Wales are already without British & Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton, Cardiff Blues flanker Ellis Jenkins, Dragons star Ollie Griffiths and Ross Moriarty for the visit of the Wallabies on Saturday.
Justin Tipuric is also a doubt with a thigh problem and Josh Navidi, Sam Cross, Aaron Shingler and Dan Lydiate are all in contention to start.
Despite the loss of so many back-row stars, do Wales have the strength in depth to defeat the Wallabies?
“Yes definitely,” claimed Bath No 8 Faletau.
“We are here because we can play rugby – we are not picked for no apparent reason. We back ourselves to win against anybody. They have a few new back-rowers.
“Michael Hooper is a great leader for them, but we will be fine.”
Warren Gatland looks set to employ a second playmaker in the 12 channel this autumn which in turn may give his Wales side a licence to play wider.
And Faletau believes that this new style of play will benefit both his game and the squad as a whole.
“Through selection and what he has said, you can see Warren wants us to play a bit more rugby rather than just hit-ups and stuff like that,” said the 66-times capped Wales international.
“He has picked the boys to do that. I feel like he is a bit more relaxed and is relaying the message that we are free to play and express ourselves. It gives the back-row a licence to be in the wider channels a bit more and then we communicate more with the backs.
“That’s the only change really, we can work outside the 13s and chat with them in the wide channels. Hopefully you’ll see me there a bit more.”
Wales have lost their previous 12 encounters against the Wallabies, but Faletau believes Gatland’s men can end their barren run this weekend.
“A few of the games have been pretty close,” he said.
“The Aussies play a bit of rugby and get around defences differently to other teams, they move the ball pretty well.
“It comes down to the last 20 minutes of games and sustaining it for the whole 80 minutes. That is where we have fallen off and they have won the games – that last quarter.”
