Why a Wallabies legend believes one letter will usher in an all-time great

Wallabies legend John Eales believes the nation’s captaincy will prove the making of Fraser McReight, and transform him from one of the world’s leading flankers to an all-time great of Australian rugby.

Despite not having the ‘c’ next to his name at clubland for the Queensland Reds, McReight was named to replace Super Rugby Pacific teammate Harry Wilson in the side’s Test defeat to South Africa after the latter succumbed to a knee injury.

While the Wallabies were unable to back up their Ellis Park heroics, suffering a 30-22 defeat amid a host of injury concerns, McReight’s typically relentless nature was on show – topping the clash in the tackle count (17 for no misses) as he sought to galvanise his under siege troops.

Eales, speaking from Ballymore at the book launch of his former coach John Connolly’s biography, said history’s best teams each possessed a number of captaincy options.

McReight’s succession of Wilson – who is in line to return for Saturday’s clash against Argentina, and will likely take back the captaincy – was indicative of the direction the Wallabies were heading, according to the former World Cup-winning skipper.

“I think he’s definitely heading that way,” Eales said, when asked if the captaincy would unlock McReight and forge his path towards being one of the country’s finest players.

“If you look at the No.7s we’ve had over the years, we’ve had some pretty good ones – Jeff Miller, Dave Wilson, George Smith, Phil Waugh – and I think Fraser, the way he plays the game, the influence he has on the game and the amount of touches and impacts he has is pretty special.

“Fraser’s one of these guys who is so consistent week in, week out, and I think that’s the first thing you need from your captain – they need to pick themselves.

“Fraser does that, he’s one of the best in the world at what he does. He’s a guy the team respects, and you could see he was very comfortable in that role.”

Eales was a key member of Australia’s most successful rugby era, being a part of two World Cup triumphs in an 86-Test career – feats he admits may never have eventuated if not for Connolly’s influence on his life.

It makes him well-placed to deliver a verdict on the trajectory the Wallabies have headed in the past two years under the tutelage of coach Joe Schmidt, with 2025 providing signs of growth in the lead up to the 2027 World Cup.

One thing Eales was never able to achieve was a victory at Ellis Park as the Wallabies did to launch their Rugby Championships campaign against South Africa, and he believed the player depth developed was behind that success.

It followed Australia’s third-Test win against the British and Irish Lions, which came after a final-minute defeat in the preceding clash.

Tom Wright (knee) is expected to miss the rest of the year, while Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Nic White (concussions) are in doubt for the Pumas battle in Townsville.

But Eales is confident they had the group to succeed.

“It’s been in many ways a skill-led revolution in Australian rugby. If you also look at the focus of a lot of coaches around the country in the Super Rugby teams, they’re all very highly skill-focused coaches,” Eales said.

“The Brumbies have been a great example of a team who, over a number of years, have replaced a lot of people who have been injured but had strong systems and very high skill levels.

“If you’re not able to maintain momentum against the best in the world then you will never win those big games consistently. Now I think players are playing at a higher skill level, and they’re challenging teams for longer periods of time.”

Proceeds from Connolly’s biography ‘Bare Knuckles’ will go towards the Perry Cross Foundation to raise funds for spinal injury research.