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Reds 2021

PhilClinton

John Hipwell (52)
Someone on the QPR pages suggested Ben Mowen in a lineout role with the Reds now that he's retired from QPR, well at least he's said he has. I think that has merit, he's good in the air, has been a lineout caller and organizer at the highest level and has leadership qualities so people actually listen to him and I'm sure would come cheap. Not sure if they've locked anyone in though.
 
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Adam84

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
Mowen was working with the Reds Academy and Junior Wallabies this year prior to COVID, but has taken up the director of rugby role at Villanova from next year. I’m not sure whether that role will allow him to still fill roles outside of that.
 

Ignoto

John Thornett (49)
Well the Reds train during the day and the Villa boys should be in class from like 8-3 so plenty of time for Ben to get across town!
 
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TSR

Mark Ella (57)
I don’t want to down play the role or demands of a school DOR role, but I assume any role with the Reds would be on a consultant basis (and presumably a great addition to the CV). You’d think there would be some time available in there.

I guess the problem would be whether he had the available time that the Reds need.

That said, whilst I think Mowen would seem to have great credentials, what other options are there? There must surely be some experience floating around the Brisbane rugby scene?
 

The Phoenix

Sydney Middleton (9)
Ok, so looking at this year just gone we had the following players make their Super Rugby debut:

Harry Wilson
Dane Zander
Seru Uru
Hunter Paisami
Josh Nasser
Ed Craig
Tuaina Taii Tualima
Josh Flook
Jack Straker
Zane Nonggorr
Sean Farrell
Jethro Felemi

Plus Henry Speight made his Reds debut.

That's a fair chunk.

What debutants can we predict for next year? Always hard to predict injury runs which saw a lot of those front rowers given a shot. We obviously don't know the full squad as yet but have a shot at some names beyond just Suliasi Vunivalu.

Thorn is going to keep giving some young ones a go so you'd start there.

Hopefully Tom Kibble gets a shot but he just needs some game time and there are a lot of backrowers. Sam Wallis in front of him and a good chance I reckon.

Kalani Thomas for sure, at least off the bench.

Brad loves a prop so Harry Vella a good shot.

Mac Grealy likely too.

Any others? A hooker somewhere?

I wonder if Matt Faessler is in the mix?
 

TSR

Mark Ella (57)
Hopefully we see a relatively low number of debutants given Thorn has introduced so many over the last 3 yrs and a good portion of them have become consistent players in their position.

The question in my mind is which of the existing guys are going to have a break out year.

I thought Dane Zander did a fantastic job for a young guy thrown very much in the deep end, but I think he still has someway to go in his work around the field. He’s obviously a guy prepared to knuckle down and do the work, so I’m very keen to see how he comes on.

Hoopert look promising, but injury derailed most of his season last year. Hopefully he is completely over his injury problems and has had a good offseason.

Tupou’s fitness was incredible last year, but it’d be nice if they could lighten his load a bit so hoping Nonggorr can kick on too.

I’m personally unsure whether Nasser has a genuine shot at being a hooker at high level or if they were just trying to make the most of the resources available. The fact they signed him for 2 further years has to be a sign that the Reds think he can kick on, so it’ll be interesting to see him next year.

Angus Scott-Young has been pushed out by the quality of Wright, McReight & Wilson. He’s a consistent, quality hard working player - the sort of bloke who does a lot of the work to let others shine but I think he needs to find some more grunt. The other question for me is whether he has the sort of dynamic game to be the best option off the bench or do we start looking for someone more explosive. He’s the sort of guy I reckon Thorn wants invoked in the squad, he’s excellent to have for injury cover and as part of your rotation, so hopefully he keeps developing.

Sorovi has been up and down - but at his best I think he’s got plenty to offer. But his consistency needs a lot of work.

Both Stewart and Campbell have some pressure on them. I thought both were fantastic for us this year but Paisami’s emergence and the arrival of Vunivalu creates a lot jam. They’ll both be under some pressure to lift again to demand inclusion.

I guess in terms of rookies I’m interested to get a look at Mac Grealy & maybe Kalani Thomas based on what I’ve read here (although is it a year or two early for Thomas???) but I think so much of our ability to genuinely take the next big step forward, challenge for the Super AU title and genuinely compete week in week out with the Kiwis will be reliant on the group above stepping up.
 

Cancelled Account

Desmond Connor (43)
Hopefully we see a relatively low number of debutants given Thorn has introduced so many over the last 3 yrs and a good portion of them have become consistent players in their position.

The question in my mind is which of the existing guys are going to have a break out year.

I thought Dane Zander did a fantastic job for a young guy thrown very much in the deep end, but I think he still has someway to go in his work around the field. He’s obviously a guy prepared to knuckle down and do the work, so I’m very keen to see how he comes on.

Hoopert look promising, but injury derailed most of his season last year. Hopefully he is completely over his injury problems and has had a good offseason.

Tupou’s fitness was incredible last year, but it’d be nice if they could lighten his load a bit so hoping Nonggorr can kick on too.

