Rob Valetini

Rob Valetini spent five years being the best forward in Australian rugby before Australian rugby entirely agreed with him.

Born in Fiji, raised in Melbourne, he came into the Brumbies as a blindside flanker with an obvious problem: too destructive to leave out, too raw to build around. That took time to solve. When it was solved, he won back-to-back John Eales Medals as Australia’s player of the year.

What changed was not the carrying. The carrying was always there — he is one of the few forwards in world rugby who reliably beats the first defender from a standing start, and Wallabies attack plans have long been built on getting him over the gainline early in a phase count.

What changed was everything around it. His breakdown work went from occasional to relentless. His tackle numbers climbed without the carrying dropping off. He became the forward the pack is built around rather than the one it accommodates.

At 193cm and carrying serious weight, he is a physical outlier even among Test back-rowers, and Australia have leaned on that through a period when there has not always been much else to lean on.

With the 2027 World Cup on home soil, he is the closest thing the Wallabies have to a guaranteed name on the team sheet.