New Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle says regaining the Bledisloe Cup is her priority, but the Wallabies could end up facing a 2018 decider in Asia.
The symbol of trans-Tasman rugby supremacy has been in New Zealand's hands since 2003.
While both nations will stage a Test in the Rugby Championship, it was confirmed on Wednesday that the third and final 2018 Bledisloe match will be played on October 27 in Japan.
Castle enjoyed a successful start to her tenure, with Australia winning the men's and women's trophies at last weekend's Sydney leg of the sevens world series.
While she recognised Super Rugby success after last season's dismal showing and off-field turmoil was also important, plus the 2019 World Cup, New Zealand-raised Castle understood the national longing to see the Bledisloe return to a local trophy cabinet.
"There's no doubt we need to win the Bledisloe Cup," Castle said.
"It doesn't really matter what we do on the spring tour. Until we win the Bledisloe Cup, it won't be seen as a successful Wallaby season, so that's No.1 on our priority list."
Castle said she had ad a candid conversation with Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.
"He's great to engage with; he's a guy who is enormously passionate about seeing the Wallabies succeed," she said.
"I know that we'll build a really strong working relationship."
With more communication about strength and conditioning across the franchises and the four remaining teams bolstered by former Western Force players, Castle was optimistic about Australian Super Rugby prospects this year.
"You would hope that with the depth of talent now being more centralised over four teams, we're going to start to see winning performances," she said.
Castle says she has spent most of her first couple of weeks listening rather than talking.
The most common feedback among the stakeholders she has engaged with is their yearning to see the sport united after the divisions caused by last year's culling of the Force.
"They don't want to see a fractured sport. They want to see a united sport," Castle said.
She will head to Perth on Thursday intent on building bridges with the rugby community in that city, which was incensed by the decision to scrap the Force.
"It is genuine about building those relationships and making sure that they still really feel a really important part of the family," Castle said.
She stressed it was too early to speculate on Australia's strategy after the broadcasting deal expired in 2020.
Australia had previously flagged the idea of a trans-Tasman competition, which wasn't embraced by New Zealand, and doubt surrounded South Africa's commitment to Super Rugby beyond 2020.
"You've got to be careful you don't get isolated as well - you are in a partnership for a reason," Castle said.
"It's like any business partnership - there's compromise. And that's what you've really got to try and work through."
