Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt has used a brief media stop in Perth to lay out the squad-building puzzle he must solve in a four-training window before Australia open the inaugural Nations Championship against Ireland at Allianz Stadium in Sydney.
In an interview released this week, Schmidt was characteristically frank about the timeline. Australia's professional players spread across Super Rugby Pacific clubs will have almost no runway between their last weekend in the competition and a first Test against a fully loaded Ireland.
"We'll be trying to get the players together as soon as we can post their exit from Super Rugby," Schmidt said. "We've run a couple of hubs where we've got the different Super clubs together. Then post that, we've tried to get them into camp and hit the ground running, but it is very difficult to do. We get about four trainings before we play Ireland in Allianz Stadium in Sydney. That's a fairly big ask to get everything right within that timeframe."
The coach, who departs the head role after this Test season ahead of Les Kiss taking over, also opened the window slightly on the players who are running through his mind. He name-checked a familiar group of forwards before stressing the squad would not be picked yet.
"There's a number of our pretty regular players who are in the full squad," he said. "Tom Robertson up front. Brandon Paenga-Amosa. Jeremy Williams. Nick Champion. Caleb Timu - those sort of guys have been pretty consistent players for us."
Schmidt confirmed Ben Donaldson is in form and has earned back trust after spending last spring tour on the outside.
"We know what his strengths are. If he's bringing the ball to the line and he is playing it to the line, I think that's when he plays best. His show-and-go game is such a threat because he's got good acceleration and good top-end speed as well. We know the length of his kicking game is another strength."
He also pointed to a specific defensive sequence as evidence Donaldson has tightened up the parts of his game flagged for improvement.
"There's a good example last week when Corey Toole got through, and he's a bit of a handful one-on-one in the back field," Schmidt said. "He gave him one direction to go at, and Toole decided to step back against his left arm and I thought he wrapped him up really well. So there was a good example of where I think Dono has improved."
The most intriguing thread of the interview was Schmidt's evaluation of Western Force fullback Zac Lomax, the code-switcher from the NRL who is being eyeballed for a Wallabies call-up. With Force playing three home games to finish the regular season, Schmidt wants Lomax to settle into rhythm fast.
"Three home games to finish the season - that's perfect for the Force and it's perfect for Zac if he can get a rhythm through those games," he said. "Just see him get that playing rhythm. There's a whole lot of elements to that. It's trying to get into the right place at the right time, because that's a little bit different from the 13-man code."
Schmidt added that Lomax's aerial game has stood up, that George Bridge alongside him has been a calming presence, and that the early Super Rugby campaign against the Crusaders had genuinely stretched him.
"His aerial attack has been strong," Schmidt said. "I think it was a very tough first game up - he's up against the Crusaders. I thought they really challenged his side of the field a few times. He's problem-solving that really well."
The coach also offered a strong personal endorsement of an Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup match - a concept being floated for 2027 - and saw the broader test-window argument the Northern Hemisphere has long made.
"Yeah, how good would that be? I'd love to see that," Schmidt said. "Imagine a double-header where both teams go at it. We are the Anzac nations, and it would set the Bledisloe up really well into a three-match series. Having coached a lot in the Northern Hemisphere where they have three bites at the cherry during the season - our season is very much split. To mix it up a little bit, I think the players would adapt and teams would adapt."
For the departing coach, Perth's pull is personal. Optus Stadium, he said, has become one of his favourite Test grounds.
"You get to play a really good brand of rugby in Perth because the conditions are conducive to open rugby."
