It's all eyes on round one for Kurtley Beale, with his return to the sky blue delayed by an elbow injury.
Beale is in Brisbane with his Waratahs teammates ahead of the Tens but he will not take part, ruled out with an injury that has him racing the clock to be fit for round one.
Waratahs medical staff have made the decision to hold him out of the tournament, with the risk of further injury in contact too great.
"I'm pretty gutted mate, it was a great opportunity to come up here and play in the Tens tournament," Beale told RUGBY.com.au.
"It's certainly a different format and I was really looking forward to it but the elbow didn't pull up right so now it's a shifting focus to round one and making sure it is good to go there.
"It's important now to just make sure the rehab is going well, get some strength and make sure I'm right for round one against the Stormers in Sydney."
The Wallabies star cut a frustrated figure on Thursday, eager to get back in the sky blue.
"Preseason can be exhausting at times but I'm just excited to be back in the sky blue," Beale said.
"I'm a proud New South Welshman and it's great to be able to be back with a young bunch of lads who want to succeed.
"There were a lot of positives and a lot of guys put their hands up for positions and that's what we want - we want guys putting their hand up and working hard to make sure we give the season a good nudge."
The Waratahs have Drew Mitchell suiting up as their wildcard and Beale expects him to excel.
"He's been training really well mate, it's like he hasn't lost it," he said.
"He's great for the young guys to hang around with - he's super experienced and one of the great footballers to play the game.
"It's great for him to be around the guys that looked up to him."
On the topic of role models, Beale hopes he may play as long as Brumbies wildcard Andrew Walker, a Wallaby he looked up to as a child.
"I just saw him before and he looked pretty fit," Beale said.
"He is obviously a good role model of mine - I looked up to him when he was playing for the Wallabies and it's great to see him come back for the Brumbies .
"It's great for the whole tournament to see these guys who left a legacy in the game to come back and still be playing - that's a special part of our game."
The 2018 Brisbane Tens kicks off on Friday February 9, running until Saturday February 10. Buy tickets here.
