Digby Goone!

[Reddy!]

Out for the rest of the 2010 season with major surgery to his shoulder again.

Wallabies winger Digby Ioane's season over after shoulder injury
By Jim Tucker
July 25, 2010
The 2010 season is over for shattered Wallaby weapon Digby Ioane, who faces major surgery after his shoulder again betrayed him.

Ioane is booked to visit a specialist in Brisbane tomorrow and faces a six-month rehabilitation which puts in doubt his readiness for the Queensland Reds when Super 15 opens in February next year.

It is a cruel end to his Tri-Nations aspirations because he woke on Saturday with high hopes of proving his fitness to face the All Blacks in Melbourne on Saturday night.

Wallaby coach Robbie Deans was at an empty Ballymore to watch Ioane make a bid for a Test recall, but instead was left to comfort his fallen star.

Ioane's left shoulder popped in a seemingly innocuous tackle on older brother Jay, his "tackle bag" for the fitness test.

"I'm shattered. I went to make the tackle and it just popped out again," Ioane said.

"I was hoping for big things against the All Blacks but better it happen like this than against Ma'a Nonu in a Test."

Ioane has been sidelined since damaging his shoulder against England in Sydney on June 19. A positive medical report at the time suggested he could rehabilitate the shoulder without the surgery that was initially forecast.

Deans had pencilled in his powerful line-busting winger for a key role against the Kiwis and was upbeat "everything was on track" when Ioane was stepping and banging into contact at Wallaby training during the week.

"I guess there was always a risk with the shoulder," he said.

"It's sad it has gone this way but I'll come back stronger and faster for World Cup year.

"I feel sorry for Jay. He was worried about telling Dad but it had nothing to do with anything he did in the tackle."

The 11-Test winger is confident the grumbling problem is in a different area of the same shoulder that he had his 2009 reconstruction.

Ioane made it back in just under six months last year to play the best rugby of his stop-start Test career on the end-of-season Wallaby tour.

For Ioane, the injury blow kills off a real fairytale he had hoped to enjoy in Melbourne.

"I was living in Melbourne when the All Blacks played their first Test there in 1997," Ioane said.

"All the kids from my Under-12 side got to go to the Test except me as the youngest. I was brushed . . . there wasn't a ticket.

 

[Reddy!]

Well this solves any backline selection dilemmas. Mitchell and O'Connor to be wings again - AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to fullback.

 

[Richo]

And with QC (Quade Cooper) out for two weeks, we should see Barnes slide in at 10.

 

[Reddy!]

Hopefully mate.

Can't wait to see how this Wallaby team goes to get over this hurdle against the All Blacks.

 

[Richo]

Yep. But it would have been even better to see the same team take the paddock with a good victory under their belts.

I'm hoping we see the confident and aggressive Barnes, not the tentative kick-it-away version.

 

[Gnostic]

Time to look for some more genuine pace on the wing. Turner has been very good for the Woodies and was just as good as Mitchell this year. JOC (James O'Connor) is not a winger and is not comfortable under the high ball.

 

[WB3]

Time to look for some more genuine pace on the wing. Turner has been very good for the Woodies and was just as good as Mitchell this year. JOC (James O'Connor) is not a winger and is not comfortable under the high ball.

I disagree - JOC (James O'Connor) is fast (in the Australia's greatest athlete show he beat Billy Slater in beach flags, so his acceleration and pace over 20-30 metres must be exceptional) and while I was not a fan at all of him last year, he has been good this year for the wallabies. Aside from the one shocker of a ball he dropped last night he was very good. His (rightly) disallowed try showed his explosiveness and he made some great tackles (notably on Matfield). Also, he made one run which reminded me of Jarryd Hayne in which he stood up 3 or 4 defenders and used his acceleration and strength to bust through a couple of tackles. I am beginning to think he is the real deal and I would hate to see him dropped now.

 

[Gnostic]

I disagree - JOC (James O'Connor) is fast (in the Australia's greatest athlete show he beat Billy Slater in beach flags, so his acceleration and pace over 20-30 metres must be exceptional) and while I was not a fan at all of him last year, he has been good this year for the wallabies. Aside from the one shocker of a ball he dropped last night he was very good. His (rightly) disallowed try showed his explosiveness and he made some great tackles (notably on Matfield). Also, he made one run which reminded me of Jarryd Hayne in which he stood up 3 or 4 defenders and used his acceleration and strength to bust through a couple of tackles. I am beginning to think he is the real deal and I would hate to see him dropped now.

The problem with playing people out of position in big games is that there are few opportunities and each must be taken. The break made by Elsom down JOC (James O'Connor)'s wing highlights this. JOC (James O'Connor) needed to cut inside and provide Elsom with an option but he ended up helping Elsom over the touch line when he kicked. Off the mark pace will serve him well in the centres but kick chase and running in support requires top end pace in the mould of Davies, Mitchell, Turner. One of the quickest players off the mark and over 20 metres was Morgan Turinui, but when played out of position on the wing he was burnt for pace again and again.

