Rookie opener Ed Cowan concedes injured all-rounder Shane Watson must come straight back into the Test line-up when he recovers from a calf injury – but just not at the top of the order.
Cowan has made a solid start to his Test career since debuting in the first Test against India on Boxing Day.
The 29-year-old is averaging 41.5 having made 166 runs in four innings, including two half-centuries, and has formed a strong opening partnership with man of the moment David Warner.
Despite Cowan's seamless transition into the Test arena, fitting Watson back into the starting XI for the March-April tour of the West Indies remains a major talking point and a very real dilemma for the selection panel.
But the Tasmanian-based New South Welshman has no intention of stepping aside meekly.
"He's probably the best player in the country so they certainly do have to fit him in," Cowan said of Watson at the SCG nets on Friday morning.
"It's no different to any other team when guys are coming back, you've got to hold your place through weight of runs and how I see my job is to make it so difficult for the selectors that Shane Watson has to bat somewhere else in the batting order."
"And that's simply done by me going out and scoring runs and the rest takes care of itself."
"If they're having a discussion that Shane Watson should be opening the batting then I'm not doing my job, and that's the nature of the game."
Asked if he feels he has done his job already, an honest Cowan replied: "Two fifties in two games, probably not. That's ok, that's a pass but it's not brilliant, so that's why there's the excitement for this Test match (starting in Adelaide on Tuesday) as well to really cement that spot and make that a really difficult conversation before the tour of the West Indies."
"It really is about me sticking to being myself, I've got David Warner at the other end that will be himself as we saw last week."
"I've got to play how I need to play to score runs and I'm really confident if I do that then I will score the runs and Shane Watson will be in the team, but hopefully not at the top of the order."
Cowan insists he feels comfortable at Test level but lamented his inability to convert either of his half-centuries into a maiden Test ton.
"I pride myself on being able to score the big scores once I'm set so that's been a disappointing aspect but hopefully I can try and rectify that next week," he said.
"I think I've probably thought about it too much the two times that I've been in."
"There was that moment in Perth when I looked up and thought 'I'm flying again this morning, if I keep going like this I'll be 100 by lunch' but then all of a sudden you're sitting on your bum back in the change room."
Meanwhile, Cowan believes the Australian team is 'on the verge of something special' ahead of the fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval.
"4-0 would be an absolute drubbing of the second best team in the world so if we can pull that off - which as a group we're pretty confident we can if we reproduce the cricket that we have of late - then that would be a fantastic achievement and something really well deserved for the team."