Wallabies 2019 Thread

[Derpus]

^^^^
I agree for the most part, particularly the part where we didn't have an 8.

 

[cyclopath]

Yeah, doubt it. We can't even afford to retain our best player.

Watching the financial situation slowely destroy the game here is painful.

Here, and overseas, really. The fact that some players here are offered, and paid, over $1million / yr is nuts. It just resets the pay scale all the way down, from the player agent POV. And we can't match the mid to lower level pro (players) pay when it compares to what they get offered OS. So we retain a few stars at big bucks, and lose a lot of good players to all parts OS.
So yes, lots more money here might help, but we are never going to be likely to compete with OS clubs for good quality Super and (maybe) Test players, when it comes to what we can offer them.

 

[Dctarget]

Need more billionaires who like rugby ey. What's the point of us being the snob sport if we can't be rolling in it.

 

[Finsbury Girl]

Hooper would be far less than 1.

 

[Mr Wobbly]

*snip*

When you boil it down, the number of forced turnovers/penalties probably averages under 2 per game for Pocock at test level. Hooper would be around 1. That's a relatively small part of their role and positive or otherwise impacts on a game.

It isn't just the actual turnovers/penalties that count though. Pocock slows down opposition ball and forces teams to commit numbers to rucks better than anyone. Hooper does a lot of good work but gets blown off rucks by wingers and 10s.

 

[Tomikin]

Hooper would be on more then 1 at year in Japan, and probably close to that in Europe he is a phenomenal player we are talking about the best or second best player in Australia, the Oz Captain, the fastest to 100 tests, the youngest 2 100 tests, being only 27 and coming into his Prime years.

People often discredit him based/comparing him to Pocock but his often the best player on the field in most of his games he plays.

P.S. Mr Wobbly do you have any 10's blowing Hooper off rucks ? I'd love to see that.

 

[Up the Guts]

Hooper would be on more then 1 at year in Japan, and probably close to that in Europe he is a phenomenal player we are talking about the best or second best player in Australia, the Oz Captain, the fastest to 100 tests, the youngest 2 100 tests, being only 27 and coming into his Prime years.

Um, have you ever read the comment section on the front page? The hierarchy of Australian 7s is:

1. Pocock
2. Daylight
3. Flavour of the month up and comer

999. Mitchy from Dubbo under 8s
1000. Michael Hooper

Not sure what Wallaby caps or leading Super Rugby stats, he's only there because of Cheika.

 

[RoffsChoice]

People who don't value Hooper are morons, but I don't blame people for asking if we're better with him or with Pocock. Used to be Pocock v Smith, then it was Smith v Waugh, etc.

 

[TSR]

The other thing which will be interesting if Pocock gets back on the field is how refs monitor tactics used against him.

Good players have been taken out off the ball for a long time now, probably forever.

But the extent to which Pocock was cleaned out by the head and neck, and the level to which it was ignored made a mockery of the crack down in foul play in other areas IMO.

I’d almost prefer not to see him come back then to see that be allowed to continue. And it is not as if there wasn’t clear warnings of the danger given he has already missed games due to the impact of being cleared out by the head.

 

[Braveheart81]

Tolu Latu has today been fined $1,300 and had his licence suspended for 6 months.

It will be interesting to see whether he a) gets any further sanction from RA and b) gets any sort of look in to Wallabies squads this year. Generally you'd think not but it feels like the third hooker position behind Fainga'a and TPN is still wide open.

 

[Derpus]

The other thing which will be interesting if Pocock gets back on the field is how refs monitor tactics used against him.

Good players have been taken out off the ball for a long time now, probably forever.

But the extent to which Pocock was cleaned out by the head and neck, and the level to which it was ignored made a mockery of the crack down in foul play in other areas IMO.

I’d almost prefer not to see him come back then to see that be allowed to continue. And it is not as if there wasn’t clear warnings of the danger given he has already missed games due to the impact of being cleared out by the head.

