Michael Hooper spent an entire career trying to wrest the Bledisloe Cup back from the All Blacks. And the Wallabies great is adamant better days are on the horizon for long-suffering Australian rugby fans.

“I think they’re a good chance [of winning the Bledisloe Cup this year],” Hooper said. “When Australia win it back – which they will, eventually – God, it’s going to be cool for the team that wins it.”

Improved performances under Joe Schmidt this year have resulted in several landmark Test victories, leading many to wonder whether this is the year Australian finally regain the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2002.

Is this the Wallabies’ best chance in recent history? It depends on who you ask. After all, this movie has been played on repeat during the last two decades: Quiet Australian optimism meets allegedly vulnerable All Blacks, who duly find another gear and kill off their trans-Tasman rivals to extend their misery into another year.

Here are five reasons the Wallabies can – and cannot – regain the Bledisloe Cup in 2025.

Mat Rogers holds the Bledisloe Cup aloft in 2002.Credit: Getty

A 50 per cent win record in 2025 doesn’t tell the full story. The Wallabies should have beaten the British and Irish Lions in Melbourne but managed a great win a week later in Sydney. They then ended a 62-year drought at Ellis Park by toppling the Springboks and produced a stirring comeback victory against Argentina in Townsville.

A Wallabies side hasn’t played with this much confidence since the 2015 World Cup.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has been a star man behind........

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