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Sam Bruce, Deputy Editor, espn.com.au
Welcome to day one, Joe Schmidt.
The latest Kiwi to turn his hand at trying to turn around the Wallabies officially begins his new role on Friday, coinciding with the first day of Super Rugby Pacific’s Super Round in Melbourne.
It is an ironic, uncomfortable backdrop for Round 2, with all matches to be played at AAMI Park amid the ongoing financial saga engulfing Melbourne Rebels, which may yet end up with Rugby Australia being dragged through the courts as it was in 2017 when the governing body expelled Western Force.
But Schmidt cannot concern himself with that off-field ugliness, he instead has a wonderful opportunity to watch his new playing cohort in the flesh, in the same place, across the one weekend.
ESPN understands that the Kiwi will attend all three days of Super Round, starting with the Rebels-Force clash on Friday night. The performance of Rebels playmaker Carter Gordon will no doubt be near the front of his agenda, with questions about just how the 23-year-old’s World Cup experience under Eddie Jones may have affected his rugby development.
How Noah Lolesio and Tom Lynagh fare against the Chiefs and Hurricanes respectively will also be of interest to the Kiwi, particularly after both players made fine starts to their 2024 campaigns last weekend.
One spot further along the backline also appears wide open, with Japan-based Samu Kerevi, 30, another player who endured an indifferent World Cup, appearing on the outer with Schmidt having already stated that, ideally, potential Wallabies would be plying their trade in Australia.
After a dominant first-up performance against the Waratahs that included the game’s opening try and several huge hits in defence, the door is certainly ajar for Queensland’s Hunter Paisami to thrust himself back into the Test frame.
“Obviously I had a rough year, an injury in the first three of four rounds of the season [wasn’t ideal] … the World Cup was my main goal and to have a big season with the Reds,” Paisami told ESPN earlier in the year when asked to reflect on a disrupted 2023.
“But injuries, you can’t control that. I just copped a bit of it and that is part of the career sometimes; there are highs and lows to it. But towards the end of the year, I got named to do the Australia A and the Barbarians [tours], which was pretty big for me, knowing that I hadn’t played [many] games and I wanted more games under my belt.
“So I got that extra Australia A game against Portugal and I was leading into that Barbarians tour when that got cut short by injury again. So a pretty bad year for me with injuries, but I was still grateful that I got onto the pitch and played some sort of footy.”
Paisami broke into the Wallabies ranks under Dave Rennie in 2020, after a strong Super Rugby AU season with the Reds. He has since played 24 Tests, including six in 2022 when he was Rennie’s preferred option at No. 12 after Kerevi ruptured his ACL at the Commonwealth Games.
But injury has unfortunately been a constant bedfellow for the 25-year-old and largely prohibited him from making an impression in front of Jones last year.
“I honestly had only one phone call with Eddie last year and that was before Super Rugby Round 2, just before [Super] Round, he just called me and asked how I was, how the family was and how the Reds had been,” Paisami told ESPN.
“And his work-ons for me were repeat efforts, and attack and defence. It was really basic, he just said repeat efforts and one more thing, ‘don’t let anyone past you’. That was it.”
Asked how he could work on his repeat efforts, Paisami said: “The main thing is in preseason, you want to get into your mind at training sessions that when you don’t have the ball, you’ve got another job to do. And Les [Kiss] is really good on that, pushing us forward, telling me I should have done this and that, I should have gone an extra rep in training to get that extra touch or a second touch.
“It’s not really a fitness thing, it’s just about how you put yourself on the field and moments on the field as well.”
Paisami has also played plenty of rugby at outside centre and says he does not really have a preference, that he is equally comfortable in both positions.
He also wants to play as much rugby as is possible, quipping he has done enough “resting” already through injury.
At only 25, Paisami can have a long career ahead of him in Australia. But that’s providing he wants to hitch his wagon to the Reds and re-sign beyond this season, having inked only a one-year extension for 2024.
“I knew this was coming,” Paisami said with a chuckle. “For me, where my head is at is trying to have my best season with the Reds, trying to play my best footy as possible and make ’24 my best year so far. If I do tick that off, obviously my other goal is to get back into that green and gold jersey and put my hand up for selections again.
“I’m still young, the career has just started.”
Paisami could also not have hoped for a better opponent to confront than Jordie Barrett in an attempt to impress Schmidt. Just a few months ago, Schmidt was working with the All Blacks at the World Cup, helping the youngest of the Barrett Test trio hone his skills in the midfield channel.
Barrett will also play his 100th Super Rugby game when the Reds meet the Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon, the New Zealand outfit looking to back up last week’s win over the Force with a second straight triumph on Australian soil.
Elsewhere, Schmidt will have an opportunity to cast an eye on those other players who missed out on World Cup selection, individuals he might be less familiar with, from the Brumbies Tom Wright and the Lonergan brothers, Ryan and Lachie, to the Reds’ Harry Wilson and Jock Campbell, and the Waratahs Jake Gordon and Dylan Pietsch.
Unlike Jones, don’t expect Schmidt to reveal his selection hand – or at least reveal the illusion that is his hand – by being photographed with a rolling list of players as the Australian was at Super Round last year.
And, as history shows, that list ended up being a whole lot different when Jones named his 33-man squad six months later.