Fraser McReight wants to be joined at the hip in Wallabies gold with Harry Wilson.
The Queensland Reds’ “bash brothers” have taken their partnership to new heights under coach Les Kiss, combining with fellow back-rower Liam Wright to become arguably the most well-rounded in the competition.
McReight unseated Michael Hooper to become a Test regular last year, while 12-Test No.8 Wilson has fallen down the pecking order after bursting on to the scene in 2020.
A deflating loss in Perth to the Western Force took some gloss off the fifth-placed Reds’ brilliant start to the season (3-2), and Wilson uncharacteristically coughed up a couple of kick offs that led to tries.
Saturday’s Brisbane clash with the ACT Brumbies (third, 4-1) is an opportunity to rebound, with new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt a keen observer.
“When we play good football together you can see we’re obviously off each other’s hip,” McReight said.
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“But I think it’s just trying to be consistent and making sure that we’re doing it week in, week out.
“The goal is to do it with each other in Test football, that’s probably the end goal.
“We played together when we were 12 … played schoolboys together eight years ago, so eight years of football, going from colts to men’s football.
“We’re great mates off the field as well, so we’re able to have good chats and understand what we need to be better and how to improve each other.”
McReight said the arrival of Kiss, and his willingness for players to use their creativity, had helped their pairing flourish.
“It’s something that we’ve always had,” he said.
“‘Wilso’ loves his offloads, loves his line-breaks, and he’s very arty in the way he likes to play his football – he expresses himself really well.
“My strength is support; I know where he’s going to be and I’ll try and position myself around him.
“If you look back we’ve definitely done it in the past few years, it’s just the way we’ve changed our game plan and been able to focus and have a bit more structure in our attack.
“Like Les says, he doesn’t want to shy away from our strengths, he wants to focus on it, push towards it.”
The Brumbies boast reigning Wallabies player of the year Rob Valetini and exciting new talent Charlie Cale in their back row and are fresh off a brilliant 60-21 defeat of Moana Pasifika.
“They’re very athletic … got a very good combination in terms of the different balance in the back row like here at the Reds,” McReight said.
“It’s a great test for us, and if we want to get back to premiership contenders it’s going to be an important battle on the weekend.”
Old school rugby
Roar Rookie
Wright, McReight and Wilson do look good. Probably not the most skilled backrow but cohesive. Valetini needs to be in the mix, and liking Cale, Gamble, Gleeson and Tizzano too.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Mowen was not a ruck monkey but was a good ball runner so no, imo Wright's skill set strengths and weaknesses match Fardy more closely than Mowen.
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
Then select the emoji from above the text not from your keyboard.
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
I think he is more like Mowen than Fardy. Wright is not a lock/6 like Fardy. I think comparisons are made like this because Fardy was the last 6 the Wallabies had that the fans rated and now everyone is the next Fardy.
Stu
Roar Rookie
Fair. Thanks.
PeterK
Roar Guru
IMO Wright is too slow for an intl 7. Won't get to wide rucks, also means he isn't a good linkman nor a goodenough support runner. He is far more like Fardy, a ruck monkey, v good in lineout, lots of rugby nous, and high work rate. Would Fardy have been a good 7? No.
Stu
Roar Rookie
I thought a few years back that Liam Wright was a smarter 7 than McReight, and it was his best position - he was so good there. He hasn’t played 7 for a while since FMcR came along and Wright was too good for Thorn not to squeeze him in somewhere, so with the departing ASYoung he slotted him into 6, but what do you think of having 6 Valetini / 7 Wright / 8 Wilson in theory as a back 3 combo? Take Valetini off at the 60-min mark and move Wright to 6 to finish so that Fraser McReight can be the dynamic finisher at 7. A fresh McReight at 7 with 20 to go could hark back to the game-changing golden days of Lord Pocock!
PeterK
Roar Guru
wrights tight play at the ruck and nous would be needed all game. He is also a grafter and work horse. Better to have power impact players, and players who play wider or looser off the bench imo. I would see Wright easily playing 80 mins
Rugger
Roar Rookie
...I sent a smiley face, not a row of ?s...
Rugger
Roar Rookie
Ahhhhh KCOL.....so long as everybody takes some learnings from whatever transpires!????????????????
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
I can see that logic Peter. You could also argue that Wright might bring some adjustment and smarts to close out a game?
Jazz
Roar Rookie
great combo, as long as Wilson can catch a high ball :silly:
PeterK
Roar Guru
my preference would be valetini, wright and mcreight starting with wilson on the bench.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Busted, yes, I understand that he may have been enticed into such a cuddly revelation. It's great fodder for the local paper. But not the steely stuff of international conflict, which is looming fast. And yes! This weekend will tell us more. It should be a cracker. I’m leaning towards your boys, based off Kiss’s big game experience, on both sides of the clipboard. Looking to see more clinic, less champers, in Wallaby contenders, whatever their jersey colour.
Busted Fullback
Roar Rookie
G’day Ken. I think the Reds are their major concern. Any player worth their salt would have the ambition to play at the highest level possible. And finally, the article doesn’t tell us what the question was that Frasier was answering. I’ll guarantee that the Wallbies will be the last thing on anyone’s mind on Saturday night at Lang Park. Can’t wait.
K.F.T.D.
Roar Rookie
Ha ha ha !! Don’t know how that got in there, that’s a great joke in itself- spell check I guess.
cinque
Roar Rookie
Carney
Dualcode
Roar Rookie
Yep, at the moment the Brumbies and Reds are likely frontrunners as usual from where a huge chunk of the Wallabies will come from with the Tahs, Rebels, and Force being on standby as scrap leftovers.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
Great positive and professional attitude. Unlike some Roarers who think Rugby players need counselling because they have a bad game, professional Rugby players just get up and dust themselves off and keep going. That's how they reached the top 1% of Rugby players in the country to begin with.
shoremen
Roar Rookie
Both terrific footballers. They play instinctively and when you do that you are going to make mistakes at times. Looking forward to their progress into the future.