Australia must defy history at home and abroad if they're to secure one of the four automatic spots for the inaugural Olympic Games rugby sevens tournament in 2016.
The 2014-15 IRB World Sevens series kicks off this weekend on the Gold Coast, the first in a nine-event campaign which also doubles as an Olympic qualifier. At the end of the series the top four-ranked nations will receive an automatic berth to Rio.
Those nations who miss out will then have to come through a separate regional qualifying tournament to reach the Games.
History suggests cracking the top four will prove a tough task for the Thunderbolts.
Only three times have Australia ended a World Sevens campaign in the top four, the last of those coming in 2009-10.
It's been even longer since Australia won a tournament on home soil, their last success coming in 2001-02.
Coach Geraint John will be leading Australia for the first time in a World Sevens series after steering them to bronze at this year's Commonwealth Games.
The Welshman knows a fast start is needed to keep Australia on track for Rio.
"The first three tournaments before Christmas you need to be in that top five, top six, going into the New Year," John told AAP.
"We'll need to make sure we're doing that. There's no better place to start than at home."
John said he'd taken away plenty from his experiences in Glasgow, his first competitive role since taking on the Australia job in May.
He said there's a clear desire to join New Zealand and Fiji as regular tournament winners on the sevens circuit.
The Fijians actually loom large in Australia's pool and John knows their presence will mean other group games against Scotland and Portugal cannot be taken lightly.
"We have Portugal first and we have to make sure we're prepared for that and ready for that.
"We need to make sure that we're really ready for that and prepared for those two games. "Fiji's the third game ... we know they're talented but we've got to make sure we do game one first, let's look at that, and then game two and then worry about Fiji later in the evening."
The Gold Coast Sevens begins on Saturday from 9.50am AEST (10.50AEDT) with England taking on Argentina. Australia's opening pool match against Portugal kicks off at 12.24pm AEST (13.24AEDT).
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