Sam Cane cops the same treatment. I don't know if he broke his neck trying to pilfer but i wouldn't be surprised.

Needs to be watched.

 

[Up the Guts]

We need to flag the neck roll with the referee prematch. Also wouldn't hurt to jump up and down about it a lot in the media a la Pythagoras Marler in the 2015 WC.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

BH, my objections to the Pooper in the end (I hate that term BTW, but whatever) was that to have two great open sides on the park, we sacrificed bending the line (though granted we didn't have someone waiting in the wings to fill that blockbusting back rower role), our lineout didn't have enough jumpers and that against teams like England and the All Blacks the Wallabies got smashed or nullified at the breakdown several times. It could also be the formation (1-3-3-1). You're right that the game plan didn't change and that allowed the opposition to work out strategies to negate a supposed strength.

Cheika strikes me at times as stubborn and unwilling to shift the game plan when circumstances change. The way we played at RWC 15 produced excellent results but that hasn't changed/improved really at all since.

In any case I think you're right in that the dual open sides approach won't be in place. In my view it can't, because it sacrifices too much.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

People who don't value Hooper are morons, but I don't blame people for asking if we're better with him or with Pocock. Used to be Pocock v Smith, then it was Smith v Waugh, etc.

I totally agree. He doesn't get nearly enough respect. People say he doesn't play a 7 role but he clearly can and sometimes carries the rest of the team on his back.

 

[cyclopath]

I totally agree. He doesn't get nearly enough respect. People say he doesn't play a 7 role but he clearly can and sometimes carries the rest of the team on his back.

Certainly can - when at the Brumbies was in the thick of it; plays a different style at the Tahs (although has won a lot of critical turnovers for the Tahs this year) and Wallabies - I'm going to go a bit left field and suggest it might be under instructions from coaches, although obviously, it was more likely a unilateral decision of his.........

 

[TSR]

To be fair to Cheika - and I am not overly a fan generally - but this is the first year for some time that some genuine backrow options have put their hands up other than McMahon who was similarly vertically challenged and a few guys like Dempsey who were often injured or SLS who were converted from other spots. Picking 1 backrow option to compliment them was tough, picking a second who warranted leaving one of them out was very hard. I still wonder if Cheika should have stuck with Fardy for longer.

 

[Slim 293]

Certainly can - when at the Brumbies was in the thick of it; plays a different style at the Tahs (although has won a lot of critical turnovers for the Tahs this year) and Wallabies - I'm going to go a bit left field and suggest it might be under instructions from coaches, although obviously, it was more likely a unilateral decision of his...

He was the leading pilferer in the comp that year he was at the Brumbies, and a quick look at this year's stats says that he's second in Australia behind Wright, and he's the leading Australian for dominant tackles.............

The frothing towards Hooper by certain parties on the front page is quite absurd when you take that into account those kinds of stats, and the fact that he got his test break by Deans when he was at the Brumbies, and was then made Wallaby captain under Link.

 

[Braveheart81]

Since the 2015 RWC our results are a little better without both Pocock and Hooper starting than with them. That is skewed a bit by Pocock missing the entirety of 2017 which was a better year for the Wallabies (especially when compared to 2018).

That said, that 2017 team regularly featured Hooper and McMahon who also aren't a conventional backrow pairing.

It's chalk and cheese now though. Players who have played regularly test rugby over the last couple of years (like Hanigan) are likely to miss the RWC squad due to who we have available.

 

[Derpus]

In other words, things on the up (in theory).

 

[Tomikin]

Tolu Latu has today been fined $1,300 and had his licence suspended for 6 months.

It will be interesting to see whether he a) gets any further sanction from RA and b) gets any sort of look in to Wallabies squads this year. Generally you'd think not but it feels like the third hooker position behind Fainga'a and TPN is still wide open.

I know this sounds strange, but Jesus fucking christ this line sounds bad... I thought he was parked

'According to police he was arrested in the early hours of May 16, drunk and asleep at the wheel of a moving car on Anzac Parade, one of the busiest roads in Sydney.'