Fraser McReight

... and, you know, he's, he's, he's do- looks...

Ardie, um, you know, and he's a very, he's a very close second behind the Fraser-McReight, the great Fraser-McReight.

[laughs]

But, uh, um, but look, he...

It-- In any defensive shape, what you are relying on is being able to keep spacing and to be able to keep also pressure on the skills of the defense.

The separation there was key from Fraser McReight all the way through to Hunter Paisami.

That's what created the gap.

Wallabies get out of jail again by being able to chase back in midfield kick.

The pace of pressure was good.

Uh, McReight's presence at the, uh, the breakdown was excellent.

And, and the Wallabies just won more of those, uh, moments.

They, uh, dominated field position.

Um, Canham and Williams as a second row is, uh, has got plenty of upside to it.

Um, uh, and then even when, when Locky Shaw came on for Canham, it certainly didn't, um, didn't fall away there at the end.

Um- The back row, um, Hooper, McReight, Valetini, a lot of people have wanted to see this back row trio for all of this year essentially.

What did you, what did you make of it? It wasn't really a traditional sort of back row dominate the breakdown sort of game, although they certainly had wins there.

I'll quickly run through the team, and then I might get your thoughts, um, on the forward pack to start with.

So we've in the, um, loosehead jersey we've got Izak Kayalia, Brandon Pangalosa, and Alan Alatoa in the front row, Canham and Williams in the second row with a, a new look back row, Tom Hooper in six, Fraser McReight in seven, and Rob Valetini at eight.

Uh, the halves pairing has remained the same with Ryan Lonergan and, uh, Carter Gordon.

Potter on one wing with Jorgensen on the other.

Mm

... we asked of Fraser McReight, um, today down at Ballymore.

What did he feel about the, the combani? He was like, "Look, I don't mind it," but like they don't know what the play is really.

They've now got so many-

Mm-hmm

... lighting that fire again.

It's not e- exactly a fait accompli that, um, Fraser McReight always wears the seven, and I think that should be the case across all positions.

And I think that's like, that's quickly becoming a good key mark of Les Kiss's era.

Forwards need to carry a bit more, get their contestable kicking right, as they did.

But it was a perfect kind of example of the power of good discipline a- and winning your breakdown because the ease at which the Wallabies were able to get up into Japanese territory, uh, from those turnovers that, uh, Carlo Tizzano, uh, made, was it three or four in the end? Playing your most, so Fraser coming on late, kicking downfield, building from there, and then when you get that close to the try line in the game that the way it's refereed at the moment where defenses have to be behind the line, you're almost guaranteed to score from close range.

I mean, the Wallabies butchered a couple there with dropped balls over the line, but the fact that there was multiple front rowers scoring, it was just, you know, underlined how, you know, successful a territory game can be played with good discipline and then capitalizing on your, on your 22 entries.

Yeah.

... with the pressure that he can put on there, um, with how quick and electric he is.

I love seeing him in that last 30 particularly, you know, a bit more space out wide and he becomes like that Henry Pollock figure who can really cause oppositions damages, um, at that point.

Um, uh, look, he, he wasn't the only one, like Fraser McReight making an impact off the bench.

We've already talked about Tezzano.

So this was, became a theme as the game went on.

So Carlo Tizzano, uh, started in front of Fraser McReight.

But as this match progressed, the dominance of him at the breakdown, c- can you shift him?

Uh, not that h- with his speed there.

Mm

... came in alongside of Harry Wilson which meant that Fraser McReight went onto the bench, Rob Valetini out of the 23.

What was the rationale there?

Um, w- Valetini out was, was very much in line with, uh, with, with Alaalatoa not playing, Josh Kanowski as well, um, sat, sat the game out and so, um, I think that was very much a, a, a load management, um, thing for, for a couple of key forwards who've, who've ...