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Waratahs 2024

HooperPocockSmith

Bill Watson (15)
Not as worried about lock as I am about THP, HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) (Harry Johnson-Holmes) was the hinging penalty machine this season and Holz hasn't shown a lot, and if one them goes down just what is left?
Tauakipulu and Faulkner have both moved on so it looks like Daniel Botha is the third-string TH. So you're right - very light on depth there.
 

Froggy

John Solomon (38)
IMHO Botha has the potential to be better than both of them. HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) is a very hard working prop, but his scrummaging just hasn't come on. Holtz is a massive unit, but vey immobile, I was hoping he would come on more than he has, Hopefully this is the year. I've only seen 10 and 20 minute cameos from Botha, and I'm not suggesting he is the full package yet, but seems to hold up his side of the scrum okay and gets through his work around the paddock with plenty of energy.
 

HooperPocockSmith

Bill Watson (15)
IMHO Botha has the potential to be better than both of them. HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) (Harry Johnson-Holmes) is a very hard working prop, but his scrummaging just hasn't come on. Holtz is a massive unit, but vey immobile, I was hoping he would come on more than he has, Hopefully this is the year. I've only seen 10 and 20 minute cameos from Botha, and I'm not suggesting he is the full package yet, but seems to hold up his side of the scrum okay and gets through his work around the paddock with plenty of energy.
I hope that Holz's injury joker at La Rochelle was a good learning experience for him with some valuable reps against European props. Although, it looks like he's only managed 2 games so far.
 

HooperPocockSmith

Bill Watson (15)
Me either. Comparing to a guy like Dowling who’s talented Wilson covers 11-15 as someone you could genuinely pick in the position to start.
He's one of these guys who doesn't really have a position. Great for 23, but I can't see him as a genuine starter anywhere in the backline. He doesn't have the out-and-out speed for a winger and I haven't been impressed with him 13 in the SS.
 

rugbyAU

Nev Cottrell (35)
So potential bench:

16 - Vailanu
17 - Lambert
18 - Holz
19 - Sinclair
20 - Lee-Warner
21 - Wilson
22 - Harrison
23 - Wilson
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Let's see what Harry Johnson-Holmes is like next year. He returned pretty quickly from the Achilles injury and it's reasonable to expect that there is significant benefit still to be gained in his recovery from the end of this season to the start of next year.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Are you saying getting rid of more experienced players to blood young fellas isnt a good approach?

We seem to have a collective myopia that players returning from serious injuries take a lot longer to get back to peak form than a couple of games following the shortest possible recovery time.

It happens over and over again in pretty much any sport and yet we still seem to convince ourselves that a player is past it.
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Andrew Slack (58)
HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) was also never Bell to begin with.

I hope he can be a rock at scrum time and give the side a platform. Achilles is a bad injury and he's going to need game time to get back into any sort of form and confidence.
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Andrew Slack (58)
IMG_9097.jpeg

So’s Xmas
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Andrew Slack (58)
I suspect this sort of crap is what you get when the average age of the marketing department is 22. Disappointing when the average age of the Tah fan is probably 50.
Maybe to get the kids in they’ll start doing the squad signing announcements over TikTok.
As long as they just announce something I don’t care at this point.

If you actually want anticipation put a date on it. That post does nothing but fill their ‘engagement targets‘
 
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