For most folk born in the years before the turn of the century, World Cup winners Richard Harry, Ewen McKenzie and Andrew Blades would serve as heroes.
For Massimo De Lutiis, however, it was a year 12 student at The Southport School: Zane Nonggorr – a rising tight-head prop with tree-trunk legs, and a smile and head of hair that’s unforgettable.
For De Lutiis, two years Nonggorr’s junior, it the sight of the 1st XV star winning the GPS premiership that proved to be the catalyst that sparked a rugby dream.
“I’d say the reason I got into rugby, to be fair, was Zane Nonggorr,” De Lutiis tells The Roar.
“I remember in grade 10 watching Zane lift up the championship trophy for TSS. And I was like, I want to be that, I want to do that.
“I didn’t really have an athletic bone in my body at the time. I played rugby, but I started in the D teams and slowly worked my way up.
“Over the eight week holiday, I was like, I need to get bigger, faster, whatever.
“I locked myself in the basement for eight weeks, didn’t see any friends or anything. I bought gym equipment with all my money. And then gymmed every day, did a couple beach runs, and made the first XV the next year.
“That was a big turning point in my career, I guess you’d call it. I think with that came the mental thing; if you have ambition and discipline, then you can go right anywhere, I guess.”
Massimo De Lutiis in action for Australia A at The Stoop. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Rugby Australia and the Queensland Reds stand to be the beneficiaries of De Lutiis’ eight-week summer slog.
The 21-year-old might not have arrived at the Reds with a highlights reel like Taniela Tupou’s, but the rising star of Australian rugby, who starred for the Junior Wallabies in 2022 and earlier this year was included in Joe Schmidt’s 40-man Wallabies squad despite not yet playing a Super Rugby match, could emerge as one of the game’s best and most important players over the coming years.
De Lutiis’ rise was slowed last year by a calf injury, but the time off the park allowed the Reds recruit to build up his body.
It’s fair to say he didn’t waste the months sidelined, as he made the Ballymore gym his second home, benching 202.5kg and setting an unofficial Queensland all-sport record.
“When I did that record, I was just coming back from my quad injury, so I hadn’t really been running yet,” De Lutiis says.
“But I’m still pushing big weight, so don’t worry.”
Although explosiveness and power go hand-in-hand with the game’s piggies, De Lutiis knows there’s more to scrummaging than spending time in the gym.
“That’s (lifting weights) not really my main focus at the moment,” he says. “It’s more just getting my scrummaging techniques right and playing Super Rugby and these games coming forward.”
But those who saw De Lutiis destroy opposition scrums during the under-20s world championship in South Africa a couple of years ago recognise the prop’s ability at the set-piece.
Mike Cron, the Wallabies’ world-renowned scrum coach, has also spent the past ten months licking his lips at the rising prospect.
It’s why Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt didn’t hesitate to include him in the Australia A squad to take on England A last November, before adding him to his Wallabies squad earlier this year.
“He’s another one of Cronno’s adopted sons really,” Schmidt quipped in October.
“He adopts anything that eats raw meat, I think. Massimo, he’s an impressive young character, not just as a player, he’s very driven and we’re pretty excited about his future.
“I think sometimes, particularly with a tight-head prop, you can’t get too excited too early just because you want to make sure they’re ready for the kind of struggle it is – front row at the very top level.
“But he’s a good young kid… we haven’t seen a whole lot of games from him but we’re excited about him getting closer to the top level.”
It’s suffice to say the feeling is mutual, too.
“He’s an amazing scrum coach,” De Lutiis said. “I kind of refer to him a little bit as my ‘Cus D’amato’. I could not give him a better appraisal.”
Despite his rapid rise, De Lutiis knows he’s got his work cut out in 2025 and isn’t expecting anything to be handed to him.
Massimo De Lutiis (2nd right) was one of the breakout stars in this year’s Junior Wallabies campaign. (Photo: Rugby Australia)
“The first couple of sessions weren’t too great in the scrum,” De Lutiis admits, having packed down against internationals Alex Hodgman and Matt Gibbon in recent months.
“I was getting pretty dominated.
“But it’s great having that experience so they can tell me what’s to come, how they went up through the system, especially for a prop, obviously you don’t really start until a little bit older than the other boys.
“But yeah, it’s just great learning what they’ve experienced and then also how I can get better, basically.
“My dream is to play for the Wallabies, which is hopefully going to come. But at the moment, I’m just focused on the Super Rugby season and this UK tour.”
