ACT Brumbies eye more star re-signings after locking in Wright

A nation-wide contract freeze was lifted late last month, and Australian Super Rugby clubs have been advised to re-sign their players under the current funding model despite the possibility of a reduced salary cap next season.

Rugby Australia officials are hopeful the next broadcast deal, to be signed next month, will ensure the sport's financial future. Whether 2021 hosts a Trans-Tasman competition or another all-Australian domestic league remains to be seen.

It emerged last week the NSW Waratahs were planning to slash next year's wage bill by $1m. The Brumbies will not be following suit, and are determined to retain as much of their playing roster as possible.

Former Manly Sea Eagle Wright fended off cross-code and overseas interest to pen his one-year extension at the Brumbies, a decision which should hold him in good stead with Wallabies coach Dave Rennie.

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"I still remember when I was a little kid watching [Wallabies] games on a Saturday evening," Wright said.

"That's something everyone at this club, not just me, is striving to do. It's something that really excites me and motivates me to stay in the game.

"I didn't want to go anywhere else, this is where I want to be.

"I just told my manager I only really wanted here at this point in time, that was where my head was at, I really wanted to stay.

"Anything that was outside of the scope of what I wanted to do I just told him to hang onto just so that I could have a clear head on my own about what I wanted to do.

"It left me in a good head space to play good football I'm really happy with the way it's panned out."

Wright has emerged as one of the most talented outside backs in Australian rugby, and is part of Rennie's national players of interest squad.

He played some inside centre for the Brumbies last season, but has been shaped into a winger in 2020 returning six tries in nine appearances already.

"We probably threw him in the deep end a little bit putting him in the 12 early last year, - he's taken to the wing like a duck to water and he has a lot more growth in his game but the sky's the limit for him at the moment," Backs coach Peter Hewat said.

"We had a chat to him after last year and mentioned would it be worth looking at the wing. He's grabbed it with both hands.

"He's a really important player for us. For a 23-year-old he's got very good communication and just his one on one footwork and ability to turn nothing into something is very special."

Wright starred on the wing in the National Rugby Championship last year at the conclusion of the Super Rugby season showing off an array of speed, silky skills and elusive footwork.

"It's given me a little bit of a roaming licence, not too dissimilar to what Tom Banks does at 15," Wright said.

"He's been someone that I watch really closely and how he roams for the ball and gets his hands on it in different spots.

"After a full season of Super Rugby where we came so close I got to roll into an NRC season straight after and roll into a new unfamiliar position at the time which I was really happy to do because it gave me a little preseason before preseason. It put me in a really good frame of mind leading into this season."

Wright played rugby union and rugby league as a junior, and made his professional debut in 2018 under Trent Barrett at the Manly Sea Eagles.

He said playing alongside the likes of Daly Cherry-Evans and the Trbojevic brothers helped him transition into professional sport.

"It's not dissimilar to when I came down here, there was established Wallabies and Super Rugby players that I learned plenty off down here in terms of skill development and reading of the game," Wright said.

"For someone like Tom [Trbojevic], people don't understand the work that he puts in. Outside the hours of just being on the field or being in the gym. All the things that he does he does 100 times during the week."