He may have finished 2024 as the 90th Wallaby captain but Harry Wilson has ridden rugby’s rollercoaster enough times to know there’ll be twists and turns ahead.
Until last year, Wilson had yo-yoed in and out of national contention since his 2020 debut with injuries and form slumps reducing the Queenslander to just 16 Test appearances.
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Now, Wilson finds himself Australia's incumbent number eight and captain heading into a massive 2025 with Super Rugby Pacific, a British & Irish Lions Series, The Rugby Championship and another Spring Tour on the horizon.
With his sixth Super Rugby campaign mere weeks away, Wilson sat down with rugby.com.au to reflect on his "whirlwind" year in Wallaby gold and preview the Reds' upcoming season.
Before we talk Wallabies, you've now played 70-odd games for Queensland. How does it feel being one of the old bulls around the club at just 25?
HW: It’s quite funny, I was talking to Fraser (McReight) and someone else else about this the other day - I feel like we forget how young we still are.
You see people starting their careers at 25 but obviously we’re heading into our sixth year of Super Rugby and it’s our seventh with the squad.
It’s different but it’s exciting, you’ve got more influence in the team and you feel you can offer more where in past years you’re more worried about yourself and your own game.
It’s awesome to know that those younger boys, you know, two or three years ago I was in the exact same spot as them.
But we can’t be that old - just look at James Slipper. He’s almost 10 years older than me. I sent him a message and asked him how he went that first week back of pre-season.
I told him I’m struggling and he just goes "mate, don’t get me started" but he’s tough as nails.
Tell us more about James Slipper and that relationship. What role did he play for you through 2024?
HW: He was amazing for me. Him, AAA (Allan Alaalatoa) and Whitey (Nic White) all helped me out with the (Wallabies) captaincy but I’ve had a relationship with him since 2018 when we played Queensland Country together.
I didn’t have many mates as the young guy in that team and he was the old guy who didn’t have many mates so we have this unique bond from then and we’ve kept in touch frequently since.
Last year, being thrust into a position which I wasn’t used to or had much experience with, I leant on him so much and those three boys, how much they helped me was unbelievable.
They helped me with stuff I was uncomfortable with, helped me build the confidence to do it. I couldn’t have done it without those three.”
We’ll talk more about the captaincy, but first tell us about your call-up. You’d been out of the Test squad for a while - how did you find out you’d been selected last year?
HW: Yeah, that was quite a funny one. I saw it (July Series squad) on Instagram first but my arm was still about 80 percent at that point and I was a bit nervous about how I was going to go.
They threw me into training, did a bit of light stuff and then they had to cut the squad short so (Wallabies coach) Joe (Schmidt) said go back and play a game of club footy and that was awesome for me. The arm felt back to normal, no issues there, and then I was back in the squad for Georgia.
When you’re in a few squads in a row you probably take it for granted but when you haven’t been in a squad for two years, just being in the training environment again is awesome. I felt so privileged to get back into that position training with the squad.
So you're back in the squad and playing through the Georgia and South Africa Tests. How and when did the Wallabies captaincy come about?
HW: We were over in Argentina - it was the Tuesday morning before La Planta - and that’s where Joe asked me.
When you get knocked on the shoulder by Joe on a Tuesday, it’s normally not the best news, so I was quite happy when first he said I was playing.
But also to be given that honour, yeah, I was obviously a bit rocked. I wasn't expecting him to say that. I told him it would be the biggest honour I could ever have.
I grew up wanting to play for the Wallabies but never grew up wanting to be a captain - I just wanted to play - so to be given that honour is something I never take lightly.
Joe was awesome. He didn’t try to change me, didn’t try to make me somebody else. He just said to just keep training hard, be competitive in everything you do and just lead by actions.
Your first Test as skipper was that 20-19 win against Los Pumas. How happy were you to see Ben Donaldson’s kick go over?
HW: That was such a special feeling. It was a whirlwind of a week but game day is the best time of the week because you’re not worried about any captaincy stuff - once you get on the field you’re a footy player and the only thing that changed for me was to choose the right things around going for touch or scrum.
Once I was out there, it felt natural and that was one of my favourite games ever to be a part of.
The way the team played for each other was amazing. We just tried to bash them all game and just when we felt like we would let it slip, we got down their end late. I was stoked when we got that penalty advantage.
Like I said, definitely a whirlwind of a week but then the next week you get humbled (67-27 loss in Santa Fe) and you learn a lot more from the second week than the first week.
I think by the end of the year I improved as a captain. I definitely learnt a lot in every game week to week, session to session and I feel I grew a lot of confidence in that position too.
Would you want to take up that Test captaincy role again in 2025?
HW: The beauty of my experience in the Wallabies is I’ve been humbled quite often.
There’s been times I think I’ve played some good footy, got ahead of myself and then been dropped out of squads so I can’t be thinking about that.
For me, I know I need to go out there and play well for the Reds this year.
If I ever got the opportunity to captain for Wallabies again, it’d be such an honour and I’d love to do it but we’ve got a Super (Rugby Pacific) season to get through and our focus is on Round 2 against Moana Pasifika.
Speaking of Super Rugby Pacific, how do you reflect on the Reds' 2024 season and what are your goals for Queensland in 2025?
HW: Last year, we had some really good moments and won some big matches but we also let some very winnable matches slip.
I think our goal this year is to have that ruthless attitude needed to win the games we should and win them well.
It’s a happy group, the coaches are awesome. We’ve got that good core squad that have been here a while and those boys who’ve come in have only added and improved us.
There’s a few good number eights going around Ballymore with guys like John Bryant and Joe Brial. Are you feeling any pressure?
HW: There's no such thing as walking into a jersey. If you’re not feeling pressure, you’re complacent and then your performance will go down.
That’s the beauty of having John and Joe there. They want that eight jersey, there’s pressure on the six and seven jerseys too and they want to be a part of that backrow.
It makes sure you get up for every session, it makes sure you train as hard as you can and compete.
We’ve always had depth but this year’s really good. There’ll never be a game where you can go out and coast because there’s someone on your heels.
The awesome thing about coming back into Reds training this year was that we weren’t going down a level from Wallabies - we were ripping in trying to catch up on detail and the way we compete at training is fierce and awesome.
Everyone’s so close off the field as well and I think that’s the blend you’ve got to have if you want to succeed.
Finally, how do your mates and family take you down a peg after a massive year like 2024? What are they doing or saying to keep you level?
HW: They don’t find that very difficult, to be honest.
When I came back, I went on a trip with my school mates and I definitely wasn’t Harry the rugby player or Harry the captain there. They were into me the whole time and they all bully me.
It’s funny because they’re all going well and doing awesome things in their jobs and my brothers are hitting all their goals in their jobs.
They’re all proud of me and I’m proud of what they’re doing as well but they’ll still let me know about a game I lost for them in school or how my brother Will won another premiership with Brothers and I wasn’t there for it.
