For all the encouraging signs from Joe Schmidt’s first year as Australia head coach, the challenges of building a Wallabies team to face the British & Irish Lions this summer are never far away.
Noah Lolesio, who has become the first-choice fly half under Schmidt, has announced that he will move away from Australia next season to take up an offer from an unnamed club in Japan.
The 25-year-old remains contracted with the Brumbies and Rugby Australia until October, but his impending departure could cast doubt on his participation in the Lions series, as Schmidt has indicated a preference for picking players contractually committed to staying in Australia.
The news of Lolesio’s move came shortly after a stark reminder of another luminous talent who has certainly been lost to the Wallabies for the time being. Jordan Petaia, the gifted outside back, who won the most recent of his 31 caps at the 2023 World Cup, has been pursuing an alternative career option on the NFL’s International Player Pathway in recent months and last week it was announced that he had signed as a tight end with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Petaia has decided to follow the trail taken by Louis Rees-Zammit, the former Wales wing, in trying his hand at American football
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At such a crucial time for Australian rugby, here was confirmation of another big fish that had slipped through the net, an indication of the perennial battles Rugby Australia faces to retain some of its leading lights. Usually those battles are fought with rival football codes in their own country, but Petaia’s decision to follow the trail taken by Louis Rees-Zammit, the former Wales wing, in trying his hand at American football was a significant blow to a nation with a playing pool dwarfed by the likes of New Zealand and South Africa, their Rugby Championship rivals.
Schmidt himself is moving on, of course, after he has overseen the Lions series in July and August, and the Rugby Championship that follows. His departure was not one caused by financial motives, rather a preference to spend less time away from his family in New Zealand, but the destabilising prospect of another change of head coach, less than two years after he succeeded Eddie Jones, was a factor in Lolesio’s decision.
“Joe not being here after the Rugby Championship definitely made it tougher for me to stay,” Lolesio said. “Just the unknown of who the next coach will be and if I do stay, then go through the whole cycle again.
“I’m not putting it on Joe because I totally understand why he’s leaving. He’s got a family, he’s got to look after his family as well. I’m for ever thankful for what he’s done for me and my career. And I thanked him on that as well. But that was one of the main reasons why I decided to head overseas.”
Even though he will not be around for Australia next year, Schmidt must take into account the longer-term requirements of his present employer
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After making his way in international rugby under Dave Rennie, Lolesio fell from favour completely during Jones’s tumultuous period in charge, and did not play at all during the 2023 World Cup. But Schmidt then backed him to play an instrumental role in reviving the side and his playmaking skills were evident in the thrilling 42-37 victory over England in November, as he started at No10 in all four of Australia’s autumn internationals.
That game at Twickenham brought the memorable international debut of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, one player Rugby Australia broke the bank to sign from the NRL, but they often find themselves being outbid for players from clubs overseas. Tom Hooper, the 23-year-old lock, will reportedly be roughly doubling his salary when he joins Exeter Chiefs next season.
There are no hard and fast rules for Schmidt to follow in deciding whether he should select Australian players based overseas. But Rugby Australia is keen to incentivise players to stay with one of their four Super Rugby Pacific franchises, and, in January, Langi Gleeson, the Waratahs No8, was deselected from a Wallabies training camp when his intention to move to join Montpellier next season was announced. Hooper, the Brumbies lock, has also placed his international future in doubt by signing for Exeter.
“Joe has been open about not picking them,” Lolesio said. “He said ideally he wanted me to stay and he’s got to factor in the future for boys that want to stay in Australia, which is fair enough. But he also said that the window’s not fully closed. I’m still contracted here until October, so I’ll still be available. Hopefully, my performances for the rest of the season can put a good step forward for selection for that Lions series.”
Schmidt, then, finds himself in a position where, even though he will not be around next year, he must take into account the longer-term requirements of his employer, Rugby Australia, which needs as many talented players to stay at home as possible. But he must also do everything he can to give the Wallabies their best chance of winning a Lions series that is so important to the health of the game in Australia.
He cannot afford to lose too many players. Max Jorgensen, the wing who scored the late match-winning try against England at Twickenham, recently suffered an ankle injury that could jeopardise his chances of playing against the Lions, and every time a key player falls by the wayside, there is a reminder to Schmidt of the limited playing resources at his disposal.
As the Lions series comes ever more sharply into view, the chances are that Schmidt will simply want to pick the best players who are available, wherever they are due to play their rugby next year.