Dalai Ninja
Ward Prentice (10)
Clearly the future, so may as well start now. But Simmons is still a contender.
Wales vs Australia, 5 November 2016, (1:30am 6 November AEDT) @ Millenium Stadium
- Thread starter KOB1987
- Start date
Clearly the future, so may as well start now. But Simmons is still a contender.
PeterK
Alfred Walker (16)
A mutterer
Chilla Wilson (44)
simmons is a contender for the pine and thats about it.
Dalai Ninja
Ward Prentice (10)
I think that Simmons suffers reputationally from being too "Queenslandy", but that's a can of worms. ;-) He plays better than his reputation.
dru
Tim Horan (67)
Always welcome quality comment here. Cheers
Pfitzy
George Gregan (70)
If we're talking about having Pocock start at 7 for the tight work, then Simmons is benched for the same reason.
Arnold and Coleman are big, brash, and take no crap. Simmons had a couple of great sparks off the bench in Auckland, but I don't rate him as highly in heavy traffic as the other two.
Arnold and Coleman are big, brash, and take no crap. Simmons had a couple of great sparks off the bench in Auckland, but I don't rate him as highly in heavy traffic as the other two.
Hawko
Tony Shaw (54)
You're in a pretty small minority. The guy was not in a Super 23 at the start of the season and a week ago he was packing down against NZ. Someone (a lot of people actually) must have seen something in his play.
dru
Tim Horan (67)
Presumptuous. Experience lies with Slipper.
bigmac
Billy Sheehan (19)
Simmons made some good runs in bled 3. Cheika has obviously been in his ear to ramp up his aggro.
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Dalai Ninja
Ward Prentice (10)
His 'good' aggro. Running twenty meters to biff a bloke when you have the ball is awesome. Running twenty meters to biff a bloke when he has the ball is a yellow.
PeterK
Alfred Walker (16)
Exactly
Originally when Coleman struggled to play 80 I thought it was wrong to start with Arnold. Now that Coleman has proven he is an 80 min player with impact you can play Simmons off the bench.
Like Hooper Simmons adds speed from the bench which is helpful since the game is opening up. Simmons has a high work rate and makes his tackles, just lacks physicality which is not needed as much late in the game.
PeterK
Alfred Walker (16)
Well as Ibsen said The Majority is Always Wrong.
The issue I have other than lack of experience but he started as a THP and now has shifted to LHP. If Sio is still learning the ropes when wiley NH THP props do their tricks Robertson will be way out of his depth.
Imagine Sio having to be replaced because he is being penalised off the park and then who do you want coming in? Slipper.
Dalai Ninja
Ward Prentice (10)
To be fair, that was a character in an Ibsen play. I'm not sure Ibsen agrees with Dr Stockmann, the "enemy of the people".
liquor box
Peter Sullivan (51)
Maybe they looked at his address. No seriously I like the look of him.
I love Slipper especially as he is captain of QLD but I think he has plateaued a bit. He is a very good prop but does not seem to make the game changing plays he did a few years ago.
I hate to say it but I would not have him in my top two loose head props at the moment.
I guess next spring when he has captained the Reds to a S15 title he will get a starting spot
dru
Tim Horan (67)
Being somewhat obtuse there. How long back to that scenario?
Simmo has been the unseen worker. Stats always read high and I'm leftwondering how I missed it. But the lack of aggressive muscle has been increasingly making less of a proposition at international level. Hell, I'd like more at Super (or even NRC) level.
His work in the set piece though, is pretty much second to none. He is the best line out caller by far.
We've been seeing the line outs work through a progression, I think. Simmo (and Mumm) guiding/advising Coleman. And line out improvements are there. So generally I think we are seeing Coleman with Arnold as the starting locks.
One thing for Simmo though, his (lengthy) work of the bench in Bled 3 was impressive. More of that please. And bring it back to the Reds, too.
He will continue to figure somewhere against teams with high level line outs. NZ, Saffers, England. Either starting as a Coleman advisor, or on the pine ready to step in if the line isnt working. And this will gradually be phased out, I would think.
Or Simmon changes this with performance on the field. Scrums, rucks, line out AND aggression on the field. His call.
And a decent campaign began with Bled 3.
Twoilms
Trevor Allan (34)
One thing i really, really hope we improve on next match is support runners. That break by Folau near the AB line with an easy offload to be made was screaming for anyone to take it but there was no one. It happens too often. Folau, Kerevi etc are great at making those breaks and half-breaks, but we expect them to run the length themselves. We need tight runners ready to support the guy and make the most of breaks when they come.
I'd pick that as a relatively easy problem to fix with disproportionately high returns if we do.
I'd pick that as a relatively easy problem to fix with disproportionately high returns if we do.
PeterK
Alfred Walker (16)
I would use Simmons on the bench against all the NH teams on this tour.
All these teams have a good lineout. If they don't have a very good one and 3 genuine lineout options are the only ones needed then Simmons gives you the option of using McMahon at 6 instead of Fardy / Mumm (who are needed for 4 options).
Simmons off the bench instead of Douglas provides more flexibility and value and allows an uptempo finish.
Douglas is too slow and not great off the lineouts.
Douglas is there as a backup for Arnold if Arnold's form slips.
Arnold needs a better workrate and misses too many tackles.
PeterK
Alfred Walker (16)
agree
Support play and kick chase are poor.
On support play they look like they don't expect a break to be made and are busy running to where the next scheduled position is.
When a break is made the players are so slow to react.
This is a strength of Hooper he is a rare one that does react and does have good support play.
Dalai Ninja
Ward Prentice (10)
Scrubber2050
Mark Ella (57)
No sense even talking about Taps now - think he's off overseas for next year. That will leave a hole.