When Skelton was announced I was skeptical, he had never Captained a team and, in my view was neither a definite starter nor a 60-80 minute player. However, with every other aspect of our RWC campaign seemingly up in the air I kinda thought "what the hell, run with it..."
To be honest, I have been pretty impressed with his performance in the role and it would appear that it was a popular selection within the Squad, which ultimately is the main objective amongst a group of professionals.
But that was then, this is now RWC '27 and all focus on that trajectory.
I have some problem with Captains that are not regular 80 minute players. Or at least 65-70.
I have some problem with overseas based Captains, both for the availability aspect, but also to the message around priorities to the wider playing group and Code.
I believe that we now need to find the on-field leader and holder of the spiritual flame from amongst the local players and lock it in for the next full RWC cycle.
Wales has proven that if you are good enough, you are old enough, so it doesn't need to be limited to the handful of senior players still available both in and on the fringe of the current Squad.
There is an enormous amount of soul searching to be done on the off-field aspects of Australian Rugby, but this, the Captaincy, should really be one the foundational Wallabies decisions on our pathway forward.
