What is wrong with the Tahs

I still think that one of the current problems is a lack of both a second play maker, and an attacking spark, in the backline. It's been most noticeable since Beale was lost, who could do both, and Mitchell has been out, who could do the latter. Foley was a great find for that role from fullback until he got injured, and now the Tahs are back to square one, effectively.

Mitchell returning may help (I think he'll take a while to come back to full form and should come back through grade), but I think it'll be a sign of how desperate the Tahs are if Mitchell is rushed straight back into the Tahs 22.

When considering Alcock and McCutcheon, it must also be noted that this was clearly the Tahs weakest spot in the forward pack and the reason why we have signed Hooper for next season.

Any arguments about our problems at 7 would be that Waugh hung around for too long. If he did though, that was possibly only for a season and it's hard to fault that in a guy who was so good for us for so long.

There are plenty of other players with his sort of record that dragged on their careers for several seasons longer than they should have.

A major problem has been that Tom Carter has had an average season. Last season he was our most consistent player. His form has hurt us badly.

Rob Horne, whilst remaining healthy has been pretty average all season (plus missed games due to suspension). That has also cost us.

Bernard Foley has without doubt been our most dangerous player. We have really struggled without him in the last few weeks (and have lost 3 games in a row since he was injured).

If we started 2013 with a backline of Pretorius, Foley, Mitchell, Barnes, Horne, Turner, AAC with McKibbin and Kingston/Carter on the bench, I think it would be an excellent backline.

I don't think anything drastic needs to be done regarding personnel.

He was a reasonable prop and played a bit of first grade, which was no mean feat in a club that had front rowers like John Coolican, Declan Curran and Greg Burrow at the time. But I digress..

I've seen this mentioned a couple of times, I think the relevance of the Shute shield is at least diluted if not irrelevant. There is a perception that people lookat NSW and see the largest pool of players and instantly draw a parrael that the waratahs should be strong and challenging every year.

But the reality is NSW can only sign and offer the same number of places as every other franchise. If they have a guy like Waugh on the books, it means saying goodbye to guys like beau or hooper who see better opportunities elsewhere.

Every time someone signs in a position, that position is full. QLD have signed Genia for three years and Lucas for 2, chances are an up and coming scrum half will probably leave QLD in the next couple of years for opportunity, see Kingi, it's just the way it is.

The Shute shield and QLD comps are feeder comps to the 150 positions nation wide at the moment, not personnel talent pools.

Farr jones just got confirmed as chairman of the nswru according to twitter. Will it be more of the same or cultural change?

Did someone leave the keys to the tahs head office in your letterbox?



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I heard that jake white arrived and could not believe the conditions in brumbyland so he and the new CEO (I could be wrong about it being a new CEO - I don't even know who he is) painted the changing rooms pre-season.
If true I'd say that's just a hint of why he has got so much from that team in such a short time and with limited big names


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

more of the same only worse!
Let the uni conspiracy theorists speak now or forever hold their peace


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks for using the kindly edited version of Slim's rantings I provided

Probably a raffle or listed on eBay.

If true, that's a pretty solid way to earn the respect of the team.

The Brumbies CEO is Andrew Fagan who presided over the debacle of season 2011. IIRR, there were numerous calls for his head in 2011..a lot has changed since then!

maybe - it may not be him. Just couldn't remember who it was: when I heard the story I was in awe.
I truly believe there is a lesson in it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've read all twelve pages without posting once. I think I deserve a medal for forebearance. WJ definitely deserves one for taking the fight up to the haters. I think that some posters fail to recognise just how much pain the genuine Waratah supporter felt on Friday night. "I told you so" bloody hurts when you've just seen your season go down the toilet, especially when it was going down to a team that played saffer kick and chase rugby all night. If you moved the Bulls to Sydney they would lose supporters so fast that they'd only need one gate person on the gate, even if they won every match. But saffer rugby works if you don't give the attacking team more advantage at the ruck and after some early good signs that's the way the comp appears to be going; though when both teams come to play you get great games like the Saturday and Sunday home games.

One point that has been touched on in the debate has been the influence of the fly half. Barnes has played there most of the year and has rarely looked like he was controlling the game. Lots of attempted miracle plays, which occasionally come off, and lots of field position kicking which is very poor. But never once do I get the feeling that the ghost of Lynagh has inhabited his body and he is in total control of the game. Timani and McKibben have got heaps of criticism for losing the game but the key wrong decision was Barnes pop-gun kick when we should have been playing possession football. Barnes did not control the game and that's what a 10 has to do.

