Watch every second of Super Rugby Pacific live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\nThe 22-year-old found himself in a similar position to start the year, only for his nightmare run of injuries to continue.<\/p>\n
The Southport School product fractured his wrist towards the end of the Super Rugby Pacific season, with further complications with a plantar fascia injury limiting his time on the park.<\/p>\n
It came off the back of a quad injury in 2024, with De Lutiis crediting Reds teammate Isaac Henry and club Head of Psychology Hayley Cronin with the idea of journaling his feelings to help deal with the emotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started a diary and have been writing down if I\u2019m having a bad day, write what I\u2019m feeling, and that really helps,” he told Rugby.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably started that towards the end of this year, and it\u2019s been good to look back upon it and see how far I\u2019ve come.”<\/p>\n
De Lutiis has always loomed large on selectors’ radars, having made his Australia A debut before his Super Rugby Pacific debut.<\/p>\n
The prop managed just three starts in 2025, yet his inclusion in next month’s camp is a reminder of staying diligent in the quest for the ultimate goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was over the moon to have been selected for that starting camp, so I think [from] here on now, I’m just focusing on putting my best foot forward, trying to give the best results I can really,” the prop said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job\u2019s not finished, it\u2019s only just started. I\u2019m trying not to get too ahead of myself in terms of that.<\/p>\n
\u201c…I think it obviously helps mentally that they can see you’re working, and it\u2019s a good thing to fall back onto knowing just because I\u2019m injured, [it] doesn\u2019t mean I can slack off. I have to stay focused, if not more focused.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really want to get a Wallabies cap this year. Whether that happens or not, it\u2019s not really in my control. I can only put my best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time around, De Lutiis is better prepared to handle the pressure and stress that comes with Test expectations and rumours with his trusty diary in hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time it was like \u2018oh my god, what\u2019s happening\u2019 and there is a lot of overthinking going on,” he admits. \u201cThis time around, especially with the diary, it\u2019s helped not to be as worried and focus on the task at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The work starts at Ballymore, with the young prop relishing the chance to go up against seasoned veterans such as Alex Hodgman, Aidan Ross and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen in past seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first few games, it was a high-pressure environment, but the players and staff were amazing and allowed me to take a breath and realise that you\u2019re here for a reason. You’re not here just because someone decided you just need to be brought in; you’re here to do a job,” he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was like one big takeaway for me, and then getting experience against international looseheads just makes me feel more confident that I can handle myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir ability to take you under their wing is amazing. They\u2019re there to help you; they\u2019re not throwing you to the wolves, but I think from now on is I\u2019m trying to compete with them, and they are letting me know about it too, whereas before it was more about teaching techniques.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going head-to-head with each other, and it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland Reds prop Massimo De Lutiis is ready for his second chance at the Wallabies, crediting a crucial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,12061,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-351117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-queensland-reds","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}