NSW Waratahs Head Coach Dan McKellar said his team is "as prepared as we could be" for their Super Rugby Pacific 2025 opener in Sydney on Friday night.
The NSW Waratahs kick off their 2025 campaign with a Round One home clash against the Highlanders at Allianz Stadium in Moore Park.
McKellar, for whom it will be his first Super Rugby Pacific game as coach of the NSW Waratahs, also said the team has prepared specifically with the Highlanders in mind.
“We're as prepared as we could be, but we won't be perfect,” McKellar told media after the team training this morning.
“You can't focus on everything. You’ve got to prioritise; and we've certainly prioritised a couple of things that we thought would be important for round one.
“We'll go there and hopefully make a good account of ourselves.”
However, McKellar said he plans for the NSW Waratahs game to evolve as the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific competition continues, pending the characteristics of each opposition.
“What wins games in round one doesn't necessarily win you a game in round 10,” McKellar said.
“We'll go out there with the mindset and the intent to play some rugby.
"We'll have a really clear plan around how we're going to go about that and how we get the best opportunity to do that.
"But round one and the early rounds in Super Rugby, or in any professional competition, is certainly a little bit different to later in the season.”
McKellar confirmed captain and half-back Jake Gordon (lower back) and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (knee) are fit and available for selection in the team.
Both backs’ issues were niggles that only required precautionary treatment.
They have trained fully since the NSW Waratahs’ camp in the Gloucester area of NSW following their trial against the ACT Brumbies in Bowral.
McKellar said the camp's focus was on developing personal relationships between the playing group, and coaching and high-performance staff.
“Connections are massively important for me,” McKellar said.
“If you know each other well, and you've got those strong relationships and strong bonds between each other, [a team] can go a long way towards winning games.
“In the last couple of minutes [of a game,] if you've got to defend your line, and if you care about the jersey, and you care about the people you're playing with and the people helping guide the program, then you'll go that extra yard.
“We didn't have a rugby ball … We didn't play any rugby. We just bought a whole lot of cricket.
"We cooked food around the campfire, and the Polynesian boys took charge there and produced some beautiful food for us all to eat ... and [we] swam in the river, and just had a good couple of days.
"When we got back last week, we had a really nice event with the families, making sure they feel a part of the journey we're about to embark on.”
Pressed on Friday’s Super Rugby Pacific opener, McKellar would not be drawn on speculation over where Suaalii will play, other than to say several positions suit him.
“If he's in the backfield, he can see the game, can scan, see opportunities to present, and float in and out of the game,” McKellar said.
“But whether he plays 15 or not, we'll decide that over the next couple of days. [He has been] training a couple of positions today.
“We're just looking to have him involved in the game, aren't we? We're not playing Under Eights, [where it is,] ‘let’s just give it to Joseph.
“He's a point-of-difference player we want in the game. He's got a number of different strengths. We look to build a game around making sure he gets access to use those.”
McKellar expects the Highlanders to put up a huge challenge, especially off his knowledge of their coach Jamie Joseph.
"I've coached against Jamie Joseph a number of times. [For] my first game as coach of the Brumbies, Jamie was the opposition coach,” McKellar said.
“They'll be tough. They'll be physical. They'll put pressure on our breakdown.
“They've got individual threats that you'll need to deal with and handle.
“I expect that traditional Highlanders [game]: physical defensively, physical at set piece, but with threats that can hurt you with the ball.”
