An emphasis on the development and retention of their junior talent has the Queensland Reds poised to become one of the biggest contributors to the Wallabies in the future as the focus turns to long-term retention of Australia's best rugby players.
Queensland has provided eight players to the Junior Wallabies side that will turn out in the U20 world championship final against France in Argentina on Sunday morning, with several others who started their careers in the state but are now linked with Super Rugby franchises in NSW, Canberra and Melbourne, among Australia's squad of 28.
And with the Reds already stacked with players who have graduated from the U20 state ranks with Brad Thorn and through the Junior Wallabies program, the state's future looks bright.
Queensland Rugby Union chief executive David Hanham said the Reds were about to see the benefit of a long-term strategy that he hoped would continue to benefit the sport into the future.
"We've always had a strong pathway and development program but particularly in the last five years, it's really started to yield some great talent and we're pleased to be able to keep a fair bit of that here in Queensland with the Reds," Hanham said.
And it's not just the numbers that are telling the tale.
Junior Wallabies captain Fraser McReight is among four players in line for the breakout player of the tournament at the world U20 championships, while Isaac Lucas, who made his debut for the Reds in the opening round of Super Rugby - playing all eight games available to him outside of Junior Wallabies commitments - has already been marked as a star of the future.
The Reds starting pack at one stage this season was made up entirely of players who had come through the U20 state ranks with Thorn, with the likes of Taniela Tupou, Harry Hockings, Angus Blyth, Angus Scott-Young, Izack Rodda and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto all starring.
Four outstanding players have been nominated for the World Rugby U20 Championship Breakthrough Player of the Tournament in association with Tudor. Have your say by voting below! #WorldRugbyU20s
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Voting ends on Saturday, 22nd of June at 16.15pm (GMT -3)
Rodda, Salakaia-Loto and Tupou have already earnt Wallabies honours, while Mafi and Scott-Young have been involved in camps ahead of this year's World Cup.
"So if we look at this (reds) team over the next three to four years and you're looking at the next World Cup for the Wallabies (in 2023), we believe we've got a fair make-up of that in our group now," Hanham said.
"I think it was about six years ago when Rugby Australia went back to state-based or Super Rugby aligned academies and we did a fair bit of work around how we wanted to structure that development program.
"We went and recruited Jason Gilmore, who's now the Junior Wallabies coach, we had Brad (Thorn) come in, Paul Carozza, and that was the start of that reinvigoration of our academy and development program.
"We always had that view that it was going to take us three or four years to get that academy back to where we know it should have been.
"The proof is now in the pudding, Hanham said.
"That generation of players is really the guys that you're starting to see at the Reds level - Taniela (Tupou), Harry Hockings, Angus Scott-Young, Liam Wright, (Jordan) Petaia, Jock Campbell, Tate McDermott, Moses Sorovi - all came through that system," he said.
"So it's definitely been about backing our own programs and backing our own development and backing our own players."
The retention of the best talent is not only good for the Reds but for rugby generally.
These guys coming through, I know the Queensland players coming through the academies have had a habit of winning," Hanham said.
"Jase (Gilmore) has done a great job with our academy and then obviously what he's doing with the U20s.
"The players have the view that they want to be successful at all levels and they're not in fear of the opposition teams - they've beaten those Kiwi teams and that's really positive.
"Their mindset, the way that they've developed, has been really good.
"And for us, we've got a strategy of trying to lock these guys down for the longer term.
"We've put all the effort into them and they'll deliver back to us.
"So guys like Jordy (Petaia), as an example, everyone knows he's of a high standard (already) but you want those guys in your system.
"You want to lock them down into a program where they're going to have stability and build the team around it."
Petaia last year signed a contract extension with Rugby Australia and the Reds to keep him in Queensland until the end of 2022 and Hanham said he was keen to see the likes of McReight and Lucas also locked into long-term deals.
"I think that's for the benefit of not only us but for Australian rugby," he said.
"These guys are going to be your future Wallabies and if we look at the next World Cup, (someone like) Scott Johnson is probably already thinking about what that Wallaby contingent will look like.
U20s Next Generation of Star | Two exceptional talents and two stars for the future. Australia’s Isaac Lucas and South Africa’s Jaden Hendrikse are destined for great things #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/JtbXkJCrCC
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"You want to secure your best talent now, rather than waiting a couple of years to see it play out.
"You've got to back your own systems. And if the systems are working and they're developing players and you've got good coaching and good support, then it's going to pay the sport back."
The Junior Wallabies have made the final of the U20 world championships just once in the past, losing 62-17 to New Zealand in 2010.
Four members of that team - Jono Lance, captain Jake Schatz, Liam Gill and Ian Prior - went on to win a Super Rugby title with the Reds the following year.
"It wasn't much of a surprise that a few years later the Queensland team ended up having success out of that as well," Hanham said.
History makers?
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Only their 2nd #WorldRugbyU20s Championship final ever and first since 2010 in Argentina. Will there be a new name on the trophy this year? Australia will be hoping so. pic.twitter.com/amHtg7nLQo
The Reds could have benefited from having Lucas available for more matches this year as an injury-riddled team pushed for the finals.
But Queensland honoured the commitment made by all Super Rugby teams to make their players available had they not met a threshold of game time early in the season.
And it's something Hanham believes will pay off in the long run.
"You want them to have success, you want them to taste what that's like and if they can win a World Cup, it's only going to be good for the sport."
The Junior Wallabies take on France in the U20 world championship final in Argentina on Sunday, June 23, kicking off at 4:20am AEST, live on Fox Sports and Kayo.
