Forget the talk about defence, execution and breakdown technique. The Waratahs won a Super Rugby title last year and in some style, using a winning combination of smarts, flair and power, most importantly.

Those attributes haven't deserted them in the off-season, no matter how poorly Dave Dennis and his men accounted for themselves against the Western Force last week.

As assistant coach Nathan Grey said before the team flew to Melbourne on Thursday: "The biggest problem with that is the six inches between the ears".

Friday night is a test of the Waratahs' maturity. Do they judge themselves as champions and perform accordingly or has the "we've done nothing" narrative gone a little too quickly to their heads?

"We were a little bit passive going into that contact situation," Grey said. "Put that down to a little bit of rustiness and the guys not really being ready for that challenge and, as [Michael Cheika] said, as a coaching group we have to take responsibility for that. This week's been excellent at training and we're really looking forward to delivering a real Waratahs performance."

Last year a real Waratahs performance meant countering a Western Force game plan with more power. Crash or crash through doesn't sound like the tactics of champions but it worked when teams tried to shut down the Waratahs' attack. The assumption is that the Rebels will copy the Force's tactics but the Tony McGahan-coached side's watershed first victory against NSW, in 2013, was about much more than dawdling at set piece and slowing down the Waratahs' ball – though of the latter there will be plenty.

The Rebels forced NSW to defend for their lives in that game and they were prepared to do the same, making more than 200 tackles. Young gun Tom English was anything but "laxative", scoring two tries, and Jason Woodward made the Waratahs pay for ill discipline with four penalty goals. Woodward has headed back across the ditch, and the halfback that night, Nick Phipps, has swapped the five stars for the sky blue. But the Rebels are fresh from their giant-killing exploits in Christchurch last week and the Waratahs are justifiably wary.

"They played some good footy, their defence was excellent and they shut down the Crusaders really well," Grey said. "They have a number of guys playing well and they're quite cohesive as a team at the moment so we know they're going to be a very big challenge."

The late withdrawal of Wycliff Palu adds another layer of complexity. Palu more often than not lays down a marker off which many of his fellow forwards base their physicality. Will Skelton – one of the few who played to his potential in round one – Jacques Potgieter, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Sekope Kepu will have to set the tone early and often this week, without relying on their wrecking-ball talisman to spark the fire.

Stephen Hoiles adds mobility and work rate to the NSW back row. He started at No.6 in the Waratahs' grand final clash with the Crusaders last year and would have smarted on the sidelines watching his teammates implode against the Force.

As for the six inches between the ears, guarantees are hard to come by. But if the champions are ready to behave like champions and ditch the pretensions of humility, the "real Waratahs" might actually stand up.

"All the players were disappointed and almost embarrassed by that performance and had a tough Monday, looking at that game again," captain Dennis said. "[The Rebels] are in a good position to perform again, they'll take a lot of confidence out of last week against the Crusaders. We were challenged last week and we didn't respond and we're going to get challenged again [Friday] night and it's how we respond that matters."