Rugby Australia insists all five of its Super Rugby sides deserve a place in the competition, but concedes it's time to prove it on the field.
Despite only registering two wins in the trans-Tasman format last year, chief executive Andy Marinos remains bullish that all Australian teams belong in the competition.
This has been a real point of contention between NZ Rugby and Rugby Australia for a couple of years now - it's time for the Aussie sides to walk the walk.
The Aussie teams performed poorly last year, but they got their way, with all five teams into Super Rugby Pacific. Starting Friday, it's time to show they deserve them.
After weeks of NZ and Australian derbies, the competition finally gets its trans-Tasman element and after two years of intense discussions over Australia's place in the competition, Marinos isn't backing down from the importance of having all five Aussie sides.
"It's very important and we still are bullish," he told Newshub. "We're still not going to move out position on that, because we have to look at the bigger picture here."
Marinos is confident 2022 will look a lot better than last year's hastily thrown-together trans-Tasman format.
"From what I've seen so far this year, there's been an improvement on last year, but there's a big litmus test for all of us this weekend to see where we really are," he admitted.
Reds flanker Liam Wright thinks they've been able to identify the areas where they fell behind last year, but knows all the talk of Australian improvement will count for little, if they can't produce results.
"We've got to show growth," he told Newshub. "Obviously, last year was tough and I guess you get that from not playing that style of rugby for a little while.
"We've got to show some growth on last year."
There's optimism in Australia they can find it, with Wallabies legend Tim Horan impressed with how the competition has started and he thinks this season will be much closer.
"I think we're much better prepared than we were this time last year," Horan told Newshub. "Coming out of Super Rugby AU last year, we were probably underdone, but I think the Waratahs, Brumbies and Reds are really competitive this year."
After nine weeks of brutal Kiwi derbies, Chiefs captain Sam Cane is just looking forward to a change in opponents.
"Eve the coaches coming up with different ways to attack different opposition... it might sound silly, but it's quite refreshing," Cane told Newshub. "Just doing things slightly different."
Australian sides now hope for some different results, when the trans-Tasman rivalry resumes.
Join us at 9pm for live updates of the Chiefs v Waratahs Super Rugby Pacific clash
