Joe Schmidt explains each of three new Wallabies selections and one 'old dog'

The first Wallabies squad of 2026 features three potential debutants, each coming off the back of standout Super Rugby Pacific campaigns.

Two new locks, Miles Amatosero of the Waratahs and Lachlan Shaw of the Brumbies, join Josh Canham and Jeremy Williams in a fresh-faced second-row unit, with all players aged between 23 and 25.

Meanwhile, Brumbies playmaker Declan Meredith, 26, is something of a late bloomer, having started just four Super Rugby games coming into the 2026 season. While the Canberra-based club secured the services of capped Wallaby Tane Edmed to help cover the departure of Noah Lolesio, it was Meredith who ended up starting 14 of 15 games in 2026.

Schmidt said each of the three newcomers had been on the Wallabies’ radar for some time, and their respective form in 2026 had signalled it was their time for a call-up.

“I think the volume of work that Lachie Shaw got through this year was unbelievable, really,” Schmidt explained. “The amount of contacts he gets through in the games, the amount of kilometres that he’s chalked off during the Super Rugby season has been outstanding.

“Miles, you can see one of the reasons we’ve gone with Miles. He had his 24th birthday a couple of days ago, and he’s the right size and shape. He’s brought a really positive mentality to his own growth and development, particularly once he got over a few hiccups early in the Super Rugby season; he’s gone really well.

“I think we’ve always got that short-term focus, but a long-term vision, and he’s a guy who’s had three years playing in France, he’s had a couple of years back here now, so he’s put himself in the right position to really springboard from there.

“Declan Meredith, I thought, when he started the season, he was exceptional. I think it was tough for him, on the back of the Brumbies not going so well, to try to find that same form.

“But we’re pretty confident that he’s got a nice kicking game, he’s got a very good running game, he’s got good top-end speed, he’s robust in the collision area, albeit the 10s don’t have to do that too often. He’s played a lot of 15, so again, if he’s defending in the backfield, he knows where he is, and he knows how to play there; brave in the air, because that aerial battle has become such a big part of the game.

“So those three guys, I think they came to our attention, not just this year, probably, but we’ve been tracking those guys for the last couple of years.”

At the other end of his career, prop James Slipper has agreed to come out of international retirement for the July series and can add to his record tally of 151 Test caps in the coming month. Schmidt said that the inaugural Nations Championship campaign wouldn’t necessarily be his last in gold.

“It cost me a coffee,” the coach grinned when asked if it was difficult to pull the 37-year-old back into the Wallabies.

“The thing is, we’re trying to do the best thing for individual players as well as trying to get the best team performance at the moment. One of the things with Tom Robertson, for example, he’s had a recurrence of a couple of calf issues, so while we could have possibly snuck him in — Tom Lambert’s just come back from a knee injury, so we’re just a little bit tight around loosehead.

“Funnily enough, there’s an old dog who’s not too far away, and it was great to just be able to lean on Slips. And I mean, Slips is playing again next year, if he’s in the right vein of form — and again, I thought he started the season really strongly. He’s a known quantity, and he is very much a leader in the group, which we lacked a bit when we lost him and Nic White and a few others during last season.”