Kurtley Beale has made a stunning comeback into the Wallabies Test squad ahead of Australia's first Test of the season against Wales next month.

The 35-year-old Darug and Kamilaroi man was acquitted of sexual assault allegations in February before returning weeks later to his rugby union career and taking up a midseason offer with the Western Force.

After playing six games for the Perth Super Rugby Pacific franchise in the back half of the competition, new Australian coach Joe Schmidt was convinced from what he witnessed in Beale's performances that the two seasons away the veteran star had not lost much around the ball.

He is set to earn another national cap for the first time since after returning from a sojourn in French club rugby back in 2021 after appearing 95 times previously for Australia.

Beale is one two Indigenous players in the squad that contains former All Blacks and Maori prop Alex Hodgman, who played four Tests for New Zealand in 2020, while 13 uncapped players were also named including Wiradjuri man Dylan Pietsch, despite spending most of last winter in Australia's training squad under former coach Eddie Jones but without debuting.

Five of Jones's World Cup squad – all Polynesian-Australian players – were left out of Schmidt's training lineup.

NRL-bound signing Mark Nawaqanitawase from the Fijian diaspora was not considered, but the dasher may finish his rugby commitment in the sevens' game at the 2024 Paris Olympics before joining Sydney Roosters next year.

"There were some very tight selection calls, as there always are when selecting a national team," Schmidt said in a statement.

"The coaching group has looked hard at on-field performances and had ongoing discussions with the Super Rugby coaches.

"We've combined the observations we've made, with some candid discussion and feel that we have some very good players to start working with, while also acknowledging that there are some good players who have missed selection.

"We have a short runway into our first Test, so we're just keen to get to work and make as much progress as we can over the four days we have in Brisbane."

Most pundits predicted Pietsch would be included in the 38-player Wallabies squad, especially after finishing equal second in the Waratahs' best player award during an ordinary campaign.

The 26-year-old was one of the few bright spots to come out of the New South Wales side in the Super Rugby Pacific season this year.

"I was saying to the boys if I played one more game I might have won the award," Pietsch joked.

"I actually got dropped (once)."

Pietsch said he was "stoked" on Friday morning to be given the nod from Schmidt after missing out on selection in four Tests during the Rugby Championship and the Bledisloe Cup against New Zealand twice, Argentina and South Africa, and then being axed from the World Cup squad altogether despite a near late call-up.

It is now on the record that when all was lost Jones did call up Pietsch to pack his bags off the standby Barbarians tour of Wales and England to come to France and into the side as injury cover.

But hours after the phone call, a Wallabies official told Pietsch to keep waiting as Jones was set to change selection strategies, eventually never hearing back from the Wallabies coach.

That asked a lot from Pietsch's mental strength to bounce back after bravely admitting once to nearly ending his life a few years earlier amid his burgeoning international rugby sevens' career.

Pietsch told National Indigenous Times he "found his love for rugby again" after the frivolity on and off the field from the 10-week Baa-Baas tour last year.

"I kinda broke down a bit," he said.

"I just really want to become a Wallaby player – that's my ultimate goal.

"Not only just playing the one cap, but to put the jersey in a place where we're actually back winning again and we're going well.

"I really hope I can actually do that this year; that would be pretty cool. It helps me to kind of achieve my goals, but it also helps Australia."

A Test cap against Wales or Georgia to follow will ensure the Kings School graduate would be just the 15th Indigenous player to represent the country.

The former flanker-turned-winger appears to have a new founded confidence after spending a week with Schmidt and the coach's fringe training squad, who Pietsch felt that the New Zealand journeyman could turn around not only his fortunes, but that of Australian rugby.

Pietsch expanded on the pair of Wallabies mentors that while they had unremarkable playing careers have turned out to be two of the leading coaches in the world despite Jones's short term in charge of the Wallabies last year.

But he also found there was a "big difference" between Schmidt and Jones in their coaching methods.

"Eddie was pretty basic for me on how he wanted me to play the game, which would have worked for me a fair bit (if Jones selected Pietsch).

"Joe is very much more technical, which I really do like.

"He likes pulling apart the machine and re-fixing all the cogs.

"I'm really excited again, but there is a big difference in coaching styles, for sure."