Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has revealed his first hand of the bumper 2023 Test season by naming eight uncapped players in his Rugby Championship squad.
Jones also made history by naming co-captains for the first time, with veteran forwards Michael Hooper and James Slipper handed the leadership reins.
Here, we delve deeper into the squad machinations by picking out the winners and losers from Sunday's announcement.
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WINNERS
Dylan Pietsch
Feel good stories don't come much better than that of Pietsch, the Waratahs winger who last year revealed he had attempted suicide before turning his life and career around.
The uncapped 25-year-old played sevens for Australia at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and has reconnected with his Indigenous identity in recent years.
"It's just so surreal that you can completely just 180 your whole life through just having a conversation," Pietsch told reporters from his first official Wallabies camp on Monday.
"Obviously I was at the end of the spectrum in 2018 and now at the height of my life.
"It just shows that one conversation can really change the world and it makes me want to express to people that you really need to talk to people and have people around you that you trust… I've got a really, really close group of friends and my family are really, really good in that space. They all work in mental health. So to be able to have that conversation with people that you love – it's really easy just to call them up or when you're seeing a person, have that so you don't have to sit there and bottle it up."
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Josh Kemeny
Like Pietsch, Kemeny was surprised to be listed as a 'utility 'in the Wallabies squad.
Jones has identified the Rebels flanker as capable of playing on the wing in an emergency situation, potentially giving the coach more flexibility in his squads.
"Look, it was news to me but to be a part of the squad and to be able to add impact wherever I can is what I want to do," Kemeny said on Monday.
"So if they want to chuck me out on the sting and let me run into open space, I'm very happy to do that… I was probably even more confused than Dylan, to be honest, because I still play backrow. We played backrow together a few years ago. So he's probably a little bit more versed in that position than I am out in the wing.
"But same thing – I get my foot through the door to get my name on the list. That was all I really cared about. And I'm just going to work from there."
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Ben Donaldson
Donaldson, the Waratahs playmaker who will join the Force next season, was the third player listed as a utility by Jones.
He trained at fullback in Coogee last week and will also provide backup behind five-eighths Quade Cooper and Carter Gordon.
Jones has repeatedly name dropped Donaldson in 2023 despite some patchy form in Super Rugby Pacific.
"To be honest, I thought the way I've been playing this year, I probably wasn't expecting to make it," Donaldson told the Sydney Morning Herald after April's squad announcement.
"I knew the squad was coming out. I didn't get too caught up in it or anything. I haven't really been playing the way I want to this year, neither has our team, so I wasn't really expecting anything. To see my name there, I was over the moon. Whenever you get named in a Wallabies squad, it's a big achievement."
Tom Hooper
Jones also lauded the rise of rugged and versatile Brumbies forward Tom Hooper, who came back from serious injuries to be a standout at the business end of the season.
"He's come from basically nowhere, you know," Jones said of the uncapped 22-year-old.
"Halfway during the year, he was walking his dog and now he's in the Wallaby squad…
"He's absolutely combative. Chiefs game (semi-final), he's taking him on, he's in there."
LOSERS
Bernard Foley
Several good judges had tipped the 'Iceman' as likely to wear the Australian No.10 jersey in Pretoria.
Foley had played well for the Wallabies amid an injury crisis last year and led Kubota Spears to the club's first title in Japan this season.
But the 33-year-old failed to even make the Rugby Championship squad, with Quade Cooper and Carter Gordon the leading five-eighth candidates and the versatile Ben Donaldson and Reece Hodge also providing cover.
Jones said Foley was still likely to get some opportunities in 2023 but he may again need an injury to do so.
Harry Wilson
Start calling him 'Hard luck Harry' after the Reds standout was again snubbed from a Wallabies squad.
The No.8 has won back-to-back Stan Pilecki Medals as Queensland's best player but is ranked behind Brumbies Rob Valetini and Pete Samu at national level.
Speaking before the squad announcement, Justin Harrison said Wilson's Super Rugby Pacific form demanded attention.
"I think he did enough to get a chance to keep showing that he's got enough," Harrison said on Stan Sport's Between Two Posts.
"There's so few Tests leading into the World Cup now, also some Australia A games, there may even be some club games that players get a directive to play.
"He's going to be given a chance to say 'right, we're going to watch the next two or three times you take the field, we need to keep seeing this and you're going to be in the squad.' That's what Beaver's (Jones) going to do."
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto
The rugged lock/blindside had also been tipped by good judges as a likely selection after some strong club form in England.
"He's been playing a lot of six for Northampton, he's a big body," former Wallabies captain James Horwill said on Stan Sport's Rugby Heaven.
"I probably would, just purely for the physicality that he brings to the game against South Africa."
Before leaving him out of his squad, Jones described Salakaia-Loto as "a big, strong jumping No.6 who can play four, which is a great option for us."
Salakaia-Loto missed out to Jed Holloway, Rob Leota, Tom Hooper and Nick Frost as players who can perform that hybrid role.
Noah Lolesio
The Brumbies playmaker finished the season behind Jack Debreczeni and was not expected to crack the main Wallabies squad.
But the fact that Lolesio didn't even make a train on squad shows just how far his stocks have fallen.
Veteran pivots Foley and James O'Connor were listed among that extended group and it will take a minor miracle for Lolesio to fight his way back into the Rugby World Cup squad.
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WALLABIES SQUAD
Forwards: Allan Alaalatoa, Richie Arnold, Matt Faessler, Nick Frost, Matt Gibbon, Jed Holloway, Michael Hooper, Tom Hooper, Rob Leota, Fraser McReight, Zane Nonggorr, Dave Porecki, Pete Samu, Will Skelton, James Slipper, Taniela Tupou, Jordan Uelese, Rob Valetini
Backs: Quade Cooper, Lalakai Foketi, Carter Gordon, Reece Hodge, Len Ikitau, Marika Koroibete, Ryan Lonergan, Tate McDermott, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Izaia Perese, Suliasi Vunivalu, Nic White, Tom Wright
Utilities: Ben Donaldson, Josh Kemeny, Dylan Pietsch
REHAB GROUP
Angus Bell, Langi Gleeson, Andrew Kellaway, Samu Kerevi, Jordan Petaia, Matt Philip
TRAIN ON SQUAD
Forwards: Charlie Cale, Josh Canham, Pone Fa'amausili, Folau Fainga'a, Charlie Gamble, Ned Hanigan, Tom Lambert, Lachlan Lonergan, Cadeyrn Neville, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Blake Schoupp, Darcy Swain, Lachie Swinton, Sam Talakai, Brad Wilkin, Harry Wilson
Backs: Lachie Anderson, Jock Campbell, Filipo Daugunu, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Josh Flook, Bernard Foley, Jake Gordon, James O'Connor, Hunter Paisami, James Tuttle, Joey Walton
Utility: Seru Uru
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