It has been quite the 12 months for Tane Edmed.
From a superb stint in New Zealand with North Harbour, to making his Test debut against Ireland in December and then struggling to crack the Waratahs line-up under Dan McKellar, Edmed has ridden a rugby roller coaster.
And it could be about to flip once again after Noah Lolesio's neck injury opened up an opportunity in Joe Schmidt's Wallabies squad.
Overlooked for the starting No.10 for the Waratahs in their 21-10 loss to the Lions last Saturday, he's now been handed the reins by Les Kiss to lead a stacked AUNZ Invitational side in Adelaide in the final hit out ahead of the Test series set to start in Brisbane next week.
Edmed will combine with New Zealand's Folau Fakatava in the halves with imposing David Havili and Ngani Laumape in the centres, while Shaun Stevenson, AJ Lam and Wallabies veteran Marika Koroibete rounding out the back three, creating an imposing backline that will no doubt test the Lions and will provide Edmed with plenty of firepower.
With Schmidt's squad to be announced on Friday afternoon, Saturday's hit out will be Edmed's final chance to impress national selectors, with Havili backing the one-cap Wallaby to get the job done if called upon by the Wallabies.
"It's been cool working with Tane," Havili said of Edmed ahead of the AUNZ invitational match. "I've played against him for the last four or five years now, and to come in and see how detailed he is around his game and his skill set has been great. I've certainly learnt a wee bit off him about how he plays the game and how he sees it, which is great.
"Either of them [Edmed or James O'Connor] would do a job for them."
Edmed played just three minutes after running out in the gold jersey for the first time during the Wallabies final Test of 2025, before a concussion cruelled his dream debut. It all seemed to go downhill from there, first pushed onto the bench for the Waratahs early in their Super Rugby Pacific season, before he was eventually dropped altogether and forced to head back to play for Eastwood in Sydney's Shute Shield competition.
His Wallabies aspirations appeared to have all but gone up in smoke, as he was forced to reevaluate his game, his obsession with rugby, and then find a new level of maturity.
"I've probably been someone who's maybe aligned myself with rugby a bit too much, identity-wise. It took me to be out of that to mature and realise that you can't let footy dictate you as a person," Edmed told reporters in May.
"It was that idea of gratitude. I was still coming into training with my best mates, getting paid for it every day.
"When I looked at it like that, that eight weeks was probably the most enjoyable I've had just because of my perspective."
His demotion from the Waratahs' 23 was a far cry from the encouragement he had received midway through 2024 when he was first selected in the Wallabies training squad in June, before a stint in New Zealand's National Provincial Competition (NPC) saw him develop his game even further and eventually led to a Wallabies call-up.
"The whole reason to come here was purely a development decision - and I'm definitely seeing that," Edmed told Sky Sport's Jeff Wilson during last year's NPC season.
"The way they play rugby here... free-flowing and more space, and I'm learning so much from the playing group and coaches, and on top of that it's been unreal fun."
Five months later, though, the 24-year-old was on the outer with Waratahs coach Dan McKellar and was forced to start reevaluating his playing options, with the fly-half off contract at the end of the 2025 season. With Lolesio departing for Japan, the Brumbies became the logical destination, clearly seeing something in the red-haired playmaker that McKellar does not.
And it may be that Lolesio's absence paves the way for Edmed once again.
Originally medically cleared after he was carted off the pitch following a whiplash injury against Fiji in Newcastle, Lolesio returned to hospital on Tuesday to undergo neck surgery and has since been ruled out of the Lions series completely.
It leaves at least one squad position vacant. But given Tom Lynagh's recent string of injuries - most recently a hand injury that ruled him out against Fiji - and concerns about the Queenslander's own head knocks, there may still be more room for Edmed to squeeze his way in.
At this stage Ben Donaldson remains the only fly-half certainty for the Wallabies squad, with the 17 Test-capped playmaker preferred behind Lolesio, while Lynagh's continued injury setbacks - and his lack of size -- could result in the 22-year-old missing the squad altogether.
The experience of 64-Test veteran James O'Connor remains an option for Schmidt, with the 35-year-old most recently lifting the Super Rugby Pacific trophy with the Crusaders in June, while he would be one of only two players in the Wallabies squad with previous experience playing the Lions.
"I've been in the wings staying fit, training every day, you never know when you're going to get called upon," he told the GBRANZ podcast.
"If you pick me, I will do a job for you. I will go to war for you brother. That's all I can say, I will put this body on the line."
But given Schmidt's ethos of backing his youthful 10s, the door remains ajar for Edmed and there may yet be one more twist in a wild 12 months.