Wallabies five-eighth Bernard Foley insists the tough times endured by Australia this year have laid the foundation for future success.

Australia won just six of 15 Tests in 2016, with most of the Wallabies returning home on Tuesday from the spring tour of Europe, where they beat Wales, Scotland and France but lost to Ireland and England.

‘”Out of those tough times and that adversity a lot of guys stood up and that’s where I think the optimism and the potential going forward is,” Foley said.