Genia said. "He's a very likeable person, his honesty tells you how it is. He's a genuine guy and you know what you're going to get. The one thing from a footy side of things is that he's brought in a sense of physicality. It worked at the Waratahs, he's passionate about it and he's got the boys stuck in to making sure we have that physical presence at Test level."

The Wallabies found out just how physical at training during the week. There is no walking allowed and almost no holds barred on the field.

"Cheik has spoken about improving our physicality, it's been a physical week. I'm looking forward to going upstairs and lying down, to be honest," Toomua said after training.

Cheika's reply? "It's a new version of discipline; get everyone so tired that they can't go out at night."