Former Wales and Lions centre Jamie Roberts, however, says Farrell made the right decision in selecting England back row Tom Curry at open-side flanker.
"We only see the 80 minutes at the weekend and Andy Farrell will have eyes and ears on the training in the week," Roberts, a member of the Lions side which beat Australia in 2013, told BBC Rugby Union Weekly.
"He is a very experienced coach and he knows what these players are all about.
"For Jac, though, any conversation that involves whether you are in ahead of Tom Curry in a Test match, you are doing well.
"Tom Curry has to play, albeit he might have been a 7 out of 10 across these opening games. But when you talk about Test match players, big game players, Tom Curry has been one of the best players hands down in world rugby."
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This tour is the first time that the Lions have had names on the back of their shirts.
Elsewhere, injured fly-half Noah Lolesio, ruled out of the series with a neck injury sustained in Australia's warm-up match against Fiji, has been into the Wallabies camp to wish his team-mates good luck.
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Freeman's costly Lions Test selectionpublished at 15:32 BST 17 July 2025
15:32 BST 17 July 2025
Mantej Mann BBC Sport Journalist
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Tommy Freeman will make his first Lions Test start against Australia on Saturday
Tommy Freeman's selection for the British and Irish Lions' first Test with Australia has proved to be fairly costly for the Northampton Saints wing.
The 24-year-old returns to Brisbane three years after he made his Test debut for England against the Wallabies.
It was on that tour Down Under when Freeman promised to fly his parents Sara and Cliff back to the city in business class should he make a Test appearance for the Lions.
"My parents came to Australia in 2022. It was very last minute because I didn't think I was going to play out here, so I told them not to come," Freeman said.
"I eventually got selected and then they flew out. It was last minute so I told them that if I get picked for the Lions I would pay for their business class seats, which has backfired."
Freeman's mum and dad were already in the country following their son, but his pledge to fly them to Brisbane in upgraded seats worth over £12,000 will come as a welcome gift following an accident.
"I gave them a ring and they are having troubles of their own. Mum has just broken her foot so she has had surgery in Adelaide," he said.
"They were travelling from Canberra to Adelaide and thought they would drive so they pulled over and got some photos.
"It has not gone well on that front so it's a bit of good news for them. Mum's main concern was being fit enough to fly to get here in time.
"They were obviously delighted and all the travelling miles they have put in for me has paid off.
"It's amazing to be able to give back because I am not that pleasant to be around on game day with the nerves. I can be a bit grumpy, so for it all to pay off with moments like this is extra special."
Record number of Irish players will start first Lions Testpublished at 10:43 BST 17 July 2025
10:43 BST 17 July 2025
Nigel Ringland BBC Sport Senior Journalist in Brisbane
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Tadhg Beirne will start in the back row for the Lions
Eight Ireland internationals will start for the British and Irish Lions in the first Test against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.
Full-back Hugo Keenan, wing James Lowe and scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park are named among the backs while Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, Jack Conan and Tadhg Beirne will pack down together up front.
And there could be more appearances from the Irish contingent with prop Andrew Porter, hooker Ronan Kelleher and centre Bundee Aki all named amongst the replacements.
It equals the record of most Ireland players to start a Lions Test that dates back to the third Test in South Africa in 1938.
Five of the eight were from Ulster, including captain Sammy Walker.
Blair Mayne, George Cromey, Harry Mckibbin and Robert Alexander were the others and were joined by Robert Graves, Charles Boyles and George Morgan.
That game was also the last that the Lions wore blue shirts in a Test match.
None of the starters is a surprise with Keenan as the only recognised full-back in the squad at the moment with Blair Kinghorn out injured.
With Garry Ringrose out with concussion, an all-Scottish midfield combination of Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu is preferred with Aki starting on the bench.
Perhaps the most debated selection is that of Beirne over England’s Ollie Chessum in the back row alongside Conan and Tom Curry with Josh Van der Flier missing out.
At times Beirne has not looked like his normal commanding self, but he has captained the side to a pair of wins.
“Yeah, I suppose that's the hotly contested one, part of the side that's been talked about for quite some time and rightly so because of the quality that we've got there,” admitted Farrell.
”Obviously we feel that that's the right balance for the first Test, the combination of Tadhg, being the type of player that he is, as far as his quality in the set-piece but yet his all-round ability, either on the floor or a ball-playing six.
“I think that complements Jack in a similar regard and Tom being the engine that we all know that you need in regards to Test match football.”
Rugby Australia hopeful of full house for first Testpublished at 07:23 BST 17 July 2025
07:23 BST 17 July 2025
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Brisbane hosts the first Test, before the series moves on to Melbourne and Sydney
The Sydney Morning Herald reports, external that there are still tickets available for all three Tests between the British and Irish Lions and Australia after some were handed back by UK tour operators.
