The timing was curious, leaking and spreading with the precision of a calculated political PR play.

The first quotes belonged to Shane Watson in The Australian, then Glenn McGrath added some more juice on ABC Sport’s Grandstand at Stumps.

The little birdies were chirping, and they were all saying the same thing — Steve Smith as Australia’s next Test opener, how about it?

At that time, with play concluded on day two, Smith was one of the not out batters in the midst of an innings that would fail to reach any great heights. He’s had a few of these in sleepy home summers of late, saving his best work for Tests of major significance.

Then at the end of day three, the man himself left us in no doubt as to his own personal feelings on the matter.

“I’m actually happy to go up the top, I’m pretty keen if that’s what they want to do,” Smith told ABC Sport.

Now in the autumn of his career, Smith isn’t feasting on bowling attacks with the brutal abandon of those 2014-2019 years. He’s still one of the very best players in the world, but you sense he now needs a challenge to awaken the most elite version of himself.

And so the concept makes a bit of sense. Smith opens the batting and looks to eke the absolute most out of the last few years of his career, while leaving a middle-order spot for Cameron Green to fill and begin to realise his immense potential.

But should Australia go down this route — and it should be made clear there is little other than conjecture at this point to suggest they will — it would raise questions about what exactly the team is planning for and how they intend to do it.

Is getting Green into the team more important for future-proofing the very top of the order?

Is next summer’s home series against India what the team is building for? The 2025/26 Ashes in Australia?

Or even a massive 2027, which will feature Test series in both India and England and the chance to achieve things this current great outfit hasn’t been capable of?

From the outside looking in, and from a handful of quotes given by players over the past few months, it’s clear a number of them are looking at the 2025/26 Ashes as a potential jumping off point. That’s two summers away.

By that stage Usman Khawaja would be 39, Nathan Lyon 38, Smith 36, Mitch Starc 35, and Mitch Marsh and Josh Hazlewood both 34.

One way or another, a period of mass turnover is coming for this team in the next 18 to 24 months. It can either happen slowly and methodically, or all at once, and there might not be a right or wrong answer.

There was time to ponder all this through much of an SCG day that was lethargic at times, before exploding into life which has now set up a very tasty Test match.

Smith and Marnus Labuschagne laboured on a slow pitch through a first session that featured delays for injury, outfield divots, and a small ball of black tape sitting in the general vicinity of the sightscreen.

Neither looked entirely comfortable, but were all too happy to blame an increasingly unpredictable surface for their struggles and eventual dismissals.

Marsh and Alex Carey put together the partnership that looked like carrying Australia to a healthy first-innings lead, but a dramatic post-tea collapse — sparked by the excellent Aamir Jamal — turned the worm swiftly.

It wasn’t the first time Pakistan had found itself in an advantageous position in this series, and in all those others it had conspired to swiftly undo its own good work.

This, regrettably, would be no different. 

It took eight balls of Pakistan’s second innings to make clear the bad thing was happening again. Abdullah Shafique’s miserable tour was completed with a pair and skipper Shan Masood wrapped his own up with a golden duck.

A twist was threatened by a debutant, the impudent Saim Ayub, whose apparent lack of fear saw Pakistan begin motoring towards a competitive score.

But these Australian bowlers would not be denied. They were patient, precise and eventually devastating, Hazlewood the pick of the bunch this time out. A position of great promise became 7-68 at stumps, yet another nearly-but-not-quite.

How much is too much for a chasing team on this pitch, which is getting trickier with each passing hour?

Anything over 150 much surely be considered testing. Over 200 unlikely. Over 250 highly improbable.

With the lead currently at 82, Pakistan still probably has the best chance to win a Test in Australia any non-Indian touring side has seen in years. It would be a mighty accomplishment for a young team, but one that looks a whole lot less likely than it did an hour before stumps.

It would also be a warning for Australia of what complacency can bring about, even on its own patch. The decisions that will shape this team’s future — like what to do with the soon-to-be-vacant opening spot — are coming down the pipe quickly, but the international schedule is unrelenting.

Day four will likely decide this Test, with Australia now in the box seat to complete a series sweep, but what happens in the days, weeks and months to come will be even more significant.