I’m personally unsure whether Nasser has a genuine shot at being a hooker at high level or if they were just trying to make the most of the resources available. The fact they signed him for 2 further years has to be a sign that the Reds think he can kick on, so it’ll be interesting to see him next year.

Angus Scott-Young has been pushed out by the quality of Wright, McReight & Wilson. He’s a consistent, quality hard working player - the sort of bloke who does a lot of the work to let others shine but I think he needs to find some more grunt. The other question for me is whether he has the sort of dynamic game to be the best option off the bench or do we start looking for someone more explosive. He’s the sort of guy I reckon Thorn wants invoked in the squad, he’s excellent to have for injury cover and as part of your rotation, so hopefully he keeps developing.

Sorovi has been up and down - but at his best I think he’s got plenty to offer. But his consistency needs a lot of work.

Both Stewart and Campbell have some pressure on them. I thought both were fantastic for us this year but Paisami’s emergence and the arrival of Vunivalu creates a lot jam. They’ll both be under some pressure to lift again to demand inclusion.

I guess in terms of rookies I’m interested to get a look at Mac Grealy & maybe Kalani Thomas based on what I’ve read here (although is it a year or two early for Thomas???) but I think so much of our ability to genuinely take the next big step forward, challenge for the Super AU title and genuinely compete week in week out with the Kiwis will be reliant on the group above stepping up.
More on Angus Scott-Young; he definitely works hard in the back ground leaving the glory to the finishers. He and Wright are the core with less percentage of mistakes. McReight and Wilson are good finishers but both operating on high unforced errors. Next year we need to see their error rate improve so we can feed the ball to our runners.
Good summary.
 
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PhilClinton

John Hipwell (52)
More on Angus Scott-Young; he definitely works hard in the back ground leaving the glory to the finishers. He and Wright are the core with less percentage of mistakes. McReight and Wilson are good finishers but both operating on high unforced errors. Next year we need to see their error rate improve so we can feed the ball to our runners.
Good summary.


Agree with your assessment but I don't know if there is really room for too many of those 'hard workers', which means ASY (Angus Scott-Young) finds himself in that awkward role of coming off the bench to finish the game, but not really providing the punch that you expect from a finisher.

I think Wright fits the hard worker role really well, does a lot of work across the park to help cover our ball runners. McReight and Wilson only just emerged last year and both were thrown into the deep end with the Wallabies where they weren't disgraced. Their ceiling is by far the highest, along with TT over the next few years with the Reds. I expect McReight, Wilson and TT to be playing 80mins a game.
 

dru

Tim Horan (67)
Agree with your assessment but I don't know if there is really room for too many of those 'hard workers', which means ASY (Angus Scott-Young) finds himself in that awkward role of coming off the bench to finish the game, but not really providing the punch that you expect from a finisher.

I think Wright fits the hard worker role really well, does a lot of work across the park to help cover our ball runners. McReight and Wilson only just emerged last year and both were thrown into the deep end with the Wallabies where they weren't disgraced. Their ceiling is by far the highest, along with TT over the next few years with the Reds. I expect McReight, Wilson and TT to be playing 80mins a game.

I imagine that with our 4 backrowers there is room for rotation. It is easy to speculate on “the three” but this works in context of specific games only. A season plan can happily accomodate 4 of them.
 
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TSR

Mark Ella (57)
I hope so. Scott-Young seems a quality young bloke - the sort of guy you was to see retained. I think he can provide some cover at lock to at Super level so, hopefully, we see plenty more of him.

But I guess the last few years have seen the emergence more and more of locks/backrowers who get through a power of work and are dynamic/explosive. I’d love for Scott-Young to be able to find that bit more power in his play. I’d love to see the same in Uru for that matter.
 
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Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
Hopefully we see a relatively low number of debutants given Thorn has introduced so many over the last 3 yrs and a good portion of them have become consistent players in their position.

The question in my mind is which of the existing guys are going to have a break out year.

I thought Dane Zander did a fantastic job for a young guy thrown very much in the deep end, but I think he still has someway to go in his work around the field. He’s obviously a guy prepared to knuckle down and do the work, so I’m very keen to see how he comes on.

Hoopert look promising, but injury derailed most of his season last year. Hopefully he is completely over his injury problems and has had a good offseason.

Tupou’s fitness was incredible last year, but it’d be nice if they could lighten his load a bit so hoping Nonggorr can kick on too.

I’m personally unsure whether Nasser has a genuine shot at being a hooker at high level or if they were just trying to make the most of the resources available. The fact they signed him for 2 further years has to be a sign that the Reds think he can kick on, so it’ll be interesting to see him next year.

Angus Scott-Young has been pushed out by the quality of Wright, McReight & Wilson. He’s a consistent, quality hard working player - the sort of bloke who does a lot of the work to let others shine but I think he needs to find some more grunt. The other question for me is whether he has the sort of dynamic game to be the best option off the bench or do we start looking for someone more explosive. He’s the sort of guy I reckon Thorn wants invoked in the squad, he’s excellent to have for injury cover and as part of your rotation, so hopefully he keeps developing.

Sorovi has been up and down - but at his best I think he’s got plenty to offer. But his consistency needs a lot of work.

