Wallabies contender Isaac Kailea reveals conversation that changed course of his career
When a former Wallaby suggested a move from the back row to prop, Isaac Kailea was not interested. Four years later, he’s about to represent Australia for the first time - in the front row.
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HE is the half Tongan, half Chilean rookie who has only been playing in the front row for four years, and is now in line to make his Wallabies debut.
Isaac Aedo Kailea is far from your typical rugby story.
Up until 2018, Kailea had played exclusively in the backrow.
But an unexpected conversation with former Wallabies prop Nic Henderson at the Melbourne Rebels academy drastically changed the trajectory of his career as a loosehead prop.
“Around 2018, I was in the academy, I was a backrower back then, six, eight, jumping in the lineout for under-18s,” Kailea said.
“We had an academy in Melbourne that Nic Henderson was at, he must have seen me running a hill or something, and he said, ‘For you to make that next level, I think a move to prop would be a good idea’.
“At the time I was like, ‘What the heck is this guy talking about? There’s no way I’m moving to prop, no way’.
“I had some talks with my dad, he had a lot of trust in the academy system in Melbourne.
“He was a bit thrown as well, he wanted me to be a big ball-running No.8 for the Wallabies and Melbourne, that’s what he envisioned.
“I was thinking, do I have to move positions to make it to the next level? Those first couple of years of propping, scrums and all that stuff, I was really getting thrown in the deep end.
“There were a couple of times coming into pre-season at the Rebels where I was like, ‘Man, do I really want to do this?’
“I hated those scrummaging sessions, I’d think, ‘Should I just pull a sickie?’ It’s something I’m glad I did, because now when a ball gets knocked on in a game, I’m not nervous to pack down in a scrum.”
Quickly after his positional change to the front row in the Melbourne academy, Kailea made the Australian under-20s squad in 2020, but given Covid restrictions they were only able to gather for one camp.
He was in there with current Wallabies squad members Tom Hooper, Zane Nonggor, Charlie Cale, Billy Pollard, Jeremy Williams and Josh Flook.
Kailea, who is 23 and has played just 22 Super Rugby games, committed to his craft. Following a breakout 2024 Super Rugby season with Melbourne in which he played 13 matches, he was a shock inclusion in Joe Schmidt’s 38-man Wallabies squad for the coming Tests against Wales and Georgia.
With the team for Saturday’s match in Sydney against Wales to be announced on Thursday, Kailea is a strong chance to be named on the bench, behind first-choice loosehead James Slipper. He is battling former All Black Alex Hodgman for the bench spot, a predicament few could have thought possible at the start of the year.
“I’ve been pretty lucky with the guys I’ve had around me, especially in Melbourne,” Kailea said.
“This year has been my best year in terms of that next step, everything hasn’t fully clicked but I feel a bit more comfortable in the scrum.
“Having the big fella [Taniela Tupou] come down helped, he was the one I actually debuted against for Super Rugby, having Nella come down and training against him for a few scrum sessions a week, Sammy Talakai was massive too, telling me the dark secrets of scrummaging.
“There was also Matt Gibbon who was in my position, those guys were the biggest resources I had this year which really helped me.
“I’m able to understand where I’m making a mistake now.”
With regular Wallabies starting loosehead Angus Bell still on the injured list, Kailea’s chance to play for Australia has come sooner than he expected, and he’s taking in all the information he can.
“When I was a flanker or No.8, I thought all [props] do is get down and push, but it’s so technical,” he said. “I’ve got plenty to learn, I’m in Wallabies camp and asking questions constantly.
“I’m quite lucky everyone in my position has a huge wealth of experience. I’ve got James Slipper, he’s the second-most capped Wallaby of all time. And Alex Hodgman as well, he’s capped for the All Blacks and has a huge amount of experience.
“So I’ve leaned on them. I’m always learning and trying to get better.”
It has been a bittersweet few weeks for Kailea, after the Rebels were axed from next year’s Super Rugby tournament with $23 million of debt and players now needing to move to other clubs.
“It was quite a conflicting year,” Kailea said.
“The last couple of years where I’ve only played a handful of games each year, and then to play well enough this year to get picked for the Wallabies is quite conflicting.
“Hearing there might not be a club in Melbourne next year, and then finding out there isn’t one, is quite strange.
“Wherever I go, I will always be representing Melbourne.”
And if he makes the field for the Wallabies next weekend, front of mind will be his family.
Kailea’s Tongan-born father Tevisi grew up in New Zealand before moving to Melbourne in his 20s, and met his mother Andrea Aedo, who is of Chilean heritage.
“[The cultures] are quite different, but they’re similar as well in terms of their family values,” Kailea said.
“But I’d say it’s very different in terms of how much food they eat, I’m probably more connected to my Islander side.
“I’ve got a pretty big family in Melbourne, in the group there were probably about five families and all the dads were Tongan.
“So it was always going to be rugby.”
Along with older brother Sami, and younger brother Lucas, Kailea grew up playing against brothers Sione and Mosese Tuipulotu - Sione is a Scotland international, and Mosese has just signed with Scottish club Edinburgh after a stint at NSW Waratahs.
“I grew up with them, so there were big battles in our back yard,” he said. “All sport, anything, video games, everything was a competition.
“It was quite an entertaining childhood, and it was all boys so it would get quite physical.
“I remember our annual Christmas games, it’d be 12, 13 boys. We’d go five versus five in basketball for five or six hours.
“There were quite a few bruises during that time, it would nearly turn into a rugby match.”
Now he sees an opportunity to set himself up for life.
“Family is the one thing I’m really thinking about,” Kailea said.
“It’s knowing how hard other people have worked to put me in this position. I don’t want to waste the opportunity that I have now.
“My dad still works night shifts at a factory. He’s still putting in hours, and he’s 50 years old now.
“Playing rugby, I want to be comfortable and all respect to my dad, I can’t see myself working at 50.
“So I want to be comfortable, and I don’t want to waste the sacrifices that people have made for me.”
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Originally published as Wallabies contender Isaac Kailea reveals conversation that changed course of his career
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