 

[WB3]

The problem with playing people out of position in big games is that there are few opportunities and each must be taken. The break made by Elsom down JOC (James O'Connor)'s wing highlights this. JOC (James O'Connor) needed to cut inside and provide Elsom with an option but he ended up helping Elsom over the touch line when he kicked. Off the mark pace will serve him well in the centres but kick chase and running in support requires top end pace in the mould of Davies, Mitchell, Turner. One of the quickest players off the mark and over 20 metres was Morgan Turinui, but when played out of position on the wing he was burnt for pace again and again.

Grrr I typed this whole thing then hit the Reply to Thread button instead of "Post Quick Reply" and lost it all.

Anyway:

I'm a massive fan of Turner and would be happy to see him in a Wallabies jersey, however I think JOC (James O'Connor) could be a real gamebreaker for us and although he may not offer as much as a specialist winger, this quality could be the difference against the class teams of the world.
The "can't tackle" and "too slow" arguments against JOC (James O'Connor) don't hold water, in my opinion. He has demonstrated plenty of speed and made some great tackles. He was never beaten by Habana last night (even if the Boks didn't give him the ball enough).
As for being inexperienced/out of position and poor under the highball, the first will not be resolved by taking him off the field and I back him to learn his lessons very quickly (particularly in the case of the Elsom break that you brought up). The highball IS an issue and I think it should be one of his focuses, but he did only make one drop last night, so I think to talk it up into a hoodoo is a bit unnecessary. He has come along in all aspects of the game since that shocker he had against NZ last year.
The thrust of my argument is basically that Turner is a solid option and probably wouldn't go wrong, but JOC (James O'Connor) could win games. Although I acknowledge his combination with Cooper may be part of his recent form (aside from the brain-snap Cooper had in not passing after that break last night, they usually play very well together) I don't think Deans will drop one of the strong performers of last night on the basis of one error and the promise of a "solid option". Ps; Lachie Turner dropped a couple of howlers in the middle of the S14 and didn't cop much flak. I (and noone else) thinks he is bad under the highball.
Word.

 

[Gnostic]

He was beaten by Habana as he was out of position, with Pocock making the try saver. JOC (James O'Connor) is a game breaker but just not on the wing IMO. In any event with both Hynes and Ioane both gone wing coverage in the squad is now very thin. Turner should at least be drafted into the wider squad, especially for the trip to SA.

 

[Reddy!]

Yeh agreed. But luckily we have pretty good depth in the wing department - it is going to hurt any team when you take out Hynes, Digby, Davies and drop Turner.

 

[WB3]

He was beaten by Habana as he was out of position, with Pocock making the try saver. JOC (James O'Connor) is a game breaker but just not on the wing IMO. In any event with both Hynes and Ioane both gone wing coverage in the squad is now very thin. Turner should at least be drafted into the wider squad, especially for the trip to SA.

True, that is a blatant miss by me (and him). I now definitely support at least having Turner in the squad.

 

[DPK]

Yeh agreed. But luckily we have pretty good depth in the wing department - it is going to hurt any team when you take out Hynes, Digby, Davies and drop Turner.

Especially when you replace them with an injury prone (but apparently good) player.

 

[louie]

turner looked a handy 13 aswell. would be nice cover for rob if anything happens.
i like JOC (James O'Connor) more then turner tho... more creative.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Am I the only one who thinks Turner is a little overrated? I've been waiting to see more of that explosive pace and daring that we saw in his first season. Maybe it's been coached out of him, because I reckon he's looked a little pedestrian in the past season or so. I will say, however, that he looked good for the Woodies at OC. Food for thought there.

 

[Gooch]

I'm hoping to see A Fainga'a get som time against the AB's. If Deans goes with Sookface and Gits at 10 & 12, Fainga'a should be the back up 12, brought on midway 2nd half to bust some AB's.

 

[Zinzan]

Ioane's left shoulder popped in a seemingly innocuous tackle on older brother Jay, his "tackle bag" for the fitness test.

Feel sorry for Diggers, his brother Jay must be HUGE. (probably should have used a sister or real "tackle bag" for the fitness test).

 

[Scott Allen]

He was beaten by Habana as he was out of position, with Pocock making the try saver.

O'Connor wasn't out of position - he was in position facing up to a 2 v 1 with Aplan and Habana coming at him. Then Horne made a mistake and went in when he should have stayed on Burger - this left O'Connor with no choice to go in on Burger to clean up Horne's mess. Had he not done so, Burger was through. He's still got plenty to learn about playing on the wing but in this instance he got it right.

 

[Scotty]

JOC (James O'Connor) also made a great cover tackle on the opposite wing outside Mitchell. He had a good game.

 

[fatprop]

Am I the only one who thinks Turner is a little overrated? I've been waiting to see more of that explosive pace and daring that we saw in his first season. Maybe it's been coached out of him, because I reckon he's looked a little pedestrian in the past season or so. I will say, however, that he looked good for the Woodies at OC. Food for thought there.

Turner isn't overrated, the work he does isn't rated enough. The thing he has is a proper workrate off the ball. He chases kicks, he gets back give the 15 options. He also works on his game a lot, just look at how his defence has improved. His weaknesses are that he can struggles to beat a defender one on one and thinks he can kick better than he actually can.

Best comparison to him is Doug Howlett & Habana. Hard working all game, strong defence, but he needs to be given space to smoke them on the outside.

That said, a season playing 13 will be good for him long term