Larkham won two Super trophies for the Brumbies, Carter and Mehrtens won heaps and Cooper one for the Reds. If you want to win a Super trophy you MUST have a great 10 who controls the game; the Tahs had one in Beale but Link was the last coach to properly recognise his value and now he's gone. The Rebels are just discovering what having a great 10 can do for you. The Force have a pack that could take the comp but are on the bottom because they do not have a game-controlling 10.

So, the very first thing the Tahs have to do is find a great 10. Foley may be it, he would definitely be worth trialling for an extended period now the chance of playing finals is gone. Play Barnes at 12 to nurse him through, or maybe 15 where Barnes has more time to read the game. But the search has to start now, we've got nine months to get it right before we are off and running again.

The second thing we need is an attacking coach who knows how to work with that 10. I was ecstatic when Gaffney came on board this year because once upon a time he knew how to run a backline. But our backs have looked totally unstructured this year, everyone is an individual trying to win the game by themselves. Either Gaffney has been choked off from the backline coaching (doubtful but possible) or he should retire gracefully and grow vegetables in the back yard. The backline has been a disgrace considering the talent available (and yes I know about the injuries). Its not a lack of desire, some of those guys would bleed for the team. But great backlines don't just happen, they are coached to happen.

Put a game controlling 10 and a well-coached backline with the Tahs pack and we would be killing it.

People here in Ireland including myself have been saying this about Gaffney for years while he was our backs coach. Anyone who's seen how good the Leinster backline was over the same period and then saw the bulk of that backline for Ireland perform so abjectly could easily see who was at fault.

I was delighted the day it was announced that he was stepping down as Ireland's backs coach, although we're still waiting for a quality replacement to be announced. But then I was disappointed again when I found out he became the Tahs backs coach. The guy was a good coach in his day but that day has long gone.

You just have to watch some video of the Leinster backs performing versus Ireland or the Tahs to see the difference a good or in Gaffney's case a bad backs coach can make. The Tahs backs moves are completely predictable and easy for opposing defenses to shut down. Couple that with how deep the backs stand and you have a recipe for losing ground most times you go to the backs.

Definitely time for Gaffney to retire gracefully while he still has some of his reputation from his hay day intact.

Then you must be Michael Foley, or are you just a kindred spirit?

For those who don't watch the Europe club scene as closely as the likes of LG, Qwerty, etc. here is an example of Leinster's backs play from this year HEC Quarter Final against Cardiff Blues.



It's not just the pace and precision that's impressive, but the number of support and decoy runners and then the angles they run. Compare this to the Tahs backline and they are poles apart. I'd love to see the Tahs backline perform even somewhere close to this.

Leinster do this week in week out and LG should be able to confirm that it doesn't make much difference if it's the household international stars or the 2nd and 3rd string playing in the Pro12 they play the same way at the same pace.

That's the difference a decent backs coach can make to a team and it's about time the Tahs had one so the backs can regularly back up the good work done by the pack rather than undoing it with sloppy & predictable play.

I think what people are asking is why are we not signing our best juniors - Hooper wasn't an unknown he was a schoolboy star the Tah's should have had him sown up as soon as he left school, it is interesting that two great young backrowers from the Northern Beaches have been allowed to move to the brumbies (George Smith and Hooper) before they had played a single senior game of football (or colts for that matter) - in the case of Smith the Tahs went with Waugh - some might argue they did okay but I suspect in their heart of hearts they know they got the poorer in that deal - int eh case of Hooper who did the Tahs take in his place - please dont tell me McCutheon?????

The organsisation needs a dramatic overhaul - Farr-Jones coming as Chairman is great and the volume of crownie consumption at Board meetings will at least double but they need to start letting some people off the boat who have been getting a free ride for far to long.

Steve neither of these guys were GPS boys, how would the Tahs have known about them?

I was going to say it but thought someone else would - the Tahs need to watch more than just the term 3 rugby calender - it is interesting that a St Pius X First XV a few seasons ago had both Luke Jones and Hooper in it and both were not picked up by the Tahs.. whoever is in charge of their recruitment should be looking at seek.com by now.