Harry was in limbo over Cup snub. Now he will give Wallabies no option

Harry Wilson has issued an emphatic statement to Wallabies hierarchy, revealing the scarce communication he received before his World Cup snubbing.

The 24-year-old, who garnered 12 international caps under former national coach Dave Rennie from his 2020 debut, claimed consecutive player of the year gongs for the Queensland Reds.

Queensland Reds forward Harry Wilson revealed he was not informed of reasons for his Wallabies’ World Cup omission. Credit: Getty

Yet despite his accolades, and having spent a week in Wallabies camp in April, he was not chosen by Eddie Jones to board the plane to France.

When asked if the reasons for his omission were relayed to him, Wilson confirmed he did not receive much of an indication.

“Not really, to be honest,” Wilson told this masthead. “I was really only in Wallabies camp for a week, and then I got dropped, and didn’t really hear from [Jones] from then.

“That’s obviously never ideal, but I was obviously at that point playing footy for my club at Brothers, and I was really enjoying that. It did hurt a bit, I felt like I played some good footy in Super Rugby.

“We’ve got a new Wallabies coach which always gives you a little bit more hope.

“But I don’t really want to be leaving it down to hope this year. I really want to bang the door down at Super Rugby level and try not to give them an option not to pick me.”

Wilson is not the first player to speak with disappointment over communication in Jones’ return to the Wallabies’ helm, following criticism from fellow snubbed stars Quade Cooper and Len Ikitau.

But Wilson’s new Reds coach, Les Kiss, believes there will be a more streamlined manner of communication from incoming Wallabies mentor Joe Schmidt, having served under him as an assistant for Ireland.

So, how will Wilson return to the fore ahead of July’s home series against Wales? How will he unseat the likes of World Cup backrowers Tom Hooper, Langi Gleeson, Rob Leota, Rob Valetini and teammate Fraser McReight?

“That all starts here, which is being part of a successful Reds team. If you’re playing well on a winning team, it makes a world of a difference,” Wilson said.

Success could be courtesy of an expansive, attacking style of play Kiss is striving to implement, having finished just eighth in the competition for clean breaks (80) and defenders beaten (305) while scoring 24 fewer tries than eventual Super Rugby victors, the Crusaders.

The Reds’ recruitment of former All Blacks Alex Hodgman and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen comes with hope Queensland’s scrum woes will be overturned – having finished 2023 equal last for scrum wins (75 per cent) – and provide a platform to unleash their backline weapons in James O’Connor, Jordan Petaia and Suliasi Vunivalu.

But Wilson said to achieve such goals, he and the rest of the pack would need to bring unpredictability.

“We’ve changed our style of footy. It’s a lot more attacking for us forwards – it’s using our skills a lot more … backing your skills under pressure, where in the past sometimes if there was a drop ball we’d kind of tuck it up and just take the carry,” he said.

“With that backline, too, we know how lethal they are, so we’ve got to make sure we’re going forward to give them as much space as we can, so they can create.

“We haven’t gone close to hitting our ceiling as a team.”

The Reds’ first preseason hit-out is against the Force on Saturday at Ballymore.

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