Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii might be the most important protagonist in the story of Australian rugby since Dally Messenger.
Messenger’s 1907 code switch from rugby union to rugby league signalled the tipping point in primacy between the two codes, from which rugby would never recover. We came close in the early 2000s, but ultimately, the NRL has won the battle for the hearts and minds of Australia’s east coast.
I don’t think Suaalii’s presence alone will immediately reverse our place in the pecking order of the public consciousness, but he has the potential to turn the tide and cause our sport to grow for the first time in decades, escaping our seemingly inevitable decay.
Why am I so confident he is the messiah?
I don’t think there’s ever been an Australian rugby player who has captured the attention of the Australian rugby community as they’ve grown up quite like Joseph Suaalii. No player has been talked about so much before they’d even played a professional game.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
Australia’s rugby community was so in awe of his abilities that they largely supported the most audacious contract signing in Australian sporting history: paying more for a player than they ever had before—multiple times what they pay their other stars—for a 19-year-old who had never played a rugby game against adults… and many still saw it as a bargain. Anyone who knew rugby and saw this kid play rugby knew he was special.
He played for the First XV for Kings, one of the biggest rugby schools in the country when he was just 14.
The NRL made a special exemption to their rules to allow him to play in one of the most physical competitions in the world at just 17. He made the NSW State of Origin team when he was just 20 (even though they knew he’d signed to leave the sport).
And the moment he was available for Wallabies selection, a month after his 21st birthday, one of the smartest coaches in rugby believed that after only a month of training with the team, he was good enough to start for the national team. Not just make the squad, not just get some time off the bench to see how he’d go. No. Joe Schmidt started him, against England, in front of 82,000 screaming English fans at Twickenham, in one of the most difficult defensive positions in the team… and he won Player of the Match.
We haven’t even seen him play a game of Super Rugby yet.
We could be at the dawn of a defining era of Australian rugby. He could be the player who changes the way the Australian public sees our sport.
He isn’t just a generational rugby player; he is a generational athlete. He has the potential to become the biggest sporting star in the country. He could become the face of rugby.
He could do to Australian rugby what Michael Jordan did for the NBA—inspire the next generation of gifted athletes to pursue his path in our sport.
I know he must see the way we look at him, with messianic wonder. He knows how much pressure is on him to live up to the hype… and yet he seems completely untroubled by it—he may even enjoy it.
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He knows exactly what he is capable of and he seems confident he will exceed our expectations. He knows he has a gift, and he has been blessed with the conviction and motivation not to waste it.
Australian rugby fans know a messiah when they see one—we’ve followed a few. But never has one seemed closer to the real thing, never has hope been so palpable. This feels like salvation. Surrender to it.
Strap yourselves in, you’re about to watch some games you’ll be telling your grandchildren about.
