Look, let's be honest with each other. When Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii pulls on the sky blue of the Waratahs, you sit up straighter. You lean forward. You half-expect something extraordinary to happen every time the ball goes near him. That's just the effect the bloke has.
So after two rounds of Super Rugby Pacific, it's fair to ask why the most exciting young back in Australian rugby is registering just 0.04 carries per minute, the lowest figure of any Waratahs player in their win over the Fijian Drua last Friday. Fair dinkum, that number is hard to square with the $1.6 million a season NSW is forking out for the privilege of having him.
According to analysis first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Suaalii also made at least eight decoy runs during the 23-point victory without the ball ever landing in his hands. Eight times he called for it. Eight times his teammates went elsewhere. That's a rough night for any player, let alone one who is supposed to be the centrepiece of your attack.
He's only 22, and this is only game 27
Here's the thing about Suaalii, though. He is 22 years old and has played just 27 professional rugby matches across the Waratahs and Wallabies. Six of those were at fullback, a position plenty of sharp rugby minds still think could be his best. The bloke came from the NRL, stepped into Test football almost immediately, and is now learning a new attacking system under Waratahs coach Dan McKellar after an absolute flogging of an international season under Joe Schmidt. That is a lot to absorb.
The Waratahs' centre stocks aren't deep right now either. Henry O'Donnell is taking time away from the game and George Poolman has only recently crossed from the Force. By contrast, the outside back positions are stacked. Harry Potter, Andrew Kellaway, and the consistently impressive Triston Reilly are all competing for spots on the wing and at fullback, alongside promising rookies James Hendren and Sid Harvey. So Suaalii at outside centre makes tactical sense, even if it comes with its own set of headaches.
McKellar was pretty direct about all this when speaking to media after the Drua match. "I think everyone comes to a Waratahs game or a Wallabies game and just wants Joseph to make 10 line breaks and score three tries," he said. "That's just not reality. He's a marked player. If I'm coaching against Joseph Suaalii, I'm talking about him all week."
And that, right there, is the heart of the matter.
Being the decoy isn't glamorous, but it matters
I reckon a lot of casual fans watched Friday night and felt underwhelmed by Suaalii's contribution. But those eight decoy runs weren't nothing. They were forcing Drua defenders into a constant split-second guessing game, pulling eyes and bodies away from the genuine strike options around him. Max Jorgensen's try in the 36th minute came through beautiful footwork and a slick skip pass from Lawson Creighton, but Suaalii's gravitational pull on the defence created the conditions for it. You don't always see that on the highlights reel.
You've got to hand it to Jorgensen, though. He was the one who actually finished it, and against the Drua he was the clear standout. Suaalii made just eight passes all night, but there were moments when his ability to draw defenders and distribute with quick hands showed exactly what he can add when teammates trust the play.
The space problem is real
Waratahs attacking coach Mike Catt has publicly admitted he needs to do more work creating space for Suaalii. On the evidence of the Drua match, that's not sorted yet. Several times during the game, Suaalii was available out wide with room to accelerate, and his teammates chose other options. On 75 minutes, halfback Teddy Wilson broke the line with Suaalii sitting free on his left shoulder, then backed himself to keep running and was stopped by cover defenders. It was the kind of moment that makes you groan from the couch.
There was also a handling error from Suaalii on a pass from Max Jorgensen that points to the backline rust you'd expect from a player who spent most of last year playing Test footy under a completely different system. It will shake off. The question is how quickly.
At the end of the day, the scrutiny isn't going away. The Hurricanes visit Sydney next Friday, and they will have done their homework on Suaalii just as thoroughly as the Drua did. Every opposition coaching staff in the competition has his name circled in red. That is both the burden and the compliment that comes with being the most talked-about young back in the country.
It's a big call, but I reckon Suaalii will look back on this period as the making of him. Learning to play in the pockets, to be effective without the ball, to sharpen every part of his game rather than just waiting for the big moments: that's what separates the good ones from the great ones. The Waratahs and the Wallabies are betting he gets there. Given what we've already seen from the bloke, it'd be a brave punter who bet against him.