With the last season of Super Rugby as we know it complete, Michael Cheika can now leave the Waratahs behind with his head held high.

A premiership and a semi-final defeat to the ultimate victor from two attempts, in what is arguably the toughest rugby outside Test level, is not too shabby.

If the ARU gives our coach sufficient time to develop the Wallaby squad, long suffering fans can be excited about how the team will develop over coming years.

Cheika’s ability to identify and recruit talent has been definitive during his impressive stint with the Waratahs. This started with the signing of South African hit-man Jacques Potgieter.

Jackpot was an essential component of the Waratahs’ 2014 title run, a coach’s answer to a question which has plagued NSW for the past 10 years – how do we make a team of superstars play with the passion of a superstar team?

So Cheika recruited a good old-fashioned mongrel South African lock to bring some aggression to the pack. So important was Potgieter’s contribution in 2014 that I witnessed Phil Kearns confess to having a man crush on him – and while he never quite recaptured those lofty man-crushy heights in 2015, he maintained stellar form (grand final faux pas aside) and his absence will certainly be felt in 2016.

The coach showed us again why he’s got a habit of winning with the signing of Fijian demolition man Taqele Naiyaravoro. The 120-kilogram wrecking ball was stuck in a different code altogether, playing second grade for Wests Tigers. NSW scouted, lured and signed the man who went on to be the Australian conference’s top try scorer in his debut season.

The departure of Sekope Kepu, who based on performance at Test level is Australia’s only world-class prop, leaves some big shoes to fill. Enter new signing Angus Ta’avao, a collaboration deal between Cheika and his successor Daryl Gibson who was the New Zealand Under-20s captain and made 37 appearances at tighthead for the Auckland Blues.

It also appears that the new national coach has learnt from his one mistake with Potgieter. Both Naiyaravoro and Ta’avao are eligible for Wallaby selection, the latter with thanks to a Melbournian mother.

Let that sink in for a second. In the space of one season Cheika’s camp has managed to sign a conference-leading try scorer on the wing and first class tighthead prop, a position that South African legend Danie Craven once mused should be the first to be filled on any team sheet.

These acquisitions show Cheika’s coaching pedigree and while he, like every other person who sets foot in Camp Wallaby this year, will need to lift his game if the Wallabies are to win, this ability to identify and recruit talent is a promising sign.

All of this is before you consider Australia’s only true superstar, Israel Folau. Folau has pointed to Cheika as a key reason for his decision to stay in the code which, financial compensation aside, was never a given.

Add too Michael Hooper’s decision to re-sign for a few more years without a thought of flexible arrangements and one gets the feeling that Cheika’s plan to keep players in Australia by making the experience of playing Wallaby rugby the best anywhere in the world might just be working.

Imagine how that culture may continue to develop if he can get the team to start winning.

Now the extended 40-man squad has been named, and it has set the blog-o-sphere alight with discussion. It represents what I believe is a carefully considered mix of foundation players, old faces revived (both local and from overseas) and exciting prospects.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work it out, but selections and recruitment matters. Don’t believe me? Why not ask Bob Dwyer. He coached Australia to our first World Cup in 1991.

Around the start of his second appointment as head coach Dwyer made a bold recruitment decision, and pulled a hard-headed, upstart hooker out of second grade at Randwick up to Test level. That hooker was the great Phil Kearns, who would go on to earn 67 Wallaby caps, 10 as the captain and be one of only six players to win the World Cup twice.

At the time Kearns was plucked from second grade an interesting situation transpired. Having been overlooked for Kearns by Dwyer, the first grade Randwick hooker at the time would learn a lesson about the importance of selections and the ability to spot a player with the ability to go all the way.

His name was Eddie Jones, and he would go on to coach Australia though an era of high and lows. But credit where credit is due, he came within a drop-goal of sealing Australia’s third World Cup. To put that in perspective, at the time (and to this day) no other team in World Rugby had even won two – and Australia came within three points and a couple of minutes of winning a third under Jones.

Jones selected Matt Giteau in the same way that Dwyer had selected Kearns, who made his Test debut against England in 2002. At the time Giteau had not earned even one cap playing Super Rugby.

The linage of this story does not end there, because keen rugby historians will know that Dwyer, Jones and now Cheika – and my father would disown me for saying this being a lifetime Eastwood player and supporter – are all of Randwick stock.

Cheika has now recalled that same player, Matt Giteau in the hope of sparking something in the Wallabies in the lead-up to this year’s World Cup tournament. Andrew Logan penned a magnificent article on Giteau recently, for those who haven’t I would recommend giving it a look.

All of this leads to the question, how is Cheika going to go about selections?

I would like he think he goes wild, but the truth will likely be so much more mundane than that. One part of being a good selector is being a sensible selector. Fortunately, as a writer, I am bound by no such laws of common sense and would like to toss a few ideas around.

