Stirling Mortlock has outlined his biggest fear about Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies and also explained what is holding Joseph Suaalii back from becoming a better Test player than he is.
The 80-cap talisman, who scored the 80-metre intercept try that helped Australia to knock the All Blacks out of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, earned his strips at international level on the wing before making the No.13 jersey his own for a considerable period of time.
Having retired in 2012 at the age of 35, he has retained an interest in rugby as a fan and he is optimistic about the future of the Wallabies following the strides taken in recent years.
However, he believes Les Kiss, who will take over from Schmidt as Wallaby head coach after the opening matches in the new Nations Championship in July, must build strong combinations in the team, especially at half-back, if they are to fulfil their potential going into the 2027 home World Cup.
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Appearing on the KOKO show with fellow ex-Wallabies Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell and Adam Ashley-Cooper, Mortlock said: “I still really feel optimistic about rugby in this country, the Wallabies and even at Super Rugby level.
“I feel like categorically our bottom was maybe five odd years ago or longer and that was on all fronts as far as quality of coaches, quality of referees and quality of talent. You look now, there is a lot of guys that can potentially wear a starting 15 jersey, which is awesome.
“My biggest concern, which is really obvious, we still don’t have an out and out definitive nine and 10. I love combinations as well and from my perspective, I was a recipient of combinations.
“Playing outside of George Gregan and Stephen Larkham for most of my career was outstanding because they’re world-class and playing every week with them (at the Brumbies), so when I went up to Wallaby level it wasn’t foreign at all.
“It was almost like standard and I felt like for me I didn’t realise how important that was until they retired. They moved on after ’07 and then combination-wise it’s really difficult.
“Unfortunately we don’t have many combinations that play together a lot of time, so you have to build it up in Wallaby games and we haven’t been doing that much.”
This chopping and changing, he believes, has affected the progress of Suaalii, the signing from rugby league who has played for the Wallabies with several different No.10s running the back line.
Having generated positive headlines following his initial arrival in union, criticism has since dogged the 22-year-old’s level of play. However, Mortlock suggested it wasn’t that Suaalii’s form has been poor, but it instead was not getting the opportunity to get more involved in matches that was holding him back.
“I have always liked the look of Joseph Suaalii,” he said. “I reckon if he had the chance could be absolute crazy at 13, but I feel like his body isn’t allowing him to be consistently playing and he is not playing with combinations enough.
“From a 13s perspective, I played two full seasons at the Wallaby level on the wing before I got a chance to own the 13 jersey. It is not an easy position, but he is one (who can do it).
“I remember watching him at schoolboy level as my kids were at the same school and he was an animal in the centres. I’d love to see him a lot more at 13. No doubt he has got class and could play on the wing or even full-back…
“But it’s combinations and when you have consistently them, it’s really easy to play 13 both in attack and defence. You have got a lot on your shoulders at 13, you have got to be a link person in attack, and you are usually the unstructured defence captain of the team.
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“But what I am seeing is a lot of in the 13 channel is doing outside clear-outs; that is such a burn of one of your best attacking players. I look at the way some of the attacking is now and I would have hated it.
“I would have to demand play me off first phase otherwise I didn’t really know how to get in this game or be part of those inside out shapes. I have watched a few games where he didn’t get many opportunities and I’m like ‘argh’.”
Asked to select his preferred Wallabies backline leading into next year’s World Cup, Mortlock continued: “I am just going to go with Queensland nine and 10, Tate McDermott and Carter Gordon. I still think (Len) Ikitau or maybe (Hunter) Paisami. They have done really well and/or if Joseph gets in there, it might be interesting, but they caveat is all those guys don’t play together.
“It’s a really interesting one as Ikitau was typically a 13 but got thrown in at 12 and has played some seriously amazing footy at 12 at Wallaby level.
“It goes back to the modern phase shape attack, it suits him really, really well coming inside out and sniffing picks and goes, really opportunistic stuff that he does. He does that better than any of our backs as it suits his style of play.
“And we have got a plethora of outside backs, that’s the great thing. Guys like (Andrew) Kellaway that are really enterprising, who might not get a start… I love him [Tom Wright]. It’s been great to see him finally get that confidence at Wallaby level and back himself.
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“I’d love to see Max Jorgensen going up, it would be great to see him in a home World Cup next year really light it up. What we need is these young guys that are coming in, they are showing a lot of promise and doing well but that’s the beginning. How do you keep going up year after year? If we have a lot of guys who do that, this Wallaby team will be outstanding.”
Looking at the coaching situation, where a handover from Schmidt to Kiss is on the horizon, Mortlock said: “It’s an interesting paradigm. Much of what he [Schmidt] has done is excellent.
“You can definitely tell there is a lot of confidence in the team in what they are trying to do and having Les coming in with a new mindset is going to be really interesting. With strategy, he certainly seems to be a lot more free-spirited in the way he likes to attack, so that might be interesting but it’s hard to know.”
In the quick-fire question session in his interview, Mortlock touched on Engand’s rennet poor run and pined for the era when South African clubs still played in Super Rugby.
“England, going back to combinations, that’s one of the biggest challenges because the Premiership is actually a pretty decent standard but it’s difficult to get the combinations together prior to playing for their country but who knows? It’s nice to see them get a fair few losses. I don’t mind that,” he said.
“South Africa was always a highlight of the season for us because it’s a religion over there and it’s just crazy how you are recognised and all those things and the game, the intensity, playing at altitude is a real big challenge.”
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