As he closes in on his 150th game, James Slipper is taking a game-by-game approach to his career.
Bouncing back well from a HIA sustained against the Springboks in Johannesburg, the 36-year-old is on track to enter esteemed company.
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Only two other players in all of rugby have ever achieved such a feat, being Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones (170 caps) and New Zealand’s Sam Whitelock (150 caps).
Slipper, now equal with Richie McCaw on 148 caps, revealed he’s “treating every game as the last one, potentially.”
“If I get there, I get there,” Slipper told reporters in Townsville on Monday.
“But I think more importantly, what I've been more keen about and impressed by is just where this team's going.
“The confidence we're building within our four walls. When I eventually finish up, that's probably when I'll look at the career entirely and we'll cross that path when we get there.”
Slipper is determined to pick up where he left off before his injury, and will be expecting a tough Pumas challenge in Townsville, where it is expected to hit 30 degrees Celsius on Saturday afternoon.
“The health's good,” Slipper replied when asked about his concussion. “I've gone through the protocols that come out from the HIA. A bit more training this week and yeah, it's all going well.
“I absolutely love it [playing in Townsville]. A lot of my family is born and bred up here, so it's obviously a little bit warmer.
“But we absolutely love playing in the regional areas of the country. It makes you realise how big Australia is sometimes, the distance we travel. To play up here in front of the locals up here, there's a lot of passionate rugby fans.
“I think it'll be a fast match. The Argentinians, they play a really high tempo, quick ball rugby game. We like to do the same. The conditions will be telling.
“There'll be a lot of hurt out there on the field, no doubt. Luckily for us, we're up here for the week, so we'll get used to that.
“They're well led by [Julián] Montoya. They're a team that's been preparing really well for the last couple of years. They were in the semi-finals at the World Cup.
“They beat the Lions, they beat the All Blacks. They're a classy outfit. The opportunity for us is to prepare well and try and knock them off.
“One thing we do know, it's going to be a big ask. We have full respect for them. So we're going to do everything we can to make sure that we play well.”
Slipper won’t be the only one making a return, with Tom Lynagh, Pete Samu, Filipo Daugunu and Allan Alaalatoa among the key names returning to the squad.
The 148-capped Wallaby believes the growing confidence from their last five matches will rub off on the returning players, singling out Alaalatoa for impact on the squad.
“We knew coming off the back of the Lions series, going to Africa, playing against the world number one team...it was going to be a big ask,” Slipper said.
“I was extremely proud of how the group prepared really well for those games. We trained really well and that first game was one of the greatest wins for us in South Africa.
“The improvement we've seen throughout the team, throughout the year and also last year, has been immense.
“We've built a lot of confidence coming from there and we're really excited to go again. One thing I do know is that the TRC, it's hard to win. The four teams playing in this competition are pretty strong, so there's no easy games.
Having Allan [Alaalatoa] back in… he’s kind of like that father figure for a lot of the boys in the team.
“Just to have him back in the team and voice his opinion and lead by example at training is only going to help us…. he's just a powerful player, a big man. You get a player that size close to the line, nine times out of ten you'll get him over the line.
“[But] one thing about Allan, he's a consistent player. The difference between his good games and his bad games is not much.
“I always look at that as a real positive for any player.”
