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Wallabies coach Eddie Jones says he will go against current thinking when he names his first Wallabies squad of his new reign on Sunday.
Jones, speaking on his own podcast on Friday, said he will aim for a tight-knit squad of 33 players plus a few injured extras, to get together in mid April.
“One of the interesting things has happened in rugby over the last five years, HIA and COVID have had an impact on the size of squads,” Jones said.
“We used to go for a squad of 30 and most teams now go for squad of around 42 which gives you two lots of 15 plus 12 and say you’ve got 10% injured that gives you about six or seven players spare.
“We’re going to buck the trend a little bit because I want players to really value being in the Wallabies and I want players who want to win for the Wallabies – I don’t want players who just want to get selected.
“So we’re going to keep the squad quite tight. We’re going to run with approximately 33 players and maybe two or three rehab players, but we haven’t fully decided on that and they won’t be done until post the Brumbies-Waratahs game (on Saturday).”
Jones said that match was a “crucial selection game because we’ve got two of the teams that have the most Wallaby contending players in it.
“To see how they fare in that game, which is a very important selection game, may dictate one or two selections, one or two borderline selections. So we’re going to keep the squad quite tight and it’s going to be hard to get in.
“But having said that it’s only the first selection of the year and there’s a long time between April and July.” The Wallabies’first Test of the year is against South Africa in Pretoria on July 8.
Jones has been making his way around the country watching Super Rugby first hand. In Melbourne he was snapped making a list of players, and there is speculation on who might be the fortunate ones in the 33.
Tim Horan expects there to be some messages entwined in the list of names to be announced Sunday morning.
“There will be some mind games and he will leave some players out to shock a few players,” Tim Horan said on Stan Sport this week. “It’s only very early in the season, I reckon there might be six to ten players who won’t make the Rugby World Cup squad, but Eddie wants a closer look at them.”
Jones said the camp was a chance to “test the players”.
“I’ve had no face to face contact with the players on the field. With meetings off the field, generally speaking players say what they think the coach wants to hear,” said Jones.
“You get the occasional players who are a little bit more mature and more concrete in their opinions and we’ve got a few of those in Australian Rugby, which is good, but it’s a chance to work with the players on the field.
“We know we only have a short period of time to prepare for the games and the players have to adapt to a new playing style be looking to do things slightly different in terms of attack and we will bring in a new defence system.
“So we use one day to talk about attack, one day to talk about defence, have some one-on-one meetings. And then they have a bit of a social gathering.”
Jones is a believer in having a unit of good team men.
“It’s a chance to observe the players to see how they interact to see if they’re prepared to break from their provincial group and mix with other players,” Jones said.
“We want players who are good teammates. We need players who can adapt, who obviously want to work hard, who want to find a better version of themselves and want to be good teammates.
“Generally for a World Cup squad of 33 players you will pick the best 15 players – that, for every country, is pretty straightforward.
“Then the next group of players we pick is the bottom five. And the bottom five players are the five blokes who are going to be the best teammates. They’re the guys who might not even play a game at the World Cup or might play a cameo role, but the way they conduct themselves on and off the field is crucial to a World Cup campaign success.
“That’s how hard they work at trainng, how hard they work off the field to be a connector of people, how they mix, how they stay positive.
“There was a great scene on Saturday night where the Rebels scored a try and there was 20 players on the sideline all nicely dressed jumping up and so into it, they’re the guys that aren’t playing. When you’ve got that sort of feeling in the squad you’ve got a chance to be successful.”
Meanwhile Jones said he had to “admire the boldness” of Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan for his successful pursuit of NRL star Joseph Suaalii.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
“I think he’s really trying to get rugby back onto the front foot with the other winter sports so that’s to be admired 100 percent,” Jones said.
“From a national coach point of view it’s a positive but the only thing I’m worried about is picking a team first for the April camp and then the first Test against South Africa and Joseph is not available until 2025 and someone else might be sitting in chair by then.”
Jones said the circus around the signing was no distraction to him, but he found it fascinating.
“The top five percent of players in rugby league and possibly rugby union have got the ability to play either sports or a number of sports,” said Jones. “You know your Sonny Bill Williams your Lote Tuqiri, Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers, Suaalii.
“That’s fascinating decisions for those guys on how they look at their careers and what they do with their careers.
“The NRL presents this fantastic week to week competition. The game itself is a fantastic game to watch. Rugby union is completely different, a much more tactical game, a much more worldwide game, the ability to play in a World Cup every four years where it’s a third biggest sporting event in the world.
“So the options for those top players is unbelievable and you just hope that they make the best decision for their careers.”
Jones, an avowed fan of both codes, said he liked the tension that exists between them and understands the passionate opinions raised by the Suaalii switch.
“Whenever a player jumps codes it’s really big news,” said Jones. “And in Australia, we do have this fight between rugby and rugby league.
“In the old days when the rugby union player joined rugby league they weren’t even allowed to come into games to watch. There’s still a bit of still a bit of that going on, you know, the old rugby league versus rugby union leather patches versus the working class rugby league. And I think that’s fantastic.”