Departing Wallabies assistant coach Laurie Fisher has called out Australia's Super Rugby sides and the national team for too often failing to perform at a consistently high level as he stares down his final three Tests with the group.
Confirming the upcoming first leg of the Nations Championship as his last with the Wallabies -- alongside outgoing coach Joe Schmidt -- the 25-year coaching veteran, often dubbed 'Lord', spoke to journalists in Sydney about the importance of the upcoming three Tests off the back of their disappointing end-of-year tour, before he made a frank admission of their chances at next year's Rugby World Cup, hosted in Australia.
Coming within seconds of taking the British & Irish Lions series to a decider in Sydney and earning a record-breaking win over the Springboks in Johannesburg, they failed to kick on, hardly threatening the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup series before suffering four straight defeats in Europe, the first Wallabies team in 67 years to go winless during a European tour. By season's end they sat on a 5-10 record.
"Well, there's no one thing," Fisher said when asked what the biggest area of focus was for the Wallabies ahead of the Nations Championship and next year's World Cup.
"It's knowing your game, being absolutely familiar with your game and committing to your game.
"It only takes one person to let you down in any particular thing. You can have the best defence system in the world, if one person knocks off, that's what creates opportunity. It's not system, it's not this, it's not that. We need to make sure that we drive and the players drive 100% buy-in.
"If you make a mistake, you make a mistake, but you never make an effort mistake. And if we continue to grow that mentality, grow our skill sets; collision, physicality, set piece, you name it, there are so many things.
"But I do believe, looking at Super Rugby, and even Wallabies, we just have too great a capacity to blow hot and cold and I think if we can blow hot and hotter and get used to delivering that week in, week out, which means that our training is of a level week in, week out, session by session. I think putting two, three, four, five performances in a row together will grow the confidence. In my mind, that's what I think we need to drive."
He continued his frank assessment of the group when asked the side's chances at the upcoming World Cup, labelling the challenge as a "huge ask" and a "massive hill to climb".
Currently ranked eighth on the world rankings ladder the Wallabies face a daunting task, set to play arch rivals New Zealand in the group stages for the first time, with a win over the All Blacks likely to set them on the trajectory of facing two-time defending champions South Africa in the quarterfinals.
"I wouldn't sit here and bet my house on us winning the World Cup, but I would bet my house on everybody involved giving an absolute red hot go and having beliefs that they can, and we'll see what happens.
"Is there quality? Yes, there is. Are there good coaches? Yes, there are. Is there depth? I think it's growing but again you look at New Zealand, you look at South Africa, you look at France, you look at England, you've got Ireland and all those other teams like the top 10, 12 teams it's tough."
Before that though, the Wallabies will kick off their 2026 campaign against world rugby heavyweights Ireland, currently ranked No.3 on the world rankings, in front of a sold-out Allianz Stadium in Sydney. They then face world No.4 France in Brisbane and then Italy in Perth. The Wallabies fell to all three in back-to-back losses to close out their 2025 season.
According to Fisher, starting their year against such high-caliber opponents is "hugely important" for the group to make a statement after last year's disappointing season, while the introduction of the Nations Championship provides a mini "dress rehearsal" for the upcoming World Cup.
"I think the Nations Cup is a fantastic opportunity for that [preparing for the World Cup]. You get to play three Northern Hemisphere sides here, then another three and they're not just isolated games, they're actually in a tournament, albeit an elongated tournament, so I think it's great preparation.
"But every Test is a standalone Test and if you get that right, then the next Test will take you closer, so without looking at the World Cup in 2027, if we get this training week right, next training week right, we get the game right and show progress, then we'll satisfy ourselves that we can rattle some cages in 2027. I don't think taking too long a term view is important because it's the building blocks to get you where you need to go in 2027.
"Our last three games of 2025 become our first three games of 2026 and it's an opportunity to really put a stake in the ground and say rather than being at the back end of a 15-Test season we're at the front end of a 14-Test season fresh coming out of Super Rugby and it's hugely important that we show what our capacities are."
While Fisher remains keen to keep his focus on the here and now, the future handover between Schmidt and Les Kiss remains a sticking point that has the potential to derail not just the upcoming season, but also next year's World Cup, making the transition from one coach to the other hugely important.
"Look, I think there's enough continuity for that to happen," Fisher said when asked how the group continues to build momentum instead of resetting during the coaching transition.
"Rugby's a game that's only going to be played in so many ways. I don't know what Les is going to do. I don't know what he's going to change. I don't know what the new defence coach is going to change. I haven't had discussions with them, but I think a tweak's a good thing.
"We haven't set the world on fire, I think we've been disappointing into last season, so there's obviously changes and improvements that could be made and hopefully the guys that are coming in are scrutinising that and have ideas and I'm sure they do.
"We know just even in these three Tests from a defence perspective that there's different areas that we'll challenge ourselves in. We know where we need to improve and what we need to change and tinker with, and I think that will hopefully set up the next incumbent to take it further forward."