Ioane set for quick Wallabies return
* Jim Morton
* September 24, 2009 - 3:24PM
Destructive three-quarter Digby Ioane believes he's ready to make a typically powerful return in a major boost to the Wallabies' spring tour hopes.
Ioane will begin contact work on his reconstructed left shoulder next week to put his hand up for selection in the squad for the five-week tour.
The Wallabies are desperate for the tackle-shedding Queensland speedster to spark their backline attack after a disappointing Tri-Nations campaign.
Ioane starred at both outside centre and wing for the struggling Reds this year where he broke more tackles than any other player in the Super 14.
His eye-catching form had Australian skipper Stirling Mortlock under pressure to retain his No.13 jersey before Ioane sustained his shoulder injury against the Brumbies on May 2.
The reconstruction was expected to leave him touch and go at best for the highly-anticipated Grand Slam tour but Ioane's rehabilitation has impressed Reds medical staff, who have rated his work ethic as "exemplary".
The 24-year-old is confident he'll be fit for selection in the 33- to 35-man squad after a frustrating wait on the sidelines.
"It will all come down to the coach and his selectors, I have to be selected first, but I think it will be sweet," Ioane said on Thursday.
"My shoulder is coming along well and I start with contact next week and I should be sweet for that."
With Mortlock also set to return from knee surgery, Ioane is unfazed about whether coach Robbie Deans was looking to select him at outside centre or the wing, where he's been capped four times.
Adam Ashley-Cooper ably stood in for Mortlock in the second half of the Tri-Nations while wing spots are open with Lachie Turner, Drew Mitchell and Peter Hynes failing to lock down the 11 or 14 jerseys.
"I'll play anywhere if I get the call-up, it's just a matter of getting game time," Ioane said.
"I wouldn't care, I'd even play halfback or the forwards."
Ioane praised fitness advisers Geoff Clark and Dirk Spits for their work in helping repeat former Test fullback Chris Latham's inspiring 2008 efforts to return from the same operation in little more than four months.
"He was my motivation," he said.
While he knows controlled contact work will give further indication of his tour hopes, Ioane is itching for a chance to re-establish his dangerous partnership with halfback Will Genia.
Reds revelation Genia has impressed in his Test baptism after first making a name for himself this year by dusting off George Gregan's old goal line flick pass in the Super 14.
"Genia is the man with the Gregan flick pass, you run your line and the ball is always there right in front of you," Ioane said.
"It's his bread and butter."[/b]
