Stan Sport's Rugby Heaven panel has split openly on Joe Schmidt's most pressing pre-July selection question — who packs down at loosehead for Australia — with Matt Burke launching what he called an official campaign to drag James Slipper back into the starting XV and Cameron Shepherd countering with the next-generation Aidan Ross.
The forward-pack debate was the centrepiece of episode 14 of Rugby Heaven, the second in Stan Sport's Wallaby Watch series, and it sets up an internal argument that mirrors the one Schmidt and incoming head coach Les Kiss have been having privately as the inbound July window approaches.
Burke, the Wallaby fullback turned analyst, did not bother disguising his bias.
"I am starting a campaign," Burke said, picking Slipper at one. "He has been outstanding this year. It is amazing how you just need a little bit of level, and I reckon he could — maybe not start, but give him 30 minutes at the end of the game."
In the same breath, Burke then pencilled Slipper into the starting jersey before walking himself half-back. "Slipper to go 70, 60 minutes, and Belly to come on as the superstar at the end there. I just like the way he played. Plus, I'm looking for big bodies in my team."
Host Michael Atkinson nudged Burke on the logic. "You're going a campaign to bring back James Slipper. He's an old bloke. You're calling yourself —". Burke shrugged it off and went straight to the principle. "When you're an old bloke, you manage James," he said, citing his own late-career stint at Newcastle in the English Premiership.
Shepherd took the opposite line. The retired Wallaby fullback admitted the front row is not his natural beat, but stayed with form.
"I just liked what Aidan Ross has done in the last 12 months," he said. "Investing in a guy that's got experience but still relatively young. Obviously debuted for the Wallabies last year and I thought did well."
Shepherd named the rest of his front row around continuity — Matt Faessler at hooker and Allan Alaalatoa back in at tighthead — with Taniela Tupou's overseas move and current injury keeping him out of contention. "I still think there's room in the squads for the likes of Allan Alaalatoa and of course James Slipper if he wanted to continue playing," Shepherd allowed. "But I just think it's time to bring a little bit more young blood in in the front row and give these guys an opportunity."
The internal logic of the debate hinges on bench balance against a brutal opening month — Ireland on July 4 in Sydney, France on July 11 at Suncorp Stadium, and Italy at HBF Park in Perth.
"Massive front row, massive front row, massive front row," Burke said of the three opposition packs the Wallabies will face. "What you don't want to do is just destroy a front row in the first three games of internationals."
Shepherd's answer was structural. "Test rugby — you're carrying four props and they play as a unit," he said. "It doesn't really matter who starts and who comes off the bench. So it's how you balance the two props on the bench and the two props that start, and how long you play each person."
The panel were unanimous on the back row — Rob Valetini at six, Fraser McReight at seven, captain Harry Wilson at eight — but Burke flagged Brumby Charlie Cale as a recovering option and floated Reds flanker Joe Brial as a genuine bolter under Kiss's care.
"I reckon he's a little bolter as well," Burke said of Brial. "Especially when he's under the tutelage of Les Kiss in that little back three."
The second-row balance, Shepherd argued, is where the Test bench is built or broken. "Lukhan Salakaia-Loto offers a different game to someone like Nick Frost," he said. "So how important is your set piece? But if you've got that option at six, then maybe you don't need him."
A call on a 6-2 or 5-3 bench, the three agreed, is the question Schmidt and Kiss will not be able to dodge much longer. Western Force lock Jeremy Williams, who has been playing six for his club, was the wildcard the panel kept returning to.
Burke's bottom line was uncomplicated. "Forget magic round" — head to Twickenham in late November for the inaugural Nations Championship finals weekend, he said, pitching the trip as part of the same campaign. "Three tests down here, then three tests in the northern hemisphere. England, Scotland, Wales on the road. Get yourself a ticket."
Whether Slipper actually gets the call is, of course, Schmidt's decision — not Burke's. But the loudest pre-July voice in the rugby studio is now on the record.
