A 53-24 loss to Scotland will leave a hollow feeling in the stomachs of Wallabies players as they arrive back in Australia after a spring tour that yielded two wins and two losses.

Across the year, the Wallabies won seven, drew two and lost five Tests, which is a slight improvement on 2016 when they managed just six wins from 15 starts.

There is no denying, despite the eight tries to four shellacking at Murrayfield, the Wallabies are tracking in the right direction for the next World Cup.

Injuries across the board, Israel Folau taking an extended holiday and the attrition of a long season were factors that cost Australia in their last two outings on the end-of-year tour.

The last two results, however, create more questions than answers and trying to get a gauge on how the Wallabies will go at the next World Cup is not an easy task.

On top of 13 debutants in 2016, another 14 wore a gold jersey for the first time this year, with Marika Koroibete, Jack Dempsey and Karmichael Hunt the standouts.

In a year where off-field dramas plagued the code, Genia said the overriding feeling among the Wallabies group was positivity.

"While it [the Scotland defeat] was really disappointing, I don't think we can let it overshadow all the significant gains we've made throughout the year," Genia said. "I'd say it's a year [where] we probably didn't start too well but we definitely built in particular areas that we thought we were quite poor at.

"It's about continuing to build on that self-belief and understanding in the way that we want to play the game and I think that in itself grows self-belief moving forward.

"We're building quite nicely. Along the way you're going to get some results like [Saturday] where things don't go your way but it's about maintaining the belief in what you're trying to achieve moving forward long-term and that's certainly the focus of the group. We're willing to wear the tough results along the way."

The concern for the Wallabies though is the improvement of northern hemisphere sides since the last World Cup.

England and Ireland now occupy the second and third ranked spots in the world, while Australia have lost eight matches from 13 attempts against northern hemisphere sides since the end of 2015.

Asked whether teams from the north were bridging the gap, Genia said: "[Saturday's] game is a very good gauge for that. I mean, they played a very, very good brand of rugby. [An] exciting brand of rugby where they were attacking from all parts of the field, playing at pace with quick taps, playing at tempo in terms of lineout and scrums.

"I wouldn't even say there's a gap, I think just sometimes they play well, we don't play well."

Experience cannot be bought in a rugby squad and the Wallabies have lost an absolute veteran in Stephen Moore, whose 129-Test career came to an end on the weekend.

While the result will sting the group, the fact Moore had to sit in a dejected change room after the 29-point loss hurts players more than anything.

"It's just so disappointing to not send him out the way that he deserves to be sent out," Genia said. "On a personal point, I know I can speak for the rest of the team in saying that we were just really disappointed we couldn't do the job for Steve. He spoke in the change room, which is quite special. I guess we'll have to carry that with us."