The newspaper adds that there were fewer than 1,000 remaining for the opener at the 52,500-capacity Suncorp Stadium for Saturday's series opener on Wednesday.
"We're almost there," said Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh.
"So naturally, just the way ticketing works, you get some hand backs from different tour groups that are pre-booked, and so you just naturally have some that become available late, which is what we have for this weekend.
"But we're almost there. Hopefully, we get a good run home and a full stadium."
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is hosting the second Test and is expected to have more than 90,000 people in attendance. The turnout of MCG members - who have access to events at the venue - will decided whether how close the crowd gets to the capacity of 100,000.
'Greatest experience of my career was 2013 series' - Geniapublished at 05:34 BST 17 July 2025
05:34 BST 17 July 2025
Chris Jones Rugby union Correspondent in Brisbane
Image source, BBC Sport
We spent a very enjoyable hour this morning with Australia great Will Genia, who started all three Tests against the Lions in 2013.
Genia reflects on that series and looks ahead to what is coming up in the next few weeks. He reckons whoever wins the first Test will win the series, and says an Australia victory will turbo-charge the atmosphere in the country ahead of the second Test at the 100,000 seater Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The 110-cap Wallaby has some sage advice for rookie 10 Tom Lynagh and explains what Australia need to do to upset the odds on Saturday.
You can hear from Genia on the latest Rugby Union Weekly podcast, which will be out from around 9am on Thursday.
Both players missed the Wallabies warm-up win over Fiji with calf complaints, but the hosts had hoped they would be fit in time to fact the Lions.
Skelton said earlier this week that he would be ready to play in the series opener, while Australia assistant coach Geoff Parling issued an upbeat assessment of Valentini's chances saying he was "very hopeful" the hard-carrying 26-year-old would make the match.
However The Roar reports that head coach Joe Schmidt will now turn to Nick Champion de Crespigny, who moved to Western Force this year after a successful spell at French side Castres, as blind-side flanker in Valetini's absence.
Sheehan calls on Lions to find a new level against the Wallabies published at 13:19 BST 16 July 2025
13:19 BST 16 July 2025
Tom English BBC Sport in Australia
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Sheehan is expected to start at hooker in Saturday's first Test
British and Irish Lions hooker, Dan Sheehan, says his team are going to have to play a "lot better" than they have been performing if they are to win the first Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday.
"I think we have to find another level," said the Leinsterman. "We've had some close games in the last few weeks, so we definitely need to step up. We've talked about it.
"What we've done so far has been great and I think we've done a good job doing it, but there has to be a visible difference this week. We should be able to feel the energy off people. Everything is just going to be up a level."
Sheehan is sure to start at hooker when Andy Farrell names his team on Thursday.
He has compared this Lions tour, with the frenetic pace of travel and games, as like a World Cup "on steroids."
The hooker also spoke about the significance of the scrum on Saturday, an area of strength for the Lions so far on tour.
"We'll need to make sure we have no preconceived ideas that we might have a dominant scrum," he said. "We have to earn their respect from the start. We can't carry in that belief that we might run over a team. It won't happen like that. We're back to ground zero at scrum time. But it's a big part of our game that hopefully we can get a bit of joy out of."
Various Lions have spoken of their desire to win the series 3-0 and to be remembered as the greatest Lions side ever, a noble, if deluded, thought.
The 1971 Lions were the first and still the only squad to win in New Zealand, the 1974 Lions in South Africa went unbeaten and the 1997 Lions, also in South Africa, stamped their names in history by winning a series that few thought them capable of.
Nothing these Lions can do against the world's eighth-ranked nation will live with those feats, but Sheehan thinks the chat from some of his team-mates is not out of place.
"There's going to be a bit of fire and they (the Wallabies) will feed into that," he added.
"We need to make sure we come out firing and stamp our gameplan on them early.
"I'm sure there's going to be some big collisions, some big heated moments in the game. I don't think that's anything too crazy (the comments about 3-0). It's obviously everyone's goal to win a Test series and to try to be a step beyond the last squad.
"The way rugby has evolved, every team should be better than the last, and it's a massive goal of ours to make sure we reach our potential. I think if we do reach our potential we have the possibility to be one of the best teams. I think they're fair comments."
"If we do well in this series, it helps in growing participation, fan engagement, sponsorship and TV numbers. All these metrics go up if we do well and that is why this is so important for us.
"Australia are not where they would like to be, that is pretty obvious, and Australian rugby has been under pressure over recent years.
"We are used to success in every sport in Australia. We are very lucky in our history to have some wonderful sportspeople and rugby is a good example of that.
"If you look at the Lions tour in 2001 it kicked-off a great period for rugby in Australia leading into the World Cup. I know we lost the final but those few years were a real golden period for rugby in Australia and the current payers have the opportunity to replicate that.
"With this Lions series going into a home World Cup, they won't get that again in their lifetime so it's so important."
