LONG READ Which Wallabies contenders advanced their cause in Australian domestic duels?

With so much of the narrative heading into last weekend about the supposed Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii-Zac Lomax showdown, what was missed in the build-up was the far bigger learning opportunity presented by the four Australian teams facing off.

With the first round of the new Nations Championship only nine weeks away, the chance to view some head-to-heads with a Wallabies selection lens was always going to be far more worthy. The only question would be whether either contest cleared anything up or not.

In Sydney on Friday, it was almost like the promotion of the NSW Waratahs-Western Force game was taken over by rugby league writers, with the imagined showdown of the two union converts dominating headlines, social posts and plenty of column inches.

After the one-time NSW State of Origin team-mates (sorry, I got caught up in it, too) had a brief coming-together early in the match, they both just went about their games and never really came close to any one-on-one contest, overhyped or not. Fortunately, there were plenty of other curiosities which played out.

From a broader back-three perspective, the way they all kind of cancelled each other out early on caught the eye. First, Dylan Pietsch and Andrew Kellaway came together in an aerial contest won by the strength of the bump, then Kellaway got one back with a clean strip of the ball on Lomax, who entered contact a touch high.

Pietsch established his credentials early, with a strong presence in the air and looking for regular work, finishing with 19 carries, two clean breaks and six defenders beaten on his way to two tries, to completely overshadow all the pre-game hype elsewhere.

Suaalii was involved in the kick-off contest but was barely sighted thereafter, his 60 minutes on the pitch featuring three carries and an offload for two metres made. The best compliment you could pay Lomax is that he looks more and more a rugby player with every outing.

Elsewhere, the Force’s Darcy Swain and Jeremy Williams (even with six on his back) made it a really interesting contest with Matt Philip, the obvious focal point in the NSW lineout. The three of them, and particularly Williams and Philip, are similar kinds of players and may even be competing for the same role in the Wallabies squad.

Henry Robertson is comfortably the most improved Australian scrum-half this season and is showing himself to have the right pass/kick/run instincts much more often than not.

The Force finished well on top in the back-row contest, where they slowed the Waratahs’ ruck exceptionally well. The ‘Tahs were forced to play with more than three-quarters of their ruck ball coming slower than three seconds, and more than a quarter of it coming slower than six seconds.

In the halves, the Force pair of Henry Robertson and Ben Donaldson were clear points winners.

Donaldson continued his run of consistently good form in 2026 and continues to provide the spark in attack via his running game and/or wide distribution for space out near the tramlines. He kicked well and at the right times, with one penalty touch-finder going dead the only real blemish. He put himself in the frame early in the season and has impressively maintained the kind of consistency that Joe Schmidt and Les Kiss will find difficult to ignore.

Robertson is comfortably the most improved Australian scrum-half this season and is showing himself to have the right pass/kick/run instincts much more often than not. The fundamentals of his game are really good; he gets to the ruck well, his pass is flat and accurate, and his kick for contests – particularly for Lomax on Friday – is impressive.

Jake Gordon was not terrible, for what it’s worth, but this game highlighted how quickly the younger talent at nine in Australia is gaining on him. That’s even with Teddy Wilson having one of his quieter games off the NSW bench.

The Force dominated the second half of this game, completely choking the Waratahs out of the contest to win a lot more comfortably than the final margin of 20-17 suggested. You can imagine more than a few individuals leaving the Wallabies hierarchy impressed with what they’d seen. If 2025 saw a strong representation from the Force – maybe their strongest ever – at national level, it’s hard to see that changing much this year.

In terms of head-to-heads in Brisbane on Saturday, it was perhaps a case of who wasn’t playing for the Queensland Reds and ACT Brumbies that made this contest a curious one to judge from a Wallabies perspective.

For example, Allan Ala’alatoa will be back for the Brumbies this weekend after a training ground head knock last week, and will certainly be among the first props picked later in the year.

Ryan Lonergan has been one of the best players in Australia all season… he’s comfortably been the most consistent for ACT.

Reds hooker Matt Faessler has had a rough time of it at lineout time in recent weeks and would have been eyeing a chance to mark himself against Billy Pollard. But after starting every game in 2026, the Brumbies elected to leave Pollard out of their 23 in Brisbane.

Similarly, Tate McDermott will almost certainly feature in the international part of the season once he regains fitness, and neither of his Queensland underlings – Kalani Thomas and Louis Werchon – were ever going to gain ground on Ryan Lonergan.

Brumbies captain this year, Lonergan has been one of the best players in Australia all season, evidenced by his running third in the Super Rugby Player of the Year standings when it went behind closed doors after Round 10. He’s comfortably been the most consistent for ACT, as he was again on Saturday, and it’s worth noting he again played 80 minutes against the Reds – the fourth time he’s done that in 11 games this season. He’s also now kicked 15 from 16 shots at goal in his last five games.

In the second row, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto continued his strong vein of recent form for the Reds, and after another strong showing from Brumbies’ Nick Frost following a delayed start to the year, it’s not hard to already picture a Wallabies second row of Frost and ‘LSL’. Frost certainly contributed to Faessler’s aforementioned lineout trouble.

Harry Wilson and Fraser McReight both had quality games, and so did Rob Valetini, and it feels about right to lump the three of them in together, because the Wallabies selectors quite likely will, too.

Wider out, the Brumbies pairing of Andy Muirhead and Corey Toole certainly held their own against Reds duo Tim Ryan and Filipo Daugunu, albeit Daugunu has enjoyed a strong season and along with Pietsch, has probably been the pick of the Australian wingers.

Full-back Jock Campbell is certainly having his best season of the last several for Reds, but Tom Wright looks better every week on his return from injury with ACT and this weekend, happily, seemed to have shelved the low-percentage miracle offloads.

Similarly in midfield, where the two sets of players probably cancelled each other out, Brumbies No.12 David Feliuai might have been the player to emerge from the contest with an enhanced reputation. Fly-half Harry McLaughlin-Phillips earned rave reviews from the Queensland media, but his showing in this game was probably of more interest to the Force and Waratahs, both reportedly interested in securing his signature for 2027.

The Western Force remain the form Australian side at the moment, but it’s also clear Queensland have finally ascended to their assumed mantle of the best Australian team.

In a game where the stats sheets look so similar, it’s ironic that McLaughlin-Phillips’ and Ben Volavola’s combined three penalty goals were all that separated the two teams, given the Reds’ aversion to kicking for the poles last season. Victory pushed the Reds back into the top four, and condemned the Brumbies to a third straight loss for the first time since 2018.

Away from the head-to-heads, what we have learned over the last fortnight is that the Western Force remain the form Australian side at the moment, but it’s also clear Queensland have finally ascended to their assumed mantle of the best Australian team.

After an indifferent start to the year, the Reds look to be timing their run to the finals well with four more rounds to come.

New South Wales and the Brumbies, by contrast, look to be in serious trouble, with the Brumbies – with only three games left – clinging onto the sixth finals spot, and the Waratahs a further five points adrift, with four still to play.

With the Reds (who host Chiefs) and Waratahs (at Highlanders) both taking on Kiwi opposition this weekend, there will be more Australian head-to-heads when the Brumbies and Force face off in Canberra. Given their contrasting recent form, it suddenly looms as a crucial match for both sides.