James Horwill has been pitched into a dream captaincy debut desperate to end Australia's Tri-Nations title drought and emulate his hero-turned-mentor John Eales.

Fellow Queensland secondrower Eales was the last Wallabies skipper to hold up the Tri-Nations trophy a decade ago, when he enjoyed a memorable 2001 swansong thanks to a last-ditch Toutai Kefu try to topple the All Blacks.

Horwill can raise it in his first match as captain by also leading the Wallabies to victory over New Zealand in Saturday's night's series finale before his home crowd at Suncorp Stadium.

Not only did the captaincy opportunity come out of the blue for the 26-year-old, following last week's shock axing of Rocky Elsom, it has also made Test captaincy great Eales look as good an adviser off the field as he was a player on it.

Horwill has been tapping the knowledge of the World Cup-winning skipper since taking over the leadership.

And it was Eales who delivered sage words of comfort to Horwill when his entire 2010 season was written off by a knee injury which required a reconstruction.

"He said `hang in there, you might not think it at the moment but you will look back on this as a positive'," Horwill recalled on Friday.

While he found it hard to digest at the time, the 200cm, 117kg giant said the advice, along with the support of many former players, helped immensely on his long road back.

"That wasn't the only time I've spoken to him, I've spoken to him a fair bit this year, and over the last week or so," he said. "I respect his opinion greatly.

"Being a secondrower watching John Eales as I was growing up, he was clearly a great of the game and in that era when his team was very successful.

"So he's a guy I look up to as a player and also as a leader now."

Eales' retirement signalled the end of Australia's golden era, with the 2002 Bledisloe Cup the last time the Wallabies won a trophy of major significance.

Since losing the 2003 World Cup final, the Wallabies have not won a Tri-Nations or Bledisloe series-decider, and bombed out in the quarter-finals stage of the 2007 World Cup.

While Horwill has followed in Eales' footsteps since making his Reds debut in 2006 and Test debut in 2007, he's giving no thought yet to joining him in holding up the William Webb Ellis Cup.

"The focus hasn't really been on the World Cup at all this week, it's about the Tri-Nations," he said.

"It's a big tournament for us and we haven't had our hands on the trophy for 10 years and that's a long drought for a trophy that's been competed for by three teams.

"We want to make sure we put in the performance worthy of the magnitude of the game that it is."

The Wallabies have failed at the last hurdle in Tri-Nations deciders in 2004, 2007 and 2008 while they are still searching for a first trans-Tasman victory at Suncorp Stadium.

In a major relief, influential halfback Will Genia, the victim of two heavy training collisions this week, shrugged off any lingering concerns on Friday and will start.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP