Statistically, Australia have held their own against England but have been unable to trouble the scoreboard as often as they would like, leaving them in what was an unthinkable proposition three weeks ago – teetering on the brink of going down in straight sets to Eddie Jones' men in Sydney on Saturday.

"The thing has been not wanting to go three losses down," said vice-captain Michael Hooper on Friday. "We're not going to walk away from this thing happy or pleased in any way. For us we're doing it for everyone, because the public believes in us and wants to see us do well and carry on some good form. We've been working hard; guys have been playing hard, training hard. We need to get a reward and that's what we're playing for tomorrow night."

It is hard to get a gauge on who has more to play for; an England team aiming to become the first side to whitewash Australia in Australia since South Africa in 1971, or a desperate Wallabies team hoping to wrestle back credibility and avenge a three-game losing streak.

"Just when you have a couple of losses, you don't just pack it in and give up," said Wallabies captain Stephen Moore. "When you lose a game you're always disappointed aren't you. We can do better."

Dean Mumm was chopped from a nine-man bench on Friday, meaning Adam Coleman will become just the third Tasmanian-born Wallaby.

Coleman is the seventh Australian second-rower picked across three Tests and Moore has backed the 24-year-old to have a profound impact off the bench.

"He's had really good form in Super Rugby and over in Perth with the Force and I'm really happy for him," Moore said. "He's come in and made the most of his opportunity within the squad. He's trained really well, so he deserves to be making his first Test tomorrow," Moore said.

Hooper agreed with his captain about the Wallabies' newest recruit, saying: "I've been really impressed with Adam and how he carries himself with the second-row role, big guy. Wanting him to use his size and great rugby brain."

There were no issues underfoot for both teams at Allianz Stadium during their captain's runs – a welcome relief from the debacle that was AAMI Park last weekend.

Scrums were almost non-existent given referee Craig Joubert let them play out because players were unable to get sufficient traction.

Hooper said the Wallabies were hell-bent on establishing dominance early in the piece.

"We still haven't ticked the boxes we wanted, we haven't been dominant," Hooper said. "We haven't walked away with a game [where] we've been really pleased with the effort. Last week's tough to take anything from, the ground chewed up. Re-focusing this week, we want to walk away with a dominant scrum performance."

The Wallabies have copped criticism, with the benefit of hindsight however, for kicking for touch instead of taking easy points on offer in Melbourne.

Hooper, who has been Australia's captain in the latter part of matches, said the Wallabies would continue to implement attacking strategies.

" 'Cheik's' really good with giving the leadership group a feel of that and how you want to go about doing that," Hooper said. "I've backed every call Squeak [Stephen Moore] has made and I've been happy with the calls that personally in the back of the game I've made. It is a tough thing to get right."

There are still question marks over England's attack and whether their backline has the tools to penetrate Australia's line outside of driving mauls, while the inclusion of Matt Toomua at No.12 should give the Wallabies fresh ideas to help get over the tryline more often.

"He is coming back from injury too, so it's his first run for a while ... he's prepared and he's ready to go," Moore said. "He's shown I think when he's played that he's a quality player and I'm confident he can do a job for us there."