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Wallabies 2023

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
And the coach needs to factor in team harmony. Sometimes one player just ‘fits’ better than others. The Anthony Herbert rule if you will.

Part of me wonders whether certain players who went from starting the first test of the year to not being in the squad fell on the wrong side of this equation.
 

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
Michael Hooper has no doubt been a great player. But he hasn’t won a World Cup, has never won the Bledisloe, won 1 rugby championship back in 2015, so to act as if he can teach this team to win is fanciful. Experience is valuable when it’s experience about winning
This is such a dumb argument. 'You know all of that top level international experience? That's actually a *bad* thing'.

How good would a team of complete newbies be at the World Cup. They've never lost anything - undefeated!!!!

I'm even off Fraser McReight. What have the Reds won since he's been there? Did we win the U/20 World Cup with him as skipper? Nope. Face it guys, the bloke is a capital-L Loser and it's time to move on. Let's cut our losses before we invest too much in this guy.

Tom Hooper has a 0% win record as a Wallaby. Bloke has literally never won a game. I'd be looking at holidays in South East Asia in the next few months if I were him, as there's no way he will be heading to France.
 

KevinO

Geoff Shaw (53)
and who is Toby Smith??
Kiwi prop who was born in Qld, Rebels signed him from the Chiefs and he played in Melbourne for a few seasons before going back to NZ. Was a preyty solid at scrum time, did not do to much with ball in hand.
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Simon Poidevin (60)
Vunivalu doesn't work hard enough off the ball, but he found the try line very well this season
It’s a pity because one of the best games he played was the Reds win over the Chiefs when he was taking hit ups and looking for work. That’s the only one I can think of though.
 

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
I'm even off Fraser McReight. What have the Reds won since he's been there? Did we win the U/20 World Cup with him as skipper? Nope. Face it guys, the bloke is a capital-L Loser and it's time to move on. Let's cut our losses before we invest too much in this guy.

IMG_3689.jpeg
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Simon Poidevin (60)
This is such a dumb argument. 'You know all of that top level international experience? That's actually a *bad* thing'.

How good would a team of complete newbies be at the World Cup. They've never lost anything - undefeated!!!!

I'm even off Fraser McReight. What have the Reds won since he's been there? Did we win the U/20 World Cup with him as skipper? Nope. Face it guys, the bloke is a capital-L Loser and it's time to move on. Let's cut our losses before we invest too much in this guy.

Tom Hooper has a 0% win record as a Wallaby. Bloke has literally never won a game. I'd be looking at holidays in South East Asia in the next few months if I were him, as there's no way he will be heading to France.
All of the Wallabies this year have a 0% win rate. Even the coach who’s new, so it starts from now. Or, do we go with the experienced blokes who’ve won 30% of their games for the last 5 years?

Who do we pick then?
 

Tomthumb

Chilla Wilson (44)
This is such a dumb argument. 'You know all of that top level international experience? That's actually a *bad* thing'.

How good would a team of complete newbies be at the World Cup. They've never lost anything - undefeated!!!!

I'm even off Fraser McReight. What have the Reds won since he's been there? Did we win the U/20 World Cup with him as skipper? Nope. Face it guys, the bloke is a capital-L Loser and it's time to move on. Let's cut our losses before we invest too much in this guy.

Tom Hooper has a 0% win record as a Wallaby. Bloke has literally never won a game. I'd be looking at holidays in South East Asia in the next few months if I were him, as there's no way he will be heading to France.
Yeah, nothing screams "regeneration" like an out of form 31 year old that is gone after the World Cup

James O'Connor and Bernard Foley for co-captains, so much "top level international experience"
 

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
Who do we pick then?

In all seriousness, it's obviously a balancing act of factors. Judging a player by the win rate of his teams is pretty ludicrous if that player has clearly been a standout over that period. It applies as much to Marika as it does to Hooper.

Now if his leadership is decided to be substandard then you can have a think about turfing him. But Eddie just had a good look and made him captain, as Rennie did before him, and Cheika did before him, and Link did before him.

I'm not saying the bloke is in all-time form. There's a real argument that Fraser McReight has usurped him for the 7 jersey. But the notion that (if fit) he shouldn't be in the squad is silly. He's clearly an important member of the team, we need a genuine back-up seven (looking at you Robbie Deans) and his form is at least good enough to warrant a seat on the plane.
 

Tomthumb

Chilla Wilson (44)
In all seriousness, it's obviously a balancing act of factors. Judging a player by the win rate of his teams is pretty ludicrous if that player has clearly been a standout over that period. It applies as much to Marika as it does to Hooper.

Now if his leadership is decided to be substandard then you can have a think about turfing him. But Eddie just had a good look and made him captain, as Rennie did before him, and Cheika did before him, and Link did before him.

I'm not saying the bloke is in all-time form. There's a real argument that Fraser McReight has usurped him for the 7 jersey. But the notion that (if fit) he shouldn't be in the squad is silly. He's clearly an important member of the team, we need a genuine back-up seven (looking at you Robbie Deans) and his form is at least good enough to warrant a seat on the plane.
It's not silly at all, it's based around only being able to pick 33 players

In a vacuum, Hooper would be great to have in the squad, but carrying 2 players that can only play 7 isn't really feasible in a 33 man squad that needs versatility. You can only really pick one of them, otherwise you are in big trouble if (realistically when) injuries occur
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
It seems pretty clear that it is only injury concern that would rule him out.

It will be interesting to know how they determine that? He presumably doesn't have to pass a physical today as the squad isn't playing tomorrow and we are clearly selecting several players who aren't ready to play immediately.

Is it a question of progress? I.e. he needs to be at a certain milestone now to be confident he'll be fine in a few weeks.

McDermott did really well on Saturday but it is a single game sample size. I haven't thought the team has looked great in terms of leadership last year and this year when Hooper has missed time. I wouldn't say things have looked assured with Slipper as captain. Last year in particular featured a number of games where things seemed to really drift and the team looked a bit directionless.

Anyway, all will be revealed tomorrow.
 

Wilson

Phil Kearns (64)
In all seriousness, it's obviously a balancing act of factors. Judging a player by the win rate of his teams is pretty ludicrous if that player has clearly been a standout over that period. It applies as much to Marika as it does to Hooper.

Now if his leadership is decided to be substandard then you can have a think about turfing him. But Eddie just had a good look and made him captain, as Rennie did before him, and Cheika did before him, and Link did before him.

I'm not saying the bloke is in all-time form. There's a real argument that Fraser McReight has usurped him for the 7 jersey. But the notion that (if fit) he shouldn't be in the squad is silly. He's clearly an important member of the team, we need a genuine back-up seven (looking at you Robbie Deans) and his form is at least good enough to warrant a seat on the plane.
I think the biggest issue there is that 'fit' is not a binary, particularly not with the way they are managing calf issues now. How fit/close to it is good enough for him to qualify for the squad? From all accounts it sounds like he's not going to be 100%, so there's going to be significant discussions around where that threshold is and his declining form means it's going to be higher than it may have been in years past.

That said I do think Hooper will be named in the squad tomorrow to give him time to get right, but I'm less convinced he'll make it to France. I'm guessing they take a few extras to Darwin to make sure they're ready to go in the event of injuries.
 
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