Waratahs 2012

Agreed. He was our best player (or very close to) in rounds 1 and 2.

My Point is that Dennis won't want to be the fill in when others are not fit, he will want to be a starter, and I'm sure that will be an option at other teams.
Also I didn't suggest Palu was poor I just said he was no where near his best , I think most would agree.
Are you happy with your openside options?

He must've been in the best player in the world if you reckon his performances were "no where near his best" because he was just about the best player on the park in both games.

Dennis isn't a fill in. He hasn't missed a minute yet and is clearly a starting player, he probably has been our best forward. I'm sure he will see time on the bench due to rotation, it's very unlikely Palu and Elsom will keep him out of the side continually. Plus, he'd only be a genuine starter down at the Rebels, the other places wouldn't appeal to him.

I'm happy with McCutcheon, Alcock and Jenkins, obviously we don't have Cutch now but that's some pretty good depth there imo. I'm hoping Hooper comes home soon.

Hooper doing well at the Brumbies, why go to the Tah pool? Again Tahs talked up all preseason and under deliver.

Actually the Tahs themselves never talked themselves up, other than to say they were looking forward to the season and had faith in the plans in place.

Your confusing the media and the team there.

I would hazard a guess that Jenkins is one of the fastest, if not the fastest loose forward in the comp. Obviously he has put on a kg's since his school days but I have been told from a reliable source that he used to run sub 11 second hundreds when at school. Give him a few games to find his feet before we start rubbishing his attack.

Alcock missed 25% of his tackles in 2011 so his woeful effort against the Red's isnt just a one off.

If he truly is that fast, he would be a freak of nature due to the meters would have have to cover as a backrower at the elite level. Rocket Rod ran an electric* 10.9 at school and really struggles with the endurance stuff at the Reds. It is extremely rare that an athlete excels at both power and endurance at the same time.

If Jono Jenkins is one of these athletes, he is indeed worth persisting with.

*While 10.9 is 'electric' in terms of speed, I am actually referring to electric timing.

Sorry, wj, I couldn't help myself.

They way people talk of Rod's speed I thought he was quicker than that. 10.9 isn't all that quick.

Lachie Turner had a very similar 100m time as a schoolboy (correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he was GPS champion).

It is claimed that Doug Howlett ran somewhere between a 10.68 and a 10.8 as a schoolboy. Aside from the USA flyer Takudzwa Ngwenya, he is probably the fastest rugby player there's been (in my opinion).

Jenkins is quite fast, he chased down the Highlanders fullback in open space. I do agree he offers nothing in attack but I've been impressed by his defensive efforts and breakdown work.

Phil Waugh coming back?

An electric 10.9 is equivalent to a hand timed 10.66.One would expect that with a year or so of specific sprint training only,there would be improvement on that time.
That's not too shabby IMO.

I was just talking about Howlett last night with one of the boys.

Dougie was trained sprinter. A friend of mine who ran track in a couple of Commonwealth Games used to train with him before rugby before really took over his training etc with the Blues. He was lightening when he broke onto the scene and before his injuries.

Loved how he worked hard to change his game once the pace started leaving him...one of my favourite wingers ever.

Compare that to Jenkins; r4 he made 4 tackles in 4 mins (1 missed), r8 he made 27 tackles in 59 mins (0 missed), r9 he made 14 tackles in 56 mins (0 missed), r10 9 tackles in 70 mins (0 missed)

Lachie Turner (2005) was in a different year to Jono (2004) so they never raced (I also dont recall Lachie being incuded as loose forward which was the a key premise of the statement). While Jono didnt race in the 2004 100m at GPS due to being injured, he won his age group every preceding year, in a field which included his twin brother Ed who is the captain of the Aussie 7's team and no slouch for pace.

Last year Jenkins completed 53 tackles and missed 1, Alcock completed 80 and missed 24.

@ Joe Mac

My post was just in reply to the post about Rod Davies schoolboy sprint times. I thought we were just talking about fast rugby players, not fast loose forwards.