Waratahs head coach Dan McKellar has dug in on the most contested selection in Australian rugby, insisting Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii belongs at outside centre even as a chorus of former Wallabies argue the code-switcher is being wasted in the No. 13 jersey.
Suaalii, who spent almost all of his rookie Waratahs season at fullback before earning a Wallabies Team of the Year nod ahead of Tom Wright and Will Jordan, has been on a slow burn since returning from a two-month injury layoff. The 22-year-old was ranked just 35th overall for total carries in NSW's 20-17 loss to the Western Force, which prompted a fresh round of position-change calls.
McKellar pushed back against the scrutiny without flinching from it. "It's just with his profile and obviously everything else that comes with that, he's scrutinised from one week to the next," the Waratahs coach told reporters.
He also offered context for the muted return. "The other thing is, he came back from two months out injured. Not too many players come back from two months out and hit the ground running."
McKellar said the match plan against the Force had been built around a 60-minute window and a fast finish that never came. "The plan was to play him for 60 minutes. We finally got some ball in the last five minutes and showed what we could do, that was the disappointing part."
Asked whether the constant positional debate around his marquee back was reasonable, McKellar was direct: "I don't think it's fair but it comes with the territory I suppose."
The ex-Wallabies brigade is not buying it. Stan Sport's Morgan Turinui, a former Test centre himself, said Suaalii's best minutes against the Force came from territory outside the channel he is being asked to defend. "I don't think he should be there. Any time he touched the ball on the weekend was early ball... it wasn't a 13's position. It's something he could do from the back three."
Matt Dunning, an ex-Wallabies prop turned commentator, said the defensive demand at outside centre is harder than the conversation allows. "13 is a really tough position to defend at. It's the hardest place in the field as far as I know to defend on the field."
Former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper offered a more measured note, conceding the outside view has limits. "We aren't in there week to week, we aren't privy to the conversations that are going on within the Waratahs team environment."
The selection stakes ratchet higher each week. With the Wallabies' July international window approaching and Joe Schmidt's wider squad still in flux, every Suaalii cameo at 13 doubles as a referendum on whether his match-winning toolkit, the leaping take, the half-break, the long pass, is being smothered by a position that asks him to be a defensive enforcer first.
McKellar's bet is that the 60-minute version, once it lands, will silence the queue of fullbacks lining up to take Suaalii's old jersey. The ex-Wallabies suspect he is solving for the wrong problem.
