Wallabies star Fraser McReight admits it could get a little bit awkward this season but reminded players "that's on you", not Les Kiss, if they're overlooked at the selection table.
Queensland Reds coach Kiss's tricky assignment will begin on Friday in a Super Rugby Pacific opener against the NSW Waratahs in Sydney.
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He will finish the year as Wallabies coach, taking over from good friend Joe Schmidt as Australia's Test coach in August ahead of next year's home Rugby World Cup.
Schmidt debuted 19 players in 2024 and it's left all four Australian sides bursting with Test-capped contenders.
World-class flanker McReight is one of few selection locks ahead of next year's showpiece.
The new Reds captain said Kiss hadn't addressed his side about the balancing act this year, or how he would navigate any conflicts of interest.
But even the champion No.7 admits there will be an urgency to establish himself under the incoming mentor.
"He hasn't and I don't think he will,' McReight told AAP.
"I can't worry about the Wallabies. Your form has to warrant selection.
"Is it awkward for players? A little bit, but we need to understand he's stepping up into a much bigger role.
"He's going to have pressure, and four teams to choose from. If your form doesn't warrant selection that's not on him, that's on you.
"He'll have Joe there, and others to help guide him, and if he's in a tough position he'll find help to make the right call."
Michael Cheika managed the dual roles well in 2015, leading the Waratahs to an 11-5 season in their title defence before steering the Wallabies to the World Cup final later that year.
Eddie Jones won the 2001 Super 12 final with the ACT Brumbies before taking over as Test coach, winning that year's Tri Nations and reaching the 2003 World Cup final.
"We'd run all the Brumbies plays ... it was Brumbies-esque and we'd fit in," former Brumbies and Test star Matt Burke told AAP of that period under Jones.
World Cup-winner Burke expects Kiss, a different personality to Jones and Cheika, to lean on his relationship with Schmidt this year but still make the Wallabies his own.
"Awkward? I don't think so. He has to be incredibly impartial about it and not that he would push the case (of Reds players) but he knows them and what they can do," he said.
"What Waughy's (Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh) trying to create at that joint is not throw the baby out of the bathwater.
"But he'll tweak a few things. The Reds; they're organised, they move the ball around. How much of that will come into the Australian side?"
There is also the added motivation for players to impress whenever they line up against Kiss's Reds.
That was on display when the Waratahs tore through Kiss's men 49-19 in Queensland's final trial game.
"We were pretty poor, but how good, to be honest," McReight said.
"Who wants to be playing their best footy at this stage of the year?"
