World Cup‑winning Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer has pointed the finger at Australian players and not under‑siege coach Michael Cheika, claiming in the wake of another embarrassing defeat to New Zealand that they are not fit enough.

The fallout has continued from Australia's 40‑12 loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park, which completed their 16th consecutive Bledisloe Cup series defeat, and the attention has now been turned onto the players' condition.

Last year in June, Cheika put his foot down and stated publicly that players' fitness was not where it needed to be. He put his men through brutal fitness sessions in the lead‑up to the Rugby Championship but, like this year, they were unable to knock off the world's best team.

Dwyer said to stuff.co that in Sydney there were people walking with half an hour to go. He said that you can't really pin that on the Wallaby coaching set‑up.

Dwyer's comments echo that of former All Black Jeff Wilson after the first test.

Wilson said either they've trained too hard and they've gone into the game fatigued and the legs have gone early, or they're not in the right nick.

Data coming out of Super Rugby clubs suggests players are better conditioned but at times in Sydney and Auckland, a select few in the gold jersey looked to be out of breath.

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