Fresh off his NRL season with the Sydney Roosters, big-money rugby recruit Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is putting his hand up for game time on the upcoming UK tour.
The 21-year-old, who signed a multimillion-dollar deal to play with the NSW Waratahs and Wallabies, has joined a “training hub” in Canberra this week under the guidance of Test coach Joe Schmidt.
Rugby Australia (RA) will send two squads overseas in November, with the Wallabies facing England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
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An Australian XV will play English club Bristol Bears and England A.
Suaalii said he had recovered from the NRL season, with the Roosters making it through to the preliminary finals in late September, and was ready for action.
“Yeah, I’m ready, if they throw me in, I’m ready to go,” Suaalii said on Monday.
“I’ve always backed myself going against anyone so I’m very confident in my ability to play.
“I still feel fresh, I’ve had a couple of weeks and got away for a bit of a break, then just back training now, yeah, feel good, feel fit, feel strong.
“I played the game at school, so it’s just fine-tuning and getting the skills back that I had in rugby. It’s a pretty simple game at the end of the day, so yeah, very excited.”
Suaalii’s monster deal, under the former RA regime, attracted plenty of scrutiny and that spotlight is expected to intensify but as a former schoolboy star long courted by both rugby codes, wasn’t bothered by it.
“I’m ready for that — I feel like as a young kid coming to NRL, I had a lot of eyes on me coming through, so it’s no different.
“I’m just keeping everything simple, just sticking to the process of training every day, getting better every day and just learning from my teammates and just trying to be as best player I can be.
“It’s just my life and my dreams and all I want to do with my life.
“Obviously, everyone’s going to have an opinion on it, which is respected but at the end of the day, what I want to do is come play for the Waratahs and the Wallabies.”
Sualli started in the centres in his last NRL outing but said he was open to playing anywhere in the backline.
He felt his stint in the NRL, training and playing alongside senior Roosters, would make him a better rugby player.
“I feel like I’ve learned from a lot of players like Joey Manu, Daniel Tupou, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Luke Keary,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve taken their strengths and seen how I can implement it into this team.”