Rebels 2015

[KevinO]

Yeah, Luke's account has been hacked all week. I got a tweet on Tuesday that I was not going to click the link on.

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

It's a scam that has hacked the twitter account ...open at your peril .

 

[KevinO]

It's a scam that has hacked the twitter account .open at your peril .

His deleted his account now, so won't have that problem.

 

[KevinO]

Interesting read, not much depth to the article though.

http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-unio...ars-says-ceo-peter-leahy-20150421-1mq0f5.html

 

[wamberal]

I for one hope that the Rebels and the Force will survive. However, their survival depends primarily on the two respective State rugby communities.

 

[Braveheart81]

More than half the shortfall incurred by the ARU for the Rebels in 2014 is covered by the increase in Super Rugby broadcasting revenue to the ARU for having the 5th team.

It's often forgotten or just not mentioned that when it was the Super 14, Australia wasn't getting a third of the broadcasting revenue because they weren't providing a third of the content.

 

[elementfreak]

Toby Smith re-signs. That is really good news.

 

[Highlander35]

Article said that 23 players are signed for next season, we've currently got 36, and I'd assume that would include Siliva.

Anyone have a comprehensive list? I'd reasonably assume that these 9 are out of contract, which would leave 4 or 5 more unsigned.

Kieta
PAE
Sexton
Whittaker
Samo
Higgenbotham
Burgess
Kingston
Veainu

EDIT: Quickly flicking through elsewhere, it looks like Jordy, Neville, Bryce, Gillespie and Metcher would make 5 and consequently, 14.

 

[Wilson]

Potentially for Australia aswell, he's starting to look like the number 3 loosehead in Australia and despite our recent scrum woes we may actually have good depth in a prop position.

 

[swingpass]

very important i think to re-sign Reid, Neville and Hegarty. Reid may well stay on, there aren't too many back row opportunities elsewhere, Neville seems to be on the outer but may not be offered a gig at another franchise. Hegarty is the most likely to be poached, he has been really good since his arrival and i rate him a must keep to cover 10,15 from bench, but he would surely be on the Reds radar though one would think.

Probably one of Sexton and Whittaker will also re-sign. I would try to keep Kingston also, not sure we need both he and Veainu, whom i also rate highly, but the latter has obviously slipped down the pecking order.

 

[Highlander35]

I'd sign the 5 at the bottom, plus Kingston and one of the hookers, that's 29 of this years 36, plus Siliva for 30/35 of next year's squad.

Then a prop, 2 Lock/Blindside/no 8 forwards, a halfback and a back of any persuasion.

 

[Dene]

I was watching the Brumbies game again - it seemed that when the Rebels had possession Harris was played at fly half and Jack D at (essentially) Fullback, reversing roles when they were on defence. I guess this was to take advantage of Harris' ball-distributing skills and positioning on defence, while keeping Jack on the field for his strong kicking game.

I'm interested to see if they stick with this plan, and how it plays out in the better conditions against the Waratahs on Saturday.

 

[KevinO]

Hegarty is the most likely to be poached, he has been really good since his arrival and i rate him a must keep to cover 10,15 from bench, but he would surely be on the Reds radar though one would think.

With QC (Quade Cooper) leaving it wouldn't be a bad move for the Reds. He has the potential to be a very good player. His still only 22 as well.

 

[Average Outside Center]

Noticed Tala Gray hasn't been receiving a lot of game time at the Tahs more than capable player and even better he is home grown. Think it would be worth recruiting him to fill the hole left by higgers and elevating Timani to starting 8

 

[qwerty51]

Well Palu is leaving next year and probably Potgieter too so that opens up plenty of room for him at the Tahs.

 

[Dumbledore]

So how do we think we're tracking boys? Couple of close wins followed by a close loss to the Tahs. Defence has been good, genuinely impressive at times, but we just aren't scoring enough points to get things done.

Higgers has come off with a fair chunk of time left in the last couple of games for Colby and we actually seem to be playing better with him off tbh. Although I'm not sure if it's entirely due to that, since Reid has been coming on for Fuglistaller at the same time and blowing things up. I reckon he's due a start, playing some blinding footy. I'd completely tear the backline up as well. This one is solid, but offers little to nothing on attack. We won't make finals, so can we at least try this at some point during the season? Give the whole try-scoring thing a go.

Stirzaker
Debreczeni
Veainu
Ellison
Naivalu
Crawford
Placid

 

[KevinO]

^^^^^Jordy needs a start, out of contract at the end of the year (I think) and they have to be thinking about extending. Can say he is taking his chances and running with it. Made the difference on Saturday night when he came on just after half time.

Talked to him afterwards and he was guttered not to get the win.

 

[Highlander35]

I'd go into the next one with minimal changes, only forced and returning from injury ( Jones, Weeks maybe in, Harris, Leafa maybe out).

If that doesn't work, maybe start rotating through plsyers who've got a big part to play next year, like Metcher, and Meehan, and a handful of others.

 

[KevinO]

Would still start PAE and bring Weeks off the Bench
Harris has a corked Quad so he might be rested
Jones in and Neville to the bench or maybe Timani and bring him on as an impact sub.

LEAFA HAS TO BLOODY GO, 3 not straights and 1 lose on Saturday really killed us. I'd even settle for playing another back rower at hooker at this stage.

 

[swingpass]

as Mrs Pass keeps saying, "surely some one at the Rebels can throw better than him'