Wallabies coach Robbie Deans waiting for chance to deliver six of the best

JIM TUCKER: Naming a 25-man squad with a parachute to drop in six more names might seem an over-elaborate selection process.

NAMING a 25-man squad with a parachute to drop in six more names might seem an over-elaborate selection process but it is looking smarter all the time for the Wallabies.

Coach Robbie Deans will have the first great unveiling on Sunday but as soon as those names are out the speculation will be intense about the "Secret Six".

It's hard to get a straight answer on just what the criteria are for the six names to be added on June 9, but I'll take a stab. Contrary to the popular view, I still fancy Kurtley Beale has a big shot at wearing No.15 for the first Test at Suncorp Stadium on June 22.

Should he complete his alcohol-related rehab over two weeks, he has the Rebels-Brumbies match on June 7 to get back on track.

Deans knows how Beale soared in the Wallaby team environment last year after a wobbly start and will admirably believe it can help heal him again.

Western Force lock-flanker Hugh McMeniman has the potential to play two games after his shoulder problem to force his way into the six which has to be his pathway rather than a training camp with no games.

There's no use having a No.3 hooker and No.3 halfback in the top 25 when they need games under their belt because they might go a month without one before a cameo against the British and Irish Lions.

That means Reds hooking contenders James Hanson and Saia Faingaa will miss out on the 25 and either Nick Phipps or Nic White, at halfback, will also be counting on a call-up via the six.

If Deans has any question mark on a pivotal player's suitability for the first Test, the serious audition is the full-on Reds-Lions tour game a fortnight before. Quade Cooper is Australia's most gifted flyhalf.

He's in a good head space, has added more physical grit and his five games since being left out of a logistics camp by Deans have been a step up on the five before.

He should be in the 25 but there is still that "prove it against the Lions" feeling I sense from Deans.

He may well be the biggest name having to fight in through the secret six.

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THE wonderful 1963 Wallabies touring side, which won two Tests in South Africa against the odds, is holding a reunion in Sydney.

On the day of their stunning Test win in Cape Town, they shared the front page of the afternoon Argus with the news that Nelson Mandela had been sentenced to imprisonment on Robben Island.

Wonderful players such as Ken Catchpole, Rob Heming, Jules Guerassimoff and Jon White would have been greats in any era.