Rocky Elsom is hoping to remain in Australia for the Wallabies' 2013 series against the British and Irish Lions despite only committing to one Super Rugby season with the NSW Waratahs.

Elsom on Tuesday ended months of speculation over his playing future by confirming he would rejoin the Waratahs next season after spending the past two years with the Brumbies.

He also re-signed with the ARU for two more years.

After six seasons and 66 matches for NSW, Elsom left the Waratahs after the 2008 final loss to the Crusaders to link with Leinster, where he starred in the Irish club's European Cup final triumph.

He then moved to Canberra but the 70-Test flanker said the appointment of former Wallabies scrum coach and 1999 World Cup winner Michael Foley as Waratahs coach had been a key factor in his decision to return to Sydney.

"I see that as a really important thing that they've got a bloke that's very well respected at the helm," Elsom said ahead of Australia's World Cup clash with Ireland in Auckland on Saturday.

"A head coach is particularly important and it helps bring good players to an organisation when they have faith in the coach and his ability to turn out a good side and also improve you as players.

"They've lost a couple of key blokes - obviously (Melbourne-bound) Kurtley (Beale) is not there any more, which is a big loss - but I think the grounding in the coach and assistant coach is a really good start to the season.

"Except for this year, they (NSW) have finished above all the other (Australian) teams so that's a fair indication that they've been one of the top teams.

"In difficult circumstances, I thought they also did pretty well this year and it also seems like next year could be a good year for them."

Elsom will also be reuniting with his Leinster assistant coach Alan Gaffney, who, in a twist of fate, is in charge of the Irish team tackling Elsom's Wallabies this weekend.

Elsom has an option to remain with the Waratahs in 2013 but coyly said "there's a few benchmarks to hit there".

"You'd say it's a unilateral option," the 28-year-old said.

"There's a few things that would probably take too long to go into here."

Asked if he was leaning towards remaining in Australia beyond 2012 in the hope of tackling the Lions, Elsom said: "Nothing has changed for me. My preference is always to play for Australia."

He said he only put pen to paper on Tuesday morning after considering overseas possibilities.

"You've always got to be prepared to go somewhere else to play. That's just the nature of the game. You don't always get to choose exactly where you'd like to play," Elsom said.

"At least in this instance I was able to possibly further my career at the Test level."

The former Wallabies skipper is likely to come under strong consideration to captain Foley's Waratahs.

"When you're recruiting, you're always looking for the best players to fill vacancies in your squad and, when Rocky came off contract, we knew he was the best person to fill that back row place we had available," Foley said.

"Rocky's a very special player; he has a great skill set and when he's at his best, there's no doubt that he's one of the leading back-rowers in the world."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP