Waratahs turn to 'tough bugger' for captaincy with more history on the line

Dan McKellar is backing new skipper Joey Walton as the inspirational "foot soldier" to lead the NSW Waratahs to a hoodoo-busting Super Rugby Pacific triumph over the Hurricanes.

The Waratahs will hunt a first victory over the Hurricanes in Wellington in a decade with the unfashionable and uncompromising Walton wearing the captaincy armband for the first time on Friday night.

The outside centre is deputising for the injured Jake Gordon and the rested Hugh Sinclair as the Tahs also chase a fifth win from six starts and the best start to a campaign in 17 years.

Coach McKellar believes Walton is just the man for the job, saying he identified him as a leader from the first day he arrived at the 2024 Wooden Spooners to start his 2025 recovery mission.

"First, he leads through his actions," McKellar said on Thursday.

"But he also has a strong voice and has strong opinions and knows the game well, sees the game well and plays in a position where he can influence or communicate with the referee appropriately.

"So, yeah, it was a decision in the end that has been pretty straightforward.

"He's been captain at the back end of games already this year and done a good job."

While yet to crack the Wallabies, McKellar says he has been impressed with Walton ever since his days coaching against him at the ACT Brumbies.

"He's a tough bugger as well," McKellar said.

"He's someone who can play with pain and played the first 80 minutes with a torn groin, pretty much, and then played a game with a pretty decent cork as well.

"They're your foot soldiers, the guys that are in the building 24/7 just about every day of the year, apart from when they're on leave.

"At this stage, Joey hasn't had the privilege of playing at Test level and being away and experiencing what that Wallaby environment is like for a long period of time.

"He's in at Daceyville just about day in and day out, and you need those leaders. You respect that, and when I sat down with him and spoke to him about captaining the side, you could see the pride in his face."

The Waratahs have leaked an average of 35 points a game in their last five trips to Wellington.

But McKellar is convinced he is building his star-studded, otherwise Wallabies-laden new-era line-up into a formidable force that is not only capable of upsetting the 2024 runners-up but challenging for the title.

"I'd like to think the plan that we've got in place is a good one, and we'll certainly challenge the opposition," he said.

"The Hurricanes will have a good plan in place as well, they'll challenge us.

"No doubt that we feel that our game is where it needs to be to beat any team on our day."

The Waratahs haven't won at least five of their first games to open a season since reaching the final in 2006, ironically when they bowed out in the semi-finals against the Hurricanes in Wellington.