Two rounds in, two bonus-point wins, and a spot at the top of the Super Rugby Pacific table. Whatever the debate about where Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii belongs on the field, the NSW Waratahs are not about to let it distract them.
Waratahs head coach Dan McKellar confirmed this week that he has not received any instruction from Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt about Suaalii's position, and that the decision to keep the former Sydney Roosters star at outside centre is entirely the club's own call.
"I haven't had any discussions around position, as I said last year — Joe Schmidt didn't care where he played," McKellar said of Suaalii.
There has been no directive from above to shift Suaalii to the centres. In his debut Super Rugby Pacific season, he was deployed at fullback for all but one game before spending the Wallabies' 15-Test campaign camped in the midfield. The positional question has followed the 22-year-old since he crossed codes, and it shows no sign of going away quickly.
Suaalii was impressive at outside centre, particularly defensively, in the Waratahs' comprehensive defeat of the Queensland Reds in the season opener, and McKellar retained him in the No.13 jersey for Round Two against Fijian Drua. The Waratahs were never headed after clawing back the lead against the Drua, with McKellar's side finishing top of the table following two bonus-point wins to open their 2026 campaign.
The coach has been candid about one thing that troubled him during Suaalii's first year in Super Rugby: the team simply was not putting him in enough space. McKellar himself acknowledged the issue, saying of Suaalii: "He's a rare talent, and we gotta get him in the game. We can't have him spending most of his time hitting rucks or running into brick walls." Getting the most from a player of Suaalii's calibre means designing the attack around his strengths, regardless of the number on his back.
Not everyone is convinced the centres are the right setting for that. Former Wallabies centre Morgan Turinui and ex-Wallabies captain Michael Hooper are in agreement that Suaalii is not producing his best performances when playing outside centre. Suaalii made a sensational switch from rugby league to union at the end of 2024 and hit the ground running with excellent displays in the No.13 jersey during that year's Autumn Nations Series Tests. But Turinui's concern is structural: he has described 13 as Suaalii's "third best position", and argues the back three better suits a player of his frame and pace.
If Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt believes Suaalii is a 13, then the more he plays there the better — the Wallabies appear committed to that role with the 2027 Rugby World Cup in mind, and he has already accumulated significant game time in the position. From a national selection standpoint, there is a logic to continuity: the more Suaalii plays centre across all competitions, the sharper his reads and combinations become before the tournament.
There is a reasonable counter to that too. Although the Waratahs have clinched impressive back-to-back victories, Suaalii has not been at his absolute best in the early rounds. A player of his gifts will always attract scrutiny when he is not lighting up the game, and critics will point to those performances as evidence the position is holding him back rather than developing him.
For McKellar, though, the calculus is clear enough for now. "No player owns the jersey," he reminded reporters this week. "There's always going to be competition in good teams, and our team's no different." The coach is not closing the door on positional flexibility, but he is in no rush to swing it open either. With the Waratahs winning, the pressure to experiment is low.
What this debate really reflects is the genuine luxury of having a player who can do so many things well. The question of where Suaalii is most devastating is worth asking — but for a Waratahs side that went into 2026 hungry to improve on a mid-table finish, the more pressing question right now is simply: are they winning? Two from two, top of the table. The answer, at least for the moment, is yes.