Nabuli, 28, will don a gold jersey this weekend at Allianz Stadium after fellow winger Henry Speight was ruled out with a hamstring strain following his two-try effort against Fiji last week.

The former St George Illawarra player will become Wallaby No.908 and cap a remarkable rise to the top after being plucked from obscurity.

Working as hotel porter at theIntercontinental Hotel in Fiji, Nabuli was scouted by league legends Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler during a coaching trip in 2012 and subsequently picked up by the Penrith Panthers.

From there, Nabuli switched clubs, playing 13 NRL matches for St George Illawarra before making the transition to rugby.

After a lean 2016 in which Nabuli scored just one try from 16 matches, the speedster caught the eye of Cheika this year with eight tries in 13 appearances and the Wallabies coach is adamant he will become a handful on the Test arena.

"He will have the ability to step up another level," Cheika said. "The guy seems to have made his own way. He got that opportunity, he took that opportunity in the 13-man game and then he made his own decision to come to the 15-man game.

"You could do worse than having those blokes [Johns and Fittler] go out as talent scouts. They've obviously got the nose for good talent. His improvement from last year to this year with the Reds has been outstanding."

With Speight being monitored for a minor hamstring strain, Cheika said he picked Nabuli over other speedy Fijian wingers Sefa Naivulu and Marika Koroibete because he felt he wanted it more.

"He's had that little bit more edge to be honest during the week," Cheika said. "He looked like he wanted it. He's really knuckled down on his knowledge, he's been very enthusiastic as well. He's merited the opportunity.

"As they've got together and started training against each other, it's got even hotter that contest. Eto's had a good season and he's done a lot of good things since he's been training. He's been very physical and he's been working hard so I thought it was a good opportunity to give him a reward."

Tatafu Polota-Nau has again edged out Stephen Moore for the starting hooker spot in what is an even clearer indication of the pecking order for that position.

Cheika said he would more than likely pick Moore on the bench for the second week in a row but praised Polota-Nau for his excellent scrummaging and performance against Fiji.

"I thought he [Polota-Nau] did enough last week to warrant his selection," Cheika said. "He's probably not used to starting as many games for the Australian team as he probably should have. His set-piece work has been excellent. He's got good physicality. For now I'll be picking the guy who is No.1 there."

This means Michael Hooper will again captain the side on the field, even though the Wallabies say Moore is still the skipper of the team.

Bernard Foley's name at No.10 on the team sheet might send shivers down the spines of Scottish fans after his 80th minute penalty in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final knocked their team out of the tournament.

With only one point separating the teams in their last two clashes, Cheika is tipping another tight tussle in what he says is becoming a terrific rivalry.

"The Scottish are going to bring much more of a threat in some of the more traditional areas," Cheika said. "We know exactly how difficult the game is going to be.

"That's all part of the theatre. I know it's always easy to say in retrospect but it's almost like you know now between the two teams it's going to be that type of game.

"We've got two matches against Scotland - one here and then we finish our November tour up there - so I think it's becoming a nice rivalry and we're looking forward to it."

Asked if he thought the Wallabies would take a psychological advantage into Saturday's game, Cheika said: "I don't think so. I don't feel it internally that we would have an advantage. It's going to be tight mate, I can tell you that."

Cheika will finalise his bench on Friday, with loosehead prop Scott Sio expected to return to the pine after a long lay-off with a knee injury.

Wallabies team to face Scotland at Allianz Stadium on Saturday

1. Tom Robertson (8 Tests)

2. Tatafu Polota-Nau (69 Tests)

3. Allan Alaalatoa (10 Tests)

4. Sam Carter (14 Tests)

5. Adam Coleman (10 Tests)

6. Ned Hanigan (1 Test)

7. Michael Hooper (c) (66 Tests)

8. Scott Higginbotham (33 Tests)

9. Will Genia (76 Tests)

10. Bernard Foley (43 Tests)

11. Eto Nabuli (debut)

12. Karmichael Hunt (1 Test)

13. Tevita Kuridrani (46 Tests)

14. Dane Haylett-Petty (15 Tests)

15. Israel Folau (53 Tests)

Bench: TBC