As Joe Schmidt searches for the answer to who is best positioned to drive the Wallabies forward in the No.10 jersey, a 29-year-old in the prime of his career will be taking the field at Coogee Oval in the hours before the national side takes on the Springboks in Perth later on Saturday evening. That person is Andrew Deegan and, according to Morgan Turinui, the blonde-haired fly-half’s quality sums up the lost generation of playmakers holding back Australian rugby as he prepares to lead Randwick against Gordon in the Shute Shield quarter-finals.
In a social media post on Wednesday night, Turinui said there’s a “lesson” for Australian rugby to learn about Deegan’s journey after winning the Shute Shield’s top individual gong earlier that night. The former Wallaby turned coach and pundit was, of course, referring to Deegan’s prized evening in front of a packed room at Doltone House where the Randwick playmaker gave the rest of the field in the Shute Shield a head start yet still managed to come out on top to win the prestigious Ken Catchpole Medal. “It’s a nice little example of where we’re at, isn’t it?” Turinui told The Roar .
“You look at Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley, how old are they now? Either side of 35. Then you look at Noah [Lolesio] and [Will] Harrison and [Ben] Donaldson and [Tom] Lynagh, [Tane] Edmed and even Carter Gordon – they’re all 25 or under. “There’s a decade of two 10s playing 20s World Cups every year and rightly or wrongl.