Offloads and intercepts. Tap-backs and flying leaps. Try-saving tackles and miracle balls. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s Wallabies debut last November was a revelation. Six weeks before, the 21-year-old had been playing rugby league, waiting to light the fuse on the richest contract in Australian rugby history. Now he was at Twickenham, the game’s spiritual home, putting England to the sword – and his name up in lights.
Former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper hailed the man-of-the-match showing as “sheer talent … X factor you can’t train: the ability to create a try out of absolutely nothing”. Teammate Tom Wright, who scored that day from a Suaalii basketball pass, more recently marvelled at the kid’s skills. “His talent is probably second to none in the group,” he said. “Pair that with his work ethic, it’s impressive.” Best of all, said Wright, Suaalii unifies and inspires. “Joseph gets the most out of all of us.”
Suaalii’s broad shoulders carry the hopes of a nation this winter as Australia and its home provinces take on the British & Irish Lions across three Tests and six tour games. The Wallabies are underdogs. Yes, they beat England and Wales but Scotland punished their youth and Ireland outlasted them to win 22-19. Yet with Suaalii, and a new wave of players by his side, locals are quietly optimistic.
Two-time World Cup winning centre Tim Horan talks of Suaalii as “athlete first, footy player second”. Australia’s football landscape is famously fierce with four codes duelling for talent. “He could play wing, fullback or centre in the Wallaby backline and always be outstanding,” Horan says. “Joseph is so important to our chances. He’s got size, height, speed, gifts in the air and incredible power across the park.”
Yet those virtues make Suaalii a target for the Lions’ monster-sized midfield. “If Joseph plays 13 as expected, he’ll have the hardest job on the field,” Horan says. “That channel is the toughest to defend and he’ll have beasts like Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu charging at him. If the Lions take a page from Ireland’s playbook and run three decoy runners out the back, he’ll have a split second to go one of three ways: plant his heels, jam in or stay wide. If he gets it wrong, Australia’s in trouble.”
Suaalii hasn’t got much wrong so far. In four Tests he has become a Wallaby weapon. The poaching of the quiet colossus from the NRL in 2023 was hailed by rugby as the return of a prodigal son. But like most kids in the hybrid Sydney sports landscape, Penrith-born Suaalii played a bit of everything. Growing up the eldest son of Samoan immigrants and Cambodian refugees, Suaalii represented NSW in league, AFL and basketball as well as rugby, and broke a state high jump record, before he was 13.
That diverse foundation of skills made his signature hot property. At 16, South Sydney signed Suaalii on a $2.5m four-year deal, reportedly the richest contract ever offered to a teenager in the history of either code. The Rabbitohs’ plan was for Suaalii to debut in 2022 at 18, the NRL age cap at the time. Until then, they honed his skills, bringing in former AFL star Michael O’Loughlin to school him under the high ball, an aerial mastery he later put to good use against England in winning four kickoffs.
Alas, before union poached Suaalii from league, the Rabbitohs’ arch-rivals the Sydney Roosters poached him first, appealing against the age cap to allow an NRL debut at 17. From 2021-23, the teenager packed on muscle, piling 110kg on to a 196 cm frame, and honing the defence that will now be crucial against the Lions. “He tackles like a leaguie, leaps like a basketballer and marks like an AFL player,” Horan says.
Whether rugby got him for $5m over three seasons or $8m for five years, it looks to be a bargain. For a code looking for a hero to haul it out of debt and arrest 20 years of sickly crowds and TV ratings, Suaalii spells salvation. Here is a force that helped drive 500,000 ticket sales for this Lions tour, a face to promote a 2027 home World Cup, a star to restore lustre to the tarnished old gold of the Wallabies brand.
The player known as “The Ferrari” has been idle since mid-May after breaking his jaw in Super Rugby but will likely play Fiji on 6 July before facing off with the Lions in the first Test on 19 July. Apparently he spent his time on the sidelines living like a monk, journaling in the park and meditating daily, songwriting for a second album with his rap group DreamYourz, while being fed Samoan delicacies by his mum and six younger sisters.
“Joseph is only 21 yet that demeanour, the measured and calm way he approaches the game and deals with celebrity and the psychology of winning, is so mature,” Horan says. “On paper Australia doesn’t have the depth the Lions do and can’t match their brute force. ‘Crash ball’ won’t work this time. The Wallabies need pace, agility and deception with a ‘no backward step’ mentality. Joseph Suaalii embodies all that.”
