In a mighty boost, Wallabies superstar Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has declared himself “fully fit” to face the touring British and Irish Lions next month.
Suaalii on Wednesday claimed he was “97 per cent” right after losing, then regaining, 5kg following surgery three weeks ago to repair a fractured jaw.
Having the code-hopping game-breaker back at his brilliant best will be critical to the Wallabies’ chances of conquering the Lions in the showpiece three-Test series kicking off in Brisbane on July 19.
And Suaalii believes his recovery is firmly on track, the outside back revealing he’d even returned to full-contact training on Monday in the hope of making a comeback in Australia’s season-opening Test against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6.
“It’s really good. The face was really big for a while, so I was wearing a face mask everywhere, but it’s slowly coming down,” Suaalii said at a Lions promotion at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.
“I’ve still got a bit of baby fat around, but it’s really good. I’m like 97 per cent, but I’ll be fully fit.”
The one-time NSW State of Origin star suffered the break in an accidental collision with NSW Waratahs and Wallabies teammate Andrew Kellaway, who felt horrible when his knee ploughed into Suaalii’s jaw.
“Yeah, nobody wants to crash the Ferrari. That’s definitely not what anybody wants,” Kellaway said on Wednesday.
“I was worried I was going to go viral as the guy who damaged Joseph before the Lions series.”
Suaalii, though, insists all has been forgiven and that friendly fire is merely an occupational hazard.
“It’s all part of my growth as a human and then as a rugby player too, so it’s all part of the game,” he said.
But he did concede to initially fearing he may miss the start of the series.
“Because obviously it’s such an important time for myself and straight rugby and I want to be playing so, yeah, obviously there’s a little bit of nerves,” Suaalii said.
“But they (doctors) came back straight away and then I had surgery maybe three weeks ago now and, yeah, I lost around 5kg, but I’ve put it all back on now.
“I’ve been eating heaps, thanks to my Mum and my family around me with the support to help me stay on track.
“Just going back home and there’s always food there, so Mum and Dad always try to feed me as much as possible when I’m back home, so that’s good.”
Now that he’s declared his availability, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt must decide where to play his attacking trump.
He finished last year’s spring tour at outside centre, but Waratahs coach Dan McKellar mostly used Suaalii at fullback during his stop-start Super Rugby Pacific season.
Suaalii doesn’t care where he plays, as long as he’s in Australia’s starting XV.
“Playing at 15, playing at 13, even training on the wing, I feel like I’ve been learning so much,” he said.
“I’m a big believer in playing wing,13, 15, just make sure you’re a better rugby player, and seeing it from a different perspective always helps you.”
