The Melbourne Cricket Ground has been the site of some famous Australian wins. Harry Wilson and the Wallabies are out to create their own against the British & Irish Lions on Saturday.
The Wallabies head to the ‘G needing victory to keep the series alive heading into Sydney.
Get your tickets to see the Wallabies tackle the British & Irish Lions in Melbourne on Saturday.
It’s a feat they have managed in the last two Lions series after dropping the opener in Brisbane.
For cricket tragic Wilson, it’d be the ultimate achievement of his captaincy so far.
“It's super special. For Australian sport, there's no bigger stadium,” he said.
“You grow up here watching Boxing Day tests, the AFL Grand Finals all here. It's always sold out, packed. It doesn't get much better than that so I guess the feeling of probably running out here in front of 90 plus thousand people is truly special and hopefully we can go out there and put a good performance in.”
Wilson believes the pressure is equally shared across the two sides as they hunt for differing outcomes.
Whilst the Wallabies hunt for survival in the series, the Lions have made their intentions of a 3-0 sweep clear as they try and go through their Australian matches undefeated.
“I'd say there's pressure on both teams,” the number eight explained.
“They want to wrap up the series and we want to keep the series alive so there's no doubting there's a lot on the line for both teams and that's something that really excites you, playing professional sport.
For prop Allan Alaalatoa, dispelling past demons is his motivation after his last visit to the ground ended in disaster.
Captaining the side, the Brumby ruptured his Achilles during the Wallabies loss to the All Blacks in 2023 at the ground, ending his World Cup dreams.
“Yeah, that wasn't great,” he said, a massive understatement from the 82-capped front-rower.
“I'm hoping to go out there and hopefully get the opportunity to put on a good performance, and understand that there's probably close to 90,000 there at MCG, and I don't think anyone in the squad has played in front of a crowd like that.
“We know that the Melbourne crowd here get behind the boys and there will also be a large bunch of Lions fans as well, so I think the atmosphere is going to be unreal.
“All we're focusing on for us is putting in a performance that ourselves are proud of, but also that our supporters are proud of.”
