Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is open to releasing players back to their clubs in order to ensure they experience the magic of facing the British & Irish Lions.
Schmidt met with journalists for nearly half an hour following the announcement of Andy Farrell’s squad to tour Australia.
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There are a host of players named that the former Irish boss used to coach, whilst players like Henry Pollock bolted out of the blue for selection.
“There’s a lot of competition for places," he believes.
“We're really looking forward to their game against Argentina and then the 28th of June, when they arrive here to play the Force, just to get a little bit of a line on some of those players and how they're going right here, right now.
“I think some of the lesser-known ones are going to be really interesting and also just to see what combinations the line staff are deciding to put together, because that might give us an indication of who we might face in the first Test.
“(Pollock) is a very, very promising player. Considering he was playing in the England under-20s at the start of the Six Nations and came through and ended up playing for the senior side, not many players get to do that, particularly not in the forwards.”
Schmidt isn’t eager to stand in anyone’s way of featuring against the Lions across the tour.
He revealed he would keep a core squad of 23-25 players, who are most likely to play in the first Test, but he was open to releasing and calling back players for their respective club matches and the marquee fixtures.
“We don't want to deprive someone the opportunity of playing against the Lions if they're not going to get the test jersey at the time,” Schmidt said.
“We know that the Lions, you never get through unscathed, so we know that we're going to need people.
“…There’s a good opportunity for them to continue and get game time anyway. Then some of the guys who do come in might go back out again to maybe play in some of those other games in the lead-up.”
This could include calling on players from overseas while keeping the door open for those already signed overseas to play a major role.
Will Skelton remains at the top of many fans' and pundits' lists after being used on the Spring Tour, with Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete, and Pete Samu options.
“I stay in touch with those guys who are overseas,” Schmidt said. “My worry with Will (Skelton) was that he missed a fair bit of time but he’s starting to get those minutes back up again.
“We haven't made any hard and fast decisions but we obviously used Will, Samu (Kerevi) and Marika (Koroibete) last year. I've spoken about James (O’Connor) potentially.
“There's other guys like Pete Samu who's committed I think to coming back at some stage. Even the guys who are going, like Tom Hooper and Langi Gleeson, I do think we'll see them back playing for the Wallabies at some stage.
“We don't want to discount anyone because, as Andy's done and the coaches, they've picked a form squad.”
The Wallabies will have just hit out before the first Test, facing Fiji on July 6 in Newcastle.
Schmidt was looking to balance keeping his players fresh while building on combinations from 2024.
“We're not totally sure because some guys, their volume is very high, and they might need a rest that weekend. But we'll also be trying to get combinations back together as quickly as possible,” he added.
“We haven't had any interaction with the collective at all, really, since we did the January camp, because we do believe that the better we can be at Super Rugby and the more we can support that, then the better off we're going to be in the long term.
“It will be a balance of the two things, probably. We want to get some combinations back together but we'll also be conscious of some of the volume that players have accumulated so far.”
