Ten months ago, the then-incumbent Wallabies captain Dave Porecki stood alongside Joe Schmidt and John Eales smiling beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, hopeful that a return to the pitch was imminent.
It never came, not in 2024 anyway, as his season of unfilled business failed to get off the ground.
A lingering Achilles issue didn’t just derail his season but threatened to end his career.
Indeed, the level-headed, no-frills 32-year-old feared retirement at stages last year as he failed to get the response he craved from his Achilles.
“I would normally be stoic and say I always knew I was going to come back, but there were times that I was like, we cannot get a fix here, and it’s just not responding.” Porecki said.
“And then obviously we started taking a more aggressive approach with the cortisone injection stuff and got a lot of quality help along the way as well, a lot of different sets of eyes. And that was really helpful for me because it puts your mind at ease a little bit as well.
“And you know that you’ve got confidence that they’ve seen it before. Although very minimally, they have actually seen it and they’ve seen people recover, and it was just sort of time.
An Achilles injury denied Dave Porecki the chance to play a Super Rugby match in 2024. (Photo by Adam Pretty – World Rugby via Getty Images)
“But for me, I guess the pressure was higher because you’re on such a time crunch to get back for Super Rugby and then obviously you want to play Super Rugby so you can play, put your best foot forward for Wallabies.
“And obviously I couldn’t play any Super.”
Porecki, who was the Wallabies’ most-capped captain in 2023 after injury and selection saw Eddie Jones turn to the reliable hooker, didn’t dance around his emotional roller-coaster of 2024.
“It was tough. It was probably more frustrating around like how complicated the injury was and going sort of week to week, not really knowing,” said Porecki, who welcomed twins last November.
“You’d almost rather have a long-term injury because you know, ‘This is the time I’m coming back’, whereas my one was sort of every week I’m getting asked, ‘When are you back, when are you back?’
“And then obviously we just ended up making a call like, look, it’s not going to work for me.
“In some ways it was a really bad year. I wasn’t able to play, but otherwise it was good, I was able to get in the gym and get my body right physically.
“I feel like I’m in a better place physically in terms of at the start of a year than I have been in previous years, because I’ve got a massive pre-season under my belt. So it’s a good start of the year for me.”
Dave Porecki will pack down alongside his Test teammates Taniela Tupou (L) and Angus Bell (R) in an all-Wallabies front-row for the Waratahs. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
Porecki was speaking to reporters following the next stage of his comeback, having got through 52 minutes in the Waratahs’ 36-36 draw against the Brumbies at in Bowral – the Test hooker’s first minutes since his ill-fated appearance in a trial 12 months ago.
The Wallabies rake might not be a new addition for the Waratahs, having returned to the Super Rugby outfit in 2020 to try and push his international claims, but he promises to be one of the most important members in Dan McKellar’s new-look outfit.
Indeed, after a turbulent few years at the Waratahs and a huge turnover in the front and back offices at Daceyville, Porecki’s experience and maturity is just what McKellar will be after as he attempts to turn the perennial underachievers around.
His return also offers the Waratahs an all-Wallabies front-row, with the hard-working Porecki packing down between Test props Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou – the same front-row that took it to France on the eve of the World Cup and backed it up against Georgia a fortnight later.
Whether he returns to face the British and Irish Lions in July remains to be seen, with Matt Faessler and Brandon Paenga-Amosa stepping up well, but his return will only warm the heart of Schmidt.
More importantly will be helping the Waratahs get off to a successful start against the Highlanders in Sydney on February 14.