One thing that was plain to see in the Super Rugby final series is that New Zealand teams (the benchmark) distinguish themselves above all others in terms of basic skills. The final was undeniably one of the best games of rugby that has ever been played, and that comes down to the basics.

In the final soft hands in the forwards were as common as outstanding rucking by the backs. New Zealand just places so much more emphasis on basic skills, or should I say the right amount of importance on basic skills.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the excellence with which the finalists’ back three approached tactical kicking in their finals runs. The Australian teams in the semis had Henry Speight, Joe Tomane, Naiyaravoro and Rob Horne on the wings, none of whom are notable kickers, along with Israel Folau, who is lacking in this department as a Test level fullback.

Australian selections are in my opinion plagued by a number of recurring themes, the greatest being a definitive lack of respect for the wing. When Folau was at his peak in this position we pushed him to fullback as he appeared ‘too good to be stuck on the wing’. I would like to pose the question, would Julian Savea, Briana Habana or George North be subjected to the same treatment?

In the same vane, Horne has been repeatedly dropped in lieu of more flashy options despite never putting a foot wrong while Ashley-Cooper has been shoved out to the flank seemingly to keep him in the team when his primary position is unavailable.
Similarly, Australians seem to get caught up with forwards being one thing or another and ignore, entirely at times, their ability beyond their position-specific requirements.
I’d like to make it clear that I’m not suggesting that the team listed below should be the actual Wallaby starting team – though perhaps it should be. Rather, it’s a way to spark discussion about selections and as a kind of ‘All-Rounder Wallaby XV’.

All-Rounder Wallaby XV

1. James Slipper

2. Stephen Moore

3. Sekope Kepu

4. Will Skelton

5. Rob Simmons

6. Scott Higginbotham

7. David Pocock

8. George Smith

9. Nick Phipps

10. Bernard Foley

11. Rob Horne

12. Tevita Kuridrani

13. Adam Ashely-Cooper

14. Israel Folau

15. Jack Debreczeni

The tight five are more or less as expected, and save for the obligatory lineout general all have reasonably good hands and an ability to contribute around the field that many of the alternate options do not.

The loose forwards, too, are well balanced in this way. Of course the available options continue to limit Australia in this regard and there is no magic bullet. This is the best pack we have from an ‘all-rounder’ perspective.

I have treated the halves as a forgone conclusion. With Quade Cooper injured, Genia out of form and Foley and Phipps the incumbents, I see no sensible argument for change in this space.

Where things get more interesting is the shift in jerseys No. 11 through to No. 15 and the options this would give to both coach and captain, as well as the resilience it gives the team if the primary game plan was to fail.
Horne is Australia’s form winger at the moment and a rock solid defender. One winger who cannot kick is acceptable, just. Two is not. Horne will lock down the short side wing defensively and offers plenty in attack which warrants his selection.

Moving Kuridrani in one position achieves two things. It gives Australia a barnstorming inside center who can be dominate contact, both in attack and defensively. It also moves his average kicking away from the outer positions where it matters.

Australian cornerstone Ashley-Cooper features back in his preferred and best position where his contribution, as we have seen with the Waratahs, will be greatest. He can be relied upon to straighten the attack and has better kicking than Kuridrani which will open up an extra clearing and attacking option when required.

Folau back on the other wing is a lethal prospect. He played his best Test rugby and scored most of his tries against quality opposition here. His kicking is inadequate for a fullback at international level but sufficient for the wing and most importantly better than any of the alternate options available at present.

The more observant among you may have noticed that in the absence of Folau, Australia is now missing a fullback. The truth is that I don’t have a firm option here that I can be certain fits in an all-round XV, so like Dwyer, Jones and Cheika I’m going to take a punt on an unproven, in-form upstart who has shown the necessary qualities.
Jack Debreczeni had a stellar season with the Melbourne Rebels this year. He is also an experienced and noted fullback.

Debreczeni has great hands, offers plenty of size and skill in attack and at 192 centimetres should be able to handle the high ball. The most notable difference is that he offers a monster boot for gaining tactical field position and a filler for the second goal kicker (if not primary goal kicker).

The bonus is that Debreczeni provides a second-playmaking option in attack. Folau could drop back to fullback and push everyone out one spot (putting every player in a familiar position) or take his rightful place on the wing when attacking inside the opposition’s 22 metres.

My all-round XV backline will never win the popular vote, but it might just win a Test match, or two, or potentially some silverware. I would argue that it offers more basic skills, better defense, more attacking options in more positions and a better kicking game than anything Australia had fielded in the past five years. It also gives away very little in terms of attack.

Australia has not been far off the pace in recent seasons, just far enough to lose a number of close matches that make the difference between sixth place and a top two ranking.

While I am not really suggesting this should be the squad that Cheika fields, perhaps it should. The heights that Australia’s star-studded backline could achieve if practiced and coached in this formation bear thinking about.