But Gatland promised that his side would "come in fully loaded" on Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT) to try to land a psychological blow before the two teams meet in the World Cup next year.

Wales have been haunted by a horror losing streak against the Wallabies, which extends back to 2008 and the past nine Tests.

Making matters worse, Gatland has only beaten one of the southern hemisphere big three – Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – just once in 25 matches as Welsh coach.

But while the locals in Cardiff hope the Wallabies will be off their game as they adjust to Michael Cheika's style and recover from the Kurtley Beale drama, Gatland isn't buying into the theory.

"You can't underestimate the Wallabies, a lot of people have been talking about what's happened with Kurtley Beale and those sorts of things," Gatland said.

"Does that make them more vulnerable? With Australians it makes them stronger, they thrive on any adversity and criticism.

"We expect a really tough game on Saturday, we know what to expect and the guys are coming in fully loaded."

New Zealand-born Gatland was Australia's tormentor as British and Irish Lions coach last year, guiding the tourists to a 2-1 series win which ended Robbie Deans' Wallabies tenure.

He almost took down Ewen McKenzie's men in Cardiff a year ago, losing by just four points with the Wallabies holding on for a tight win.

The next Test at Millennium Stadium will be Gatland's third encounter with the Wallabies under three different coaches in just 16 months.

So what does he expect from NSW Waratahs championship-winning mentor Cheika?

"I've got a massive amount of respect for what Michael has achieved," Gatland said.

"He's the only coach that's ever won a European Cup and a Super Rugby title. What he did with Leinster was incredibly impressive and he turned NSW around in a pretty short time.

"By his own admission it will probably take a bit of time, but having seen him operate it won't be that long. He plays a really positive brand of rugby and gets his point across succinctly.

"In 10 months time when they turn up for the World Cup they'll be a real contender. Perhaps psychologically it could be important [to win now] … form gives you confidence but it's not the over-riding factor."

Gatland has previously described the World Cup next year as his team's version of the Olympics.

Wales, Australia and England are grouped in the pool of death with at least one team to be bundled out of the tournament in the group stages.

Wales have won the European Six Nations tournament twice in the past three years.

To get his team ready, Gatland has upped the Welsh training load and have adopted cryogenic-style recovery to have them primed to end their Wallabies hoodoo.

They will also unleash back-line giant George North from the wing to outside centre to set up a mouth-watering clash with Tevita Kuridrani.

"It's going to be a frenetic pace … We've really looked at a long-term plan, we've run things a little bit different in terms of looking at the camps as World Cup camps," Gatland said.

"It's something I think we've been pretty bold and courageous to do, you've got to have the confidence to do what we're doing. To be honest, our whole focus for the next 12 months has to be getting out of our group at the World Cup."