Wallaby 31 players for 2015 RWC

[Highlander35]

Leinster isn't stupid. They've got a quality asset, that under current rules, will be around to play during both the world cup itself and after it, which is important given Ireland can reasonably expect to go quite deep.

This isn't Naholo, he'll be much harder to get a release for.

 

[Ruggo]

There has to be a process, it doesn't have to be that one though. As long as they are eligible all they need to do is prove their value over their alternatives. The way this test season is structured it allows that before the bledisloe, and more importantly the RWC. Just because they are being considered now doesn't meant they will be chosen, but if they are you'd hope/think that it's because they were considered the superior option.


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How do you propose to test this? Playing the season of Super Rugby has them all playing off the same base. Carving up in a lesser comp doesn't really satisfy what should be the test of proving their value.

 

[KOB1987]

How do you propose to test this? Playing the season of Super Rugby has them all playing off the same base. Carving up in a lesser comp doesn't really satisfy what should be the test of proving their value.

It's a bit of a grey area going forward I admit, but requiring a player to play a full season of super rugby kind of defeats the purpose of having eligibility rules for overseas and/or returning players doesn't it?

Specifically I was thinking of the mumm example where the players have the week long training camp and then (probably) two inferior tests to prove their worth against each other for selection in the main games of the bledisloe and the World Cup.


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[Viking]

So Any thought here of playing To'omua 10 Gits 12.. Just another option if Cooper or Foley go down.

I LIKE IT!

Not quite as good as 10. Cooper, 12. To'omua But I agree it's more balanced then 10. Foley 12. To'omua. At least in theory.

 

[Brumby Runner]

No. Because he has been ineffective and had a low work rate in Wallabies games fans think he does nothing.

Did he suddenly become more noticeable in 2014?

I am not convinced that Douglas had the impact in 2014 that others are claiming. My clear impression is that the Tahs' pack's aggression was mostly due to Potgeiter having a really standout year. He played like a madman in both attack and defense. His form was down this year and it showed in a lot of the poorer performances of the Tahs' pack.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I'd rather guys like this are in Oz rugby than not.

I can accept your view @Cyclopath, but if they're chasing Douglas, I'd prefer to see them go after Kepu, Cooper, Genia, White, Hiigginbotham etc way before going after Douglas. I'd even prefer to keep Smiler after his standout season for the Brumbies this year.

Question : what makes Douglas so much more attractive to chase than any of the players above? Why him, and not the others?

 

[fatprop]

Leinster isn't stupid. They've got a quality asset, that under current rules, will be around to play during both the world cup itself and after it, which is important given Ireland can reasonably expect to go quite deep.

This isn't Naholo, he'll be much harder to get a release for.

I find it interesting that employers would want unmotivated potentially disruptive players on their roster, that said the ARU should not pay a cent to any club to have players released.

On Douglas, I expect some sort of compassionate release "so he can be closer to his family through the birth of their first child" blah ,blah, blah

 

[fatprop]

I am not convinced that Douglas had the impact in 2014 that others are claiming. My clear impression is that the Tahs' pack's aggression was mostly due to Potgeiter having a really standout year. He played like a madman in both attack and defense. His form was down this year and it showed in a lot of the poorer performances of the Tahs' pack.

Pots was the cream, Douglas was doing the dog work, week in, week out for long minutes.

Douglas was also really surprisingly effective as the defensive shooter aimed at the 10

 

[Strewthcobber]

I can accept your view @Cyclopath, but if they're chasing Douglas, I'd prefer to see them go after Kepu, Cooper, Genia, White, Hiigginbotham etc way before going after Douglas. I'd even prefer to keep Smiler after his standout season for the Brumbies this year.

Question : what makes Douglas so much more attractive to chase than any of the players above? Why him, and not the others?

Presumably all of those players are getting an ARU top up, and its still not enough to keep them here.

Douglas couldn't get a top up so left. Cheika is now prepared to pay one so he wants to come back.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Presumably all of those players are getting an ARU top up, and its still not enough to keep them here.

Douglas couldn't get a top up so left. Cheika is now prepared to pay one so he wants to come back.

Douglas couldn't get guaranteed income. His ARU/Tahs contract and his Ireland contract were similar if Douglas played all tests. He didn't back himself to.

 

[cyclopath]

I can accept your view @Cyclopath, but if they're chasing Douglas, I'd prefer to see them go after Kepu, Cooper, Genia, White, Hiigginbotham etc way before going after Douglas. I'd even prefer to keep Smiler after his standout season for the Brumbies this year.

Question : what makes Douglas so much more attractive to chase than any of the players above? Why him, and not the others?

I don't think he's being chased, I think he wants to come back, and Cheika and the ARU are trying to facilitate that. As are the Reds. He's young, and likely they see potential in that, as opposed to older guys leaving. His leaving in the first place was complex, and a fair bit to do with his reaction to his mother's death. The others you mention are red herrings in this discussion - especially Cooper, who they have chased but cannot match the pockets of Toulon. Nor I suspect others in those cases named.


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[#1 Tah]

Question : what makes Douglas so much more attractive to chase than any of the players above? Why him, and not the others?

Kane played under Chris Hickey and Michael Foley yet never really reached his potential until Chieka became his mentor. Chieka rates Kane and Kane likes working with Chieka.

Link didn't rate Kane, so didn't offer him a top up, Kane then signs for Leinster. Chieka was livid, as a few articles from this time last year will corroborate.

Link then falls on his sword, and Chieka becomes coach. (At the time, I heard that his conditions were that KB (Kurtley Beale) Gits and Kane would be in his RWC squad). Chieka is now in a position to offer Kane a top up, and wants to do so.

Kane fits in well with the way Chieka likes to play. He was a real unsung hero and really well liked by the Tahs squad. At the 2014 end of season dinner, Dave Dennis got up on stage and made a presentation to Kane, which no other departing player got.

Chieka is just picking the players he feels we can win a world cup with.

 

[qwerty51]

(At the time, I heard that his conditions were that KB (Kurtley Beale) Gits and Kane would be in his RWC squad

You were going well until this.

 

[RugbyReg]

and is it that hard just to add an "a" to the end of Cheika?

 

[Train Without a Station]

I love how Douglas is perceived as Cheika's prototype for the perfect lock and nobody considers Cheika came in and worked with what was already there actually.

I doubt Cheika actually believes Douglas is capable is this mystical level of performance that no other Australian lock is. Surely he would have heard from Leinster people given his history about his current form.

 

[Groucho]

and is it that hard just to add an "a" to the end of Cheika?

Cheikaa! I like it! Cheikaa!

 

[Train Without a Station]

Sorry Reg. Meant Cheik's prototype.

 

[Ignoto]

Link then falls on his sword, and Chiek becomes coach. (At the time, I heard that his conditions were that KB (Kurtley Beale) Gits and Kane would be in his RWC squad). Chiek is now in a position to offer Kane a top up, and wants to do so.

As silly as the ARU are, I can't see them allowing such crap to have happened, especially with one of those three is lucky to still be employed by them.

 

[#1 Tah]

You were going well until this.

Hey, I never said I believed it, just what I was told. Seems to be transpiring though!

 

[Gnostic]

As silly as the ARU are, I can't see them allowing such crap to have happened, especially with one of those three is lucky to still be employed by them.

I'd like to believe that they aren't that silly, and I think they aren't, just more interested in keeping as close to the trough as possible, and that means they will do anything to ensure a reasonable result at this RWC, in reasonable style, unlike the last effort from the then anointed Messiah of Rugby.