Australia Women's Sevens coach Tim Walsh is happy with the uncomfortable selection headaches he faces with a stacked squad primed for the 2025-26 SVNS World Series.
The Australians will travel to Dubai at the end of the week, hunting for their sixth straight title in the UAE to start the 2025-26 series.
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Walsh’s side finished second amid a season of new faces and development during the World Cup, with some lingering season-ending injuries from the year before.
The likes of Madison Ashby, Bienne Terita, Demi Kennewell (nee Hayes) and Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea all spent significant time on the sidelines.
On top of this, Charlotte Caslick and Tia Hinds missed events as they were involved in the Wallaroos ahead of the World Cup.
It paved the way for a new crop of talent to shine on the world stage, with RA Junior Women’s Player of the Year Mackenzie Davis headlining the debutants.
“There's always going to be injuries in rugby. It's the nature of the sport when you have a program that is building resilience,” Walsh told Rugby.com.au.
“When someone's not there, [it’s] someone else's opportunity to step up and I think what they got there last year, the experience that they fortunately got because of someone else's bad fortune, it provides a great depth and foundation for a really competitive season in terms of competing for selection.
“...From a coaching point of view, it's fantastic to have a healthy squad and a big squad and an experienced squad and as a program, we have to look at short-term, which is the next tournament, winning that tournament, the medium-term, which is winning the World Series, which is the last three, and then the long-term, which is ‘28 Olympics and ‘32 Olympics.
“We've got a pretty deep squad. Due to injuries sustained the year before, girls have been able to get a season under their belt, and now that the returning girls are playing, there's a really strong competition.
“You're always going to have the odd injury, and they're always going to come back. [It’s a] healthy position with a lot of selection discussions, which is fantastic.”
The majority of these stars are back, with Kennewell (knee), Lefau-Fakaosilea (knee/shoulder) and Charlotte Caslick (ankle) working their way back to full fitness for the start of next year.
These have been offset by the appearance of Wallaroos stars Maya Stewart, Waiaria Ellis, and Desiree Miller within the group, adding to the competition.
“We've got elite athletes that are playing rugby, and how we can benefit each other, so it's really pleasing to have those girls in here playing,” Walsh said.
“They’re really excelling in certain areas and learning and wanting to play, and vice versa with the Sevens girls too.
"I think it's a really important factor for the future of women's rugby in Australia is the modelling of the rugby players, the talent that we have, to make sure that we are getting some outcomes that are needed and really important for the future of Rugby Australia.”
Walsh was eager to see what they could bring along with Caslick and Hinds' experience, with Hinds spending time across the halves at the hallmark event.
“Managing a team in sevens and fifteens as a flyhalf can be very different, but the change of stimulus is really the exciting thing, in that you can pick up little bits that you can bring back to your team,” Walsh added.
“That was the real encouragement to go and play fifteens, was one, to showcase you as a player and add value to Rugby Australia, but also the growth as a player that you can be, and particularly from Charlotte's point of view, really refresh her as an athlete.
“Hopefully we can see some of the transitional skills that they picked up, but I can't really see much of a transition…I think in Sevens there's easier decision-making, but higher consequences. In fifteens, the decision-making is probably harder, but the consequences are really low.”
