Stathi Paxinos | June 16, 2009

WALLABIES captain Stirling Mortlock is willing to accept some mistakes when Australia play their second Test against Italy at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night. Not a lot of mistakes, he adds, but to him, it is all part and parcel of the attitude of this Australian team.

"It's not about the error, it's about trying to better yourself and trying to improve," Mortlock said yesterday. "You can't go to the extreme and make too many errors but you want guys to be pushing themselves, you want them to be bettering themselves and that's part of the process."

Mortlock has been around for long enough to have seen several cycles in Australian rugby. He debuted for the Wallabies in 2000 when Australia was at the peak of the rugby world, became captain in 2006 when it was slumping and is now heading a team of generational change, and most importantly one, he believes, that is beginning to again believe in a shared ambition.

"I think the group can feel that we are moving in the right direction or we're at least moving in a direction and we're hopeful that is the right direction," Mortlock said. "There is a sense that we are building towards something.

"It's very early days and we've just got to make sure that day-in and day-out we keep on pushing forward and try and maximise our gains that we make both on and off the pitch as a group. To be part of that dynamic where there's so many guys looking to develop as players, so many guys wanting to be part of something special, wanting to be part of something as a group that's really positive to be part of that. It's hard to compare eras but the here and now, we're really focused on maximising all that we can do.

"We were blessed [during the era leading up to and following the 1999 World Cup success) to have so many world-class players and you don't realise [that] at the time. At the moment we are more in a building phase and possibly and hopefully, if we get to where we aspire to be down the track, we can reflect back and say that [this] was a great era. But we've got a lot of work to do and a lot of things to do prior to even saying that."

Mortlock said the squad, in its second year under coach Robbie Deans, had a good mixture of new blood - headlined by 18-year-old James O'Connor - experience and those who were somewhere in between. One of its strengths was that it had a sense of selflessness and the players were willing to accept the Deans philosophy of giving competitors for the same position a chance to be tested on the field.

"Personally, I'm thoroughly enjoying being part of this team because there's so many guys putting up their hands and chipping in for the cause and that just makes my job easier," Mortlock said. "That's the mindset of the group. It doesn't matter if it's your first year or your eighth year you've all got a role to play and the more that you do that, the more that you bring to the team, the easier it is for everyone else.

"We [the whole 30-man squad] always meet at the start of the week and everyone has a role to play in the preparation for that Test match. Obviously there are age differences, [but it's] a good dynamic."

The 32-year-old said there were plenty of areas where the team could improve, such as the breakdown - an area that will be tested against Italy, who the Wallabies beat 31-8 in Canberra on Saturday night.

"They've got some good individual players but they've got a pretty dominant scrum, a good lineout and [are] extremely tough to break down, so it's very hard for us to get continuity and cohesion in phase play because they are so good at the breakdown," Mortlock said. "So for us that's something to look at, how we can achieve more cohesion in attack."

That was echoed by back-rower Richard Brown, who warned the Wallabies must quickly lift their game to ensure they were ready for the tough Tests ahead. "We need to step that area up this week if we are going to be serious about the Tri Nations," Brown said.