Named to become the Wallabies' 87th captain and the fifth this year, Will Skelton revealed he was "a bit reluctant" to take on the role ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France after Eddie Jones made several shocking selection decisions, including dropping co-captain and Test veteran Michael Hooper.
Receiving the phone call from Jones just days ahead of the squad announcement, Skelton said he'd been surprised by the Wallabies coach's decision to hand him the reins but was excited to take on the new role ahead of the biggest rugby event in the world.
"Yeah, very shocked, nervous; just a few emotions I had when Eddie gave me the call," Skelton told Stan Sport following the World Cup squad announcement. "I was very reluctant at first, but when the big man calls you, you tend to follow his lead, and I trust his guidance too.
"I'm excited for what we have in store, and we've got a young group who are itching to play and get better."
A towering figure and known for his physicality on the pitch, the 31-year-old has no experience captaining any of his previous sides, but he's confident he has the ability to take on the role with several experienced teammates to help guide him.
"I think he'll [Eddie] deal with the press conferences," Skelton joked. "He asked me just to be me and that for me, that's being myself, not forcing any chats that need to be had.
"I'm pretty good around the group, getting around the young boys providing energy where I can, so I'll just keep sticking to that and we've got a lot of experience in our team, Slippy [James Slipper] 150 caps or close to that, we've got Whitey [Nic White], [Andrew] Kellaway's coming through as well, so I think I'll be leaning on those guys definitely to help me with this journey.
"I think the captaincy was never in my thoughts or in any future thoughts. I think I'm trying to play a role here where I provide experience and add value where I can, and now with this role I'm not going to change anything, I think it's almost going to help me better with my game and worrying about what I can control. I think that's the main thing for me."
One of the most successful players in the Wallabies squad, Skelton won titles in all three domestic leagues he played in including a Super Rugby title in 2014, two Premiership titles with Saracens and the European Champions Cup, before he claimed the European Champions Cup twice more with La Rochelle and three Heineken Champions Cup titles, while he was also part of the Wallabies' 2015 Rugby Championship success and the team's run to the 2015 World Cup final.
It's off the back of this success and the need to bring a new voice that saw Jones hand the reins to Skelton with halfback Tate McDermott named vice-captain.
"That's definitely part of the rationale," Jones told Stan Sport. "You know, he's the guy that's used to winning. A lot of this squad aren't used to winning and so he brings that to the table.
"We just feel we need someone who can bring the squad together, make it a little bit tighter. He's got all those attributes. He's a really good team man and with Tate there and obviously guys like James Slipper and Nic White to support them, we feel that's the best way to take the leadership and the team forward."
Jones had named Hooper and Slipper as co-captains just weeks out from the Rugby Championship, taking a non-traditional route for his leadership team, but after four back-to-back losses and with just one warm-up clash ahead of the World Cup he revealed he wanted to "change the team" and that included the leadership group.
"We went for the biggest bloke in the team, so it was quite an easy selection," Jones joked. "No, we want to change the team, my job is to come here and change the team, and part of that was changing the leadership and the way the team's led, and Will's a good man, a good team, he's played in a lot of winning teams in Europe and he brings that almost common touch to the team to bring that together and he's going to be well supported by Tate as vice-captain, and we've got senior guys like Slips and Nic White and Andrew Kellaway to support him, Samu Kerevi [as well]."
Plying his trade overseas in the UK's Premiership and France's Top 14 for the past six years, Skelton returned from international rugby wilderness in 2021 after former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie recalled the lock for the end-of-season tour. 1,814 days after his last Wallabies Test, Skelton came off the bench to make his return and has since added another 10 caps to his tally.
With just one final match against France before the kick-off their World Cup campaign against Georgia next month, Skelton has sent a message to Wallabies fans to back his team and believe they'll find success.
"Just to keep backing us. We're a young squad, we're full of energy, we've been slowly building the last few weeks, we haven't got the result, but as a squad we've seen improvements and we're ready to attack this World Cup."