Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is comfortable waiting a few more days before locking in his captain for the British & Irish Lions series.
Schmidt unveiled a 36-player squad for the three-Test series that starts next Saturday in Brisbane.
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Queensland Reds number eight Harry Wilson skippered the side against Fiji and has held the honour for eight of the past nine meetings.
But Schmidt, who will take the team through their first session Friday afternoon, was content with taking his time evaluating his options.
“We just want to get through the week far enough to announce a captain this fully fit,” Schmidt told reporters.
“A couple of guys that have captained us recently had a few knocks so we just want to be sure when we nominate a captain that they’re right to come through. I think when you nominate someone and they can’t train fully or they’re not available for the game, it just probably dilutes the authority of the guy who does have that responsibility on game day.
“We're just going to hold our fire for another few days and also see how the squad settles and then make a decision from there.
This led to questions around Wilson’s fitness, which Schmidt reassured the number eight would be good to go and would be towards the top of any discussions.
“Harry had a couple of dings but he’s fine,” he explained.
“There’s not a lot of things we can take our time with. We're under pressure, it's a short runway but that's one of the things that we just think we can take a couple of days and make sure we feel comfortable that we're getting it right.
“Obviously, Harry has led us a number of times recently, so he'd be one of the players at the forefront of our thinking.”
Schmidt took the chance to confirm the likes of Jake Gordon, Tom Lynagh, Will Skelton and Rob Valetini would train today, issuing a clean bill of health.
“We'll have a light run here this afternoon, post this, and Tom and Jake will take full part in that, as will everyone. Everyone's due to train and it'll be my challenge to train them hard and not have any other injuries,” he added.
“That's the fine balance and we know it's going to be incredibly tough. We need to rev the engine a little bit and get straight into our work."
