THE key thing to realise after Wales's autumn series is that we are on a journey. We haven't arrived yet.

Like everyone else, I was delighted with the win over Australia.

Beating one of the big three was essential to show we are serious about kicking on and not just being satisfied with being Six Nations champions.

But we haven't become world-beaters in the space of three weeks.

We are a good side who are showing signs of becoming a very good one, but Warren Gatland will know as well as anyone how important it is not to think we've cracked it just because we've had a win over Australia.

We have made a lot of progress. But the aim now has to be to compete consistently when we take on the best of the southern hemisphere.

Gatland's players will also have to learn to live with the burden of expectation.

That can be hard because not only do your own people believe you have a right to victory but opposition sides are incredibly fired up when they play you.

It happened in my final season with Wales.

We were going for the triple Triple Crown and the press had built us to be unbeatable.

But no side is unbeatable and Ireland were determined to prove it. Having been written off by everyone, they wanted to show they could play a bit as well.

I will never forget the game in Lansdowne Road in 1978.

The Irish were so wound up they were unrecognisable when they took the field. Mates from Lions tours simply snarled at you, as if they didn't know you.

I am not saying Wales will meet that level of hostility in the coming months, but the point is that being feted as the best can be a double-edged sword.

Certainly, Brian O'Driscoll and Co will be determined to test how good Wales are in the Six Nations. Players say they don't read newspapers, but they do. And if some other team are being built up, people want to bring them down a peg or two.

But successful sides deal with that.

The encouraging thing about Warren Gatland's regime is that the coaches are rarely completely satisfied.

Even after the win over the Wallabies they will be reflecting on the odd ball that was dropped, the line-out throws that went astray, the missed kicks at goal.

And that constant desire to improve gets through to the players.

So after Saturday Alun Wyn Jones (inset) put on record his belief that Wales could still improve by 20 per cent.

My big concern is over our strength in depth.

In certain positions there's no problem. At loose-head prop, players are queuing up to get a look in. Similarly, when Mike Phillips is fit there will be plenty of competition at scrum-half.

But I worry about tight-head prop. What happens if Adam Jones gets injured? Rhys Thomas's scrummaging is said to be a work in progress. Who else is there to come in?

Similarly, Martyn Williams doesn't exactly have a glut of candidates pushing him for the No. 7 jersey. He is 33, with the next World Cup starting the day after his 36th birthday.

If he makes it through to New Zealand it will be a great achievement.

But we need other No. 7s to emerge as we go forward.

Where they are coming from I don't know. At the Ospreys, Marty Holah is first-choice No. 7, while Simon Easterby has been playing in the role at the Scarlets with Gavin Thomas a long-term casualty.

Robin Sowden-Taylor is on hand at the Blues, but Gatland needs more than one alternative.

It is about deepening the quality in Welsh rugby.

New Zealand have just won a Grand Slam. But they probably left a team full of players at home who could have gelled together and given most of the European sides a run for their money.

But Wales have done well over the past month. They have worked hard and been rewarded.

I'd give them a seven out of 10 — a fine effort, hopefully with more to come.