Farr-Jones, a World Cup-winning captain, threw a grenade at the Wallabies in the lead-up to Saturday's Test by questioning the mental fortitude of Cheika's men heading into a clash with the world's No.1 side.

"My reservation is, do they have the belief and the confidence?" Farr-Jones said. "I hear good things coming out of the camp but unless you're in the camp, you don't really know.

"I'm not in the inner sanctum and I haven't been in the inner sanctum for a hell of a long time but I just don't know if the guys have got that mental toughness that you've seen in past teams. It is that thing of 'whatever it takes'.

"Confidence; you can couple that with mental toughness. It's winning in those critical stages when you're defending a five-metre scrum, you're just in front with a couple of minutes to go. You know that you have whatever it takes to defend your line."

The comments were picked up in the Wallabies camp and no doubt would have been used as motivation.

The Wallabies broke a seven-game losing streak against New Zealand with a hard-fought 23-18 win.

Biting his tongue, Cheika responded to a question about Farr-Jones and how he felt about the comments in the aftermath of one of Australia's finest victories in recent years.

"Like I've always said, everyone's allowed their opinion," Cheika said. "I suppose it hurts a little bit, [mostly] the players in the team when a former Australian captain casts doubt on players who wear the gold jersey.

"I've got maximum respect for Nick Farr-Jones, he captained Australia in a World Cup and the grand slam.

"You never hear us saying a bad word about our Wallabies who achieved [success, or] any of our ex-Wallabies or Classic Wallabies and none who have achieved what he has achieved."

Wallabies players sipped on beers and spent time with their families on Saturday evening celebrating their best win since the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Aside from the deciding British and Irish Lions Test this year, the 18 points the All Blacks scored was the lowest tally they have chalked up in 43 games since September 2014.

A crowd of 45,107 were on deck at Suncorp Stadium to witness Australia's first win over the All Blacks in two years and Cheika took the opportunity to thank the fans who have stood by the team after a tough few years.

"I'm really pleased in particular for the fans," Cheika said. "I'm not just saying that to get a tick next to the name. To give them that type of enjoyment afterwards [is great]. We've had a lot of support up here in Queensland, both on the coast and here in Brizzy. The turnout was excellent even with the weather. That's inspiring for us.

"We'll enjoy it for what it is and then continue on with what we've got to do. We've got a huge tour coming up."