Justin Harrison has called for Joe Schmidt to end his "Russian roulette" selection if the Wallabies are to finish a slumping season on a high against France in Paris on Sunday (AEDT).
Australia showed the ability to play at a very high level in 2025 in upset victories over the Springboks in Johannesburg and the British and Irish Lions in Sydney.
But those performances have been the exception rather than the rule and Schmidt's squad is now reeling after consecutive losses to England, Italy and Ireland.
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Ex-Wallabies lock Harrison is also the chief executive of Australia's players association.
The Test at Stade de France will be the 15th of the year, a number the Wallabies have hit only once before, in 2016.
Wallabies legend James Slipper said that volume was "probably" too much from a high performance perspective but Harrison played down the fatigue factor.
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"What we'd probably like to see is a bit of consistency in that team selection, right? There's a bit of Russian roulette happening with players in and out, and a bit of consistency will give familiarity and confidence," Harrison said on Stan Sport's Between Two Posts.
"That's probably what we're not seeing now, confidence. A confident team versus the British and Irish Lions, not as confident now."
A revolving door at No.10 continues to plague the Wallabies.
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Schmidt had settled on Noah Lolesio as his lead man before he suffered a season ending injury in the opening game of the campaign against Fiji in Newcastle.
Tom Lynagh then started all three Tests against the Lions but is also now on the sidelines getting his body right.
Tane Edmed and James O'Connor have both struggled in the northern hemisphere and O'Connor has been released from the squad to return to the Leicester Tigers.
Schmidt will hope to have another look at Carter Gordon (quad), who offered promise despite the loss to Italy.
France will look to follow Ireland's lead and expose Australia's shoddy work under the high ball and at lineout time.
But they're not the only issues to sift through.
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"This French Test, there's probably three or four things I'd like to see," Wallabies great Michael Hooper said.
"Namely set piece, so to win this game you're going to have to have a good set piece, you know that's gonna be a factor.
"It was really highlighted in Italy, but there was a lot of turnover ball.
"Discipline, it was labelled, but it was inaccuracy and probably lack of urgency in and around the breakdown that the Italians got into the game… we've talked about the kick battle. So blueprint for playing Australia at the moment is you put the ball into the air, you're going to get rewarded sometimes.
"And then the defensive system, I'd like to see – not an all out guns blazing, burn the boats, everyone shoot out and try and find a target.
"No, good controlled line speed, moving forward, putting the French under pressure, and showing the edges more so rather than solving."
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France beat Fiji 34-21 at the weekend.
"If the French want to go, they can go over the top with a kick or a long pass over the top, and we can recover from that, and then work them off the sideline," Hooper said.
"I would hate to see us sit back and be passive against a team that likes to get front foot ball, get their offload game, get everyone starting to come down those channels with big men, and then unlock their pace on the wing. We've got to stop that before it gets started."
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