VIDEO: Cheika reveals Wallaby blueprint
Australia host the Irish on three consecutive Saturdays – from June 9 – in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Cheika admitted he was wary of them, with hard work needed to counter the threat.
"We need to play our football, which is an attacking style," the Wallaby coach said.
"We like to play lots of phases and we like to play with a little bit of width as well," he added.
"We want to get something from every attack, but when you do a lot of attacking like we do, you won't always get the reward – so you've just got to stay at it and then, of course, you've got to be very strong defensively.
"But the number one thing would be our work ethic. All the other stuff's inconsequential.
"Work ethic principles are the things we need to build the strongest between now and the World Cup to go to where we want to go and the consistency in delivering that."
Cheika is due to name his squad for the series on Wednesday next week.
One player missing will be lock Rory Arnold, who was banned Sunday for three weeks, ruling him out of contention for the first Test.
Arnold's suspension came after he was red-carded at the weekend while playing for Brumbies in a loss to the Lions in a Super Rugby match in Johannesburg last Saturday.
@rugby365com & AFP
* Is this the worst fake tackle ever?
