The 24-year-old New Zealand junior was buoyed by words from Wallabies coach Dave Rennie last week, telling Test hopefuls form will trump reputations when he takes charge.

Simone signed a two-year contract extension and is only at the start of his Super Rugby career, moving to Canberra last year and cementing his spot at inside centre.

It's unlikely he was on Michael Cheika's Wallabies radar last year, but the departure of Samu Kerevi, Christian Lealiifano and Bernard Foley has opened the door for new candidates to announce their arrival.

James O'Connor and Matt Toomua can both play in the No. 12 role, while Billy Meakes has been involved in several Wallabies training camps.

But Simone, a former New Zealand schoolboy representative, wants to put his name on the list of inside centre options, inspired by Rennie's visit to Brumbies training and his open selection policy.

"It's one of my goals [to play for the Wallabies]. But my priority is Brumbies at the moment if everything else will take care of itself," Simone said.

"It was a long process [to re-sign with the Brumbies], we came to the conclusion I'm happy to be here and I love Canberra.

"I came down here with my own goals. I got the opportunity and I didn't look back, I wanted to grab it with both hands and I haven't looked back."

MORE CANBERRA SPORT

The Brumbies will be looking to extend their home winning streak to 10 games when they play the Melbourne Rebels on Friday night.

The Brumbies haven't lost in Canberra since they were beaten by the Rebels in round one last year. In fact, the Brumbies have lost just twice at home since May, 2018 and both of those games have been against their Melbourne rivals.

Rennie's clean slate has added extra motivation for Australian derbies this year, with fringe Wallabies viewing the Super Rugby season as an opportunity to impress the new national coach.

Simone will square off with Toomua and Meakes in the inside backs, while Rennie is also keeping a close eye on Noah Lolesio's development as the Brumbies' chief playmaker.

Lolesio made his debut last week and the Brumbies will manage his workload this season, but Simone hopes he can forge an inside backs partnership with the 20-year-old.

"We're trying to build that combination and cohesion. Noah's a great player, he's young and he's still got a lot of things to learn, like me," Simone said.

"But I back the young kid. He's got a lot of energy about him and now we've just got to keep building."

Simone has been in Australia since joining the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2014 before switching to the NSW Waratahs in 2017.

He played 10 games in his first season, but had to wait until his move to the Brumbies last year to add to his tally.

Rennie was impressed by the Brumbies last week, but was reluctant to single out players he was earmarking for Wallabies duties.

"There's a lot of talent in Australia, I'm not going to talk about individuals to put any extra pressure on them," Rennie said.

"It was nice to see what I saw [in Canberra], we'll watch closely this year. We're hoping from big things from the Australian sides in Super Rugby to get a lot of confidence going into the international window."

SUPER RUGBY ROUND TWO

Friday: ACT Brumbies v Melbourne Rebels at Canberra Stadium, 7.15pm