A host of big-name Australians will be missing when the next stage of the men's World Surf League gets underway this week in Brazil.
Four Australians who competed in the home leg of the WSL will be missing, with Mick Fanning on sabbatical, Kai Otton withdrawing for personal reasons, Taj Burrow recently announcing his retirement and Joel Parkinson nursing an injured knee.
Meanwhile Owen Wright and Bede Durbidge will spend more time on the shore after missing the first three events of the year through injury.
Durbidge has not surfed since he broke his pelvis at the Pipe Masters last December.
In their absence, current world No.1 Matt Wilkinson leads a group of largely less experienced countrymen.
Wilkinson, who won at both Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast and Bells Beach in Melbourne, will be looking to rebound in Rio after finishing ninth at the Margaret River Pro in Perth.
Familiar faces such as Julian Wilson and Adrian Buchan will also be there, while Adam Melling and Stuart Kennedy have both been brought in as replacement surfers.
Kennedy made his debuts on the Australian leg of the tour, after making one final in last year's qualifying series in Brazil.
Melling meanwhile has been on the tour since 2010, but reached his first quarter-finals at the main draw in last year's Pipe Masters.
The women's side of the draw carries far more familiar names for Australian surfing fans, including Sally Fitzgibbons, Stephanie Gilmore and second-placed Tyler Wright.
The event has been moved 24 kilometres south to Grumari after week-long storms damaged the original structures at its usual home at Postinho, however organisers plan to move back there by the end of the week.
The tournament is scheduled to run from May 10-21.
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