Both Stewart and Campbell have some pressure on them. I thought both were fantastic for us this year but Paisami’s emergence and the arrival of Vunivalu creates a lot jam. They’ll both be under some pressure to lift again to demand inclusion.

I guess in terms of rookies I’m interested to get a look at Mac Grealy & maybe Kalani Thomas based on what I’ve read here (although is it a year or two early for Thomas???) but I think so much of our ability to genuinely take the next big step forward, challenge for the Super AU title and genuinely compete week in week out with the Kiwis will be reliant on the group above stepping up.
Thorn used nrc to blood new recruits as better pathway to being super rugby ready - he definitely must miss not having the nrc as reds used it well for player development the best out of all super rugby sides
 

Adam84

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
Ok, so looking at this year just gone we had the following players make their Super Rugby debut:

Harry Wilson
Dane Zander
Seru Uru
Hunter Paisami
Josh Nasser
Ed Craig
Tuaina Taii Tualima
Josh Flook
Jack Straker
Zane Nonggorr
Sean Farrell
Jethro Felemi

Plus Henry Speight made his Reds debut.

That's a fair chunk.

What debutants can we predict for next year? Always hard to predict injury runs which saw a lot of those front rowers given a shot. We obviously don't know the full squad as yet but have a shot at some names beyond just Suliasi Vunivalu.

Thorn is going to keep giving some young ones a go so you'd start there.

Hopefully Tom Kibble gets a shot but he just needs some game time and there are a lot of backrowers. Sam Wallis in front of him and a good chance I reckon.

Kalani Thomas for sure, at least off the bench.

Brad loves a prop so Harry Vella a good shot.

Mac Grealy likely too.

Any others? A hooker somewhere?

Agree with those.

I would also say Ryan Smith will earn a few caps in 2021 quite possibly from Rd 1 with LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) carrying over a ban form the Rugby Championship.

Given lack of depth at outside back, I think Ilaisa Droasese and Hudson Creighton will be earn a cap or two at some point.

Richie Asiata has been training with the squad, I’m guessing his MLR contract fell over, in which case i expect he will earn a cap as well.
 

liquor box

Greg Davis (50)
Agree with your assessment but I don't know if there is really room for too many of those 'hard workers', which means ASY (Angus Scott-Young) finds himself in that awkward role of coming off the bench to finish the game, but not really providing the punch that you expect from a finisher.

I think Wright fits the hard worker role really well, does a lot of work across the park to help cover our ball runners. McReight and Wilson only just emerged last year and both were thrown into the deep end with the Wallabies where they weren't disgraced. Their ceiling is by far the highest, along with TT over the next few years with the Reds. I expect McReight, Wilson and TT to be playing 80mins a game.

I hope TT gets some rest, as much as I want him to play 80 minutes every game it makes it hard to develop players if they don't get on the field.

I would be happy with 65-70 minutes as a target but knowing he can go the distance if required.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2020/...ter-paisami-into-a-wallabies-star-tri-nations

I read this story on hunter...likely some time ago but a reread on Xmas eve found more resonated with me perhaps...nothing did not know on the facts about hunter but me as old softie did have a tear in the eye to read it to admire where he has got to with on and ofield challenges to face and overcome so early as young man.

Basic reminder as one full of life experience that life is a journey and not a sprint and to learn from lessons and recover and advance from hard times so early means to me I reckon he will do okay in the many years of life ahead of him. Like to see him kick on even more next year as he has definitely been one of the good stories of this year.
 

PhilClinton

John Hipwell (52)
Richie Asiata has been training with the squad, I’m guessing his MLR contract fell over, in which case i expect he will earn a cap as well.

Where do you think they’ll pick Asiata? I know he packed at hooker for Easts but Van Nek threw. I think the Reds have adequate cover at hooker as discussed earlier with BPA, Mafi and Nasser all full time squad members.

I’m fairly sure Asiata was packing at tighthead for Easts in 2019, may have even held out Kirwan Sanday for a starting spot? And he was coming off a few seasons as a contracted Reds squad member.

Begs the question though - where is George Francis? I know Van Nek at the Rebels.
 

liquor box

Greg Davis (50)
Merry Christmas!

I scored pretty well this morning.

My wife ordered me a 2020 Reds training shirt and a 2020 Reds game day warm up shirt on the Black Friday sales. There was an issue with the delivery and she called them on Friday last week wondering where the shirts were. The two shirts (separate order) I got for my kids arrived 5 days after ordering.

Dynasty told my wife there had been a stuff up with the ordering and shipping system and offered two choices-
1- Get a refund
2- Get a 2019 Reds training shirt and a 2019 Reds game day warm up shirt and when the 2021 editions are released they will send them free of charge!!!

Needless to say I cant wait for my two extra shirts so I have one for every day of the week and spares too.
 

PhilClinton

John Hipwell (52)
Good customer service! A similar thing happened to me a few years ago with some NBA merch. Turns out my address is the same as a suburb and street in WA. My order got shipped there by mistake and the owners of the house returned to post office.

The company I ordered from gave me a new order plus some extras... and the post office in WA shipped me my original order. Win win.
 
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