Australia coach Robbie Deans says his side's season-opener against a star-studded Barbarians line-up will be anything but a meaningless exhibition match.

The June 6 clash to be held at the Sydney Football Stadium is the first of four matches in as many weeks for the men in gold, with Tests against Italy in Canberra and Melbourne to be followed by a one-off clash with France in Sydney.

But Deans believes it would be a mistake to look beyond the clash against a Baa Baas line-up boasting almost 900 Test caps, and said: "We're going in the deep end. We'll be conscious of that and the fact the Barbarians would have already had a fixture against the English (at Twickenham on May 30)."

He added: "They've got a good side. They'll have had some preparation and we'll have just gathered so that in itself will bring a focus with it."

Asked if he will allow his players to embrace the carefree approach usually reserved for Baa Baas fixtures, Deans replied: "In terms of how we approach it, within a week we'll want to develop a game whereby we threaten the whole park.

"If we don't we'll be poorer for it, and that's been our approach historically and that'll be our approach going forward.

"How successful we'll be in that will become evident on the day."