Many rugby fans in Australia were worried about Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s recent injury troubles and will of course be duly relieved that he is fit and has shown glimpses of his potential for the Tahs, albeit in a couple of poor performances by the men from Sydney. But the big debate about where he should play has still not been settled.
He was supposed to start at 13 against the Hurricanes in Wellington but injuries forced an early change of position. Then he was moved to fullback against Moana Pasifika and looked quite impressive in Albany but was out of the action for long stretches of the game.
Now only a select few feel that they are part of the action all the time in rugby, but did RA really break the bank for him to play fullback? Of course, Israel Folau played fullback, and he didn’t do it for free either.
But a player like Suaalii should be in the action as much as possible not least to justify his ever-ballooning price tag, but also to give the Wallabies and the Waratahs as big a chance of winning and winning as regularly as possible.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
The first problem to address is where he should play. For this, his performance against England last November is as good a template as any. Playing at outside centre, he continually bossed the English players in the air not just receiving kicks with ease as he does at fullback, but easily outjumping the English players on attack and claiming restart after restart.
This tactic has astonishingly been largely neglected by Dan McKellar and co. and should immediately be brought back into the fold.
But that’s not all. Suaalii might have started at 13 against England but he defended at 12. I’m not sure exactly what the Tahs plan is for him in their defence but I see no problem in him defending at inside centre despite playing at outside centre in attack. We all want to see Suaalii crunch attackers in defence and whichever position allows him to do that best without too much risk of holes opening in NSW and Australian defences sounds good to me.
But something that has been strangely (or at least seemingly) ignored by McKellar and indeed Joe Schmidt is his carrying ability. This shouldn’t actually be a surprise. A 6’5″ 100kg man coming at you at high speed should at least make a dent. I for one would love seeing him receive crash balls and attempting to run over opposition backs who are almost all shorter and smaller than him.
Waratahs head coach Dan McKellar. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Now of course his height could be seen as a disadvantage. It is far harder for him to get low than someone like Sione Tuipulotu who stands at a comparatively meagre 5’10”. Anyone wishing to see this demonstrated would do well to watch Jordie Barrett (who is 6’5″ and weighs in at 104 kg) get folded by French defenders last November. Or, of course, Pieter-Steph du Toit hounding him in the World Cup final. But for the most part, Barrett gets over the gain line and occasionally runs over opposing defenders in style.
And how about goal-kicking? Although we should be cautious of heaping even more pressure on his shoulders, don’t we all want to see him curling kicks in like he did against the St George Illawarra Dragons in 2023? At the very least he should be considered as a back-up option to Creighton or Edmed. Or even a second-string Wallabies kicker.
I don’t agree on many things Matt Williams says, but he shouldn’t be used for clearing rucks. At least not exclusively. If RA want to get the most out of Suaalii they should let him do what he does best. To do anything else would be craziness and set fire to millions of dollars.
