Are you ready for this? Powell was left out of the Test side because another specialist scrumhalf is more versatile. Seriously.

So Powell's Wallabies crime is unknown and his sentence is indefinite, making him a forgotten man in a World Cup campaign.

It's baffled many in recent months and then had them scratching their heads again when Nick Phipps was added to the side as the back-up No. 9 for a Test against Samoa in Sydney on Saturday night.

Powell was supposed to be the next man in line. He's been to every Wallabies camp this year, was named in an extended World Cup training squad and hardly put a foot wrong for the Brumbies.

He's been involved at almost every Wallabies camp since 2016, even though he has played just four Tests and been on the field for a handful of minutes since making his debut two years ago.

The 25-year-old is desperate for a chance to prove himself.

But when it comes to selection day, it's the same excuses: team make-up, the forwards-backs split on the bench or not enough game time.

There's a risk of the Wallabies' game against Samoa becoming more of a farewell to retiring players than a serious World Cup warm up.

David Pocock, Will Genia, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Sekope Kepu, Phipps, Bernard Foley and Tatafu Polota-Nau are all either leaving Australian rugby next year or retiring.

Other World Cup players have been wrapped in cotton wool before the team flies to Japan, while the All Blacks are rolling out their big guns for the final hit out.

It seems Powell has been left out in the cold because he's not one of the favourites.

One of the elements that threatened to divide the Wallabies last year was perceived preferential treatment for some players.

Powell falls into the category of players on the outer, but he's in good company. Pete Samu is there, too, despite attempts earlier this week to use injury as an excuse for his World Cup omission.

Samu has been on the outer since family commitments clashed with a Wallabies camp earlier this year.

Yes, Samu injured his hamstrings at the end of Super Rugby, but he has been fit to play for the past six weeks.

Samu has been in a satellite training group with others on the fringes and, along with Powell, could get a World Cup SOS if there are injuries.

The thing about World Cup selection is that there are always going to be unlucky and forgotten players.

Powell's omission was fair enough. Genia and Nic White secured the scrumhalf tickets and deservedly so.

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But why was he left out of the Samoa Test, despite being told he was next in line? Apparently because Phipps can cover more positions. Seriously.

The final insult? Apparently Powell has to stay in Wallabies camp until Sunday, which means he can't play in the National Rugby Championship for the Canberra Vikings.

Why do three letters matter so much to a disengaged rugby community, especially when some didn't even know the Brumbies had officially dropped the "ACT" from their name?

The Brumbies will find out why they're important when they host a fan forum at Canberra Stadium next week as they aim to mend bridges with supporters.

The truth is they already know reintroducing the ACT more than a decade after axing it is important because the majority of their fans told them in an end-of-season survey.

Something so simple has been neglected for the past 14 years, but Brumbies officials are already putting plans in place to make things right.

Playing and training kit, merchandise and promotional tools have already been ordered for 2020, so rebranding the Brumbies as the ACT Brumbies is more likely for 2021.

The ACT has been missing since the club was relaunched as "Brumbies Rugby" in 2005 in an attempted to give it a broader appeal. In doing so, they neglected the supporters closest to home.

Average crowd numbers have steadily dropped since then, tumbling from almost 23,000 to 8798 this year.

Australian rugby was enjoying a golden generation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but more people have access to pay television now and Canberra Stadium hasn't aged well.

The decision to cut three letters from a name, of course, wasn't the reason people turned away from Brumbies games. But it did give them another excuse as Super Rugby administrators fumbled their way through the past decade.

Equally, the likely return of the those three letters won't be the silver bullet for making people go to Super Rugby games, but it is a start.

The "ACT" naysayers only need to look at Canberra Stadium on Saturday to understand why connecting with a community is the foundation of success.

Canberra Raiders crowd numbers have surged to their highest level in 24 years, and not just because they're back in the finals for the second time in seven years or because of the Viking clap.

The Raiders made a concerted effort to reengage with their supporters after an era dominated by the bad boys: Todd Carney, Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan.

The turnaround has been remarkable. The green sausages are back and so many fans lined up at a recent signing session that it had to be extended by an hour before organisers shut the doors because people kept turning up.

The Raiders will finish the regular season with an average crowd of more than 15,000 per game - their highest since 1995 - and will get at least 20,000 to a finals game.

The Brumbies crave that sort of engagement and the passion of rugby league fans.

That's not to say there aren't hardcore Brumbies fans out there. They do exist and have stuck by the club through some tough years, which had more to do with Australian rugby's woes than what was happening at the Brumbies.

The Brumbies must do everything they can do re-engage fans. A new game day experience, membership packages, fireworks.

Rugby Australia and SANZAAR have to come to the party as well. How about some actual Super Rugby marketing, a free-to-air television deal and some financial help from SANZAAR for struggling clubs?

Reintroducing three letters seems like a small gesture, but something so simple can be the start of something big.