Wallabies 2023

[Dctarget]

Interesting report out of the UK premiership where it shows their most valued position is fly half (with hooker being last).

Beyond Marcus Smith, so many top shelf 10s up there are getting on in years. Wonder if it means a re-think for us about JOC (James O'Connor), Quade etc.

Sexton is still doing wonders at 73, Biggar, Farrell, Russell are all arguably most important players and are no spring chickens.

 

[liquor box]

Interesting report out of the UK premiership where it shows their most valued position is fly half (with hooker being last).

Beyond Marcus Smith, so many top shelf 10s up there are getting on in years. Wonder if it means a re-think for us about JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor), Quade etc.

Sexton is still doing wonders at 73, Biggar, Farrell, Russell are all arguably most important players and are no spring chickens.

I don't watch any of the UK premiership and find this quite interesting. Do they play a game that generally relies on quick lineouts or are most lineouts uncontested?

I would have thought that the hooker would still be important for line out throwing.

 

[LeCheese]

Interesting report out of the UK premiership where it shows their most valued position is fly half (with hooker being last).

Is this the report about player salaries?

Flyhalfs were highest paid, yes, but is that solely a product of their importance in winning games, or other factors like a comparatively low supply of top-level players in that position (as we're seeing in Aus)?

 

[Dctarget]

Is this the report about player salaries?

Flyhalfs were highest paid, yes, but is that solely a product of their importance in winning games, or other factors like a comparatively low supply of top-level players in that position (as we're seeing in Aus)?

I don't watch any of the UK premiership and find this quite interesting. Do they play a game that generally relies on quick lineouts or are most lineouts uncontested?

I would have thought that the hooker would still be important for line out throwing.

Yeah the price thing is quite a blunt measurement of something quite multi-factored I think.

They also showed that if you're still kicking around 5 years into your career, your worth doubles. Same goes for age: 28 year olds get so much more than 23 year olds. So, good fly halves take ages to develop. Also dare I say it their attributes are a lot rarer than hookers. Lot easier to find a squat man with good work ethic who can practice throwing 1000 times. Compared to a fly half with actual vision and acceleration. Same goes for why locks are so expensive, you need two of them and you can't train to be 6'6.

 

[Braveheart81]

or other factors like a comparatively low supply of top-level players in that position (as we're seeing in Aus)?

I'd say it is massively about supply and demand.

These sort of things also get skewed heavily by the top few players and the number in total in the competition.

You have to have 2 dedicated hookers in a matchday 23 so you are likely to have at least one more in an overall squad than you are fly halfs.

 

[Dctarget]

England have 10 players from their 2016 white wash of us. We only have 4 who played in that series: Sio, Slipper, Kerevi & Hooper.

Also with all the weird red card/yellow card inconsistencies of late between the hemispheres, I'm pessimistic that one or two games will be marred by red cards.

 

[qwerty51]

Who are the referees please?

 

[Slim 293]

Who are the referees please?

Australia v England: Optus Stadium, Perth – Saturday, 2 July, 2022
Referee: James Doleman (NZR)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referee 2: Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZR)

Australia v England: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane – Saturday, 9 July, 2022
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referee 1: Paul Williams (NZR)
Assistant Referee 2: Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Joy Neville (IRFU)

Australia v England: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney – Saturday, 16 July, 2022
Referee: Paul Williams (NZR)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referee 2: James Doleman (NZR)
TMO: Chris Hart (NZR)

 

[qwerty51]

Well 2 Kiwi refs. That's good IMO. They have clearly tried to downplay red card incidents all Super Rugby.

Joy Neville paired with Brace. I guarantee that match will have a red card.

 

[Joe Blow]

Have a feeling they'll get mullered.

The Poms? Probably

 

[Brumby Runner]

Yes but great baa baa victory over England playing with 14 men after 35 minutes, with classic baa baa tries - final score 52-21. Can we learn anything from this for the England series. Probably not given baa baas game but would love that sort of score over England.

What stood out for me RN was that the England LHP, Robb?, was taken apart by the Baa Baa's THP at scrum time. If he comes in against a fit and firing Tupou, I reckon the scrum is going to a very good place for the Wallabies in this test series.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Skelton played pretty well before his red, though the red undoes everything.

Monster in defence and minced the English scrum. The bloke is clearly influential, premierships with Waratahs, Saracens and La Rochelle are not a coincidence. With him, Tupou and Bell our scrum would be a reliable weapon. We could actually give the backs some clean ball.

Monster in defence? Pulled off a similar high tackle on the England No 9 before his red card effort. I didn't see much more from him while on the ground.

Minced the English scrum. That was the Georgian THP against Robb. Absolutely owned him. Hope Robb makes the test sides against Tupou.

 

[qwerty51]

What stood out for me RN was that the England LHP, Robb?, was taken apart by the Baa Baa's THP at scrum time. If he comes in against a fit and firing Tupou, I reckon the scrum is going to a very good place for the Wallabies in this test series.

He won't be in the 23.

They have Genge and Vunipola. Marler wasn't even required.

 

[Tah Man]

He won't be in the 23.

They have Genge and Vunipola. Marler wasn't even required.

Agreed, barring injury Bevan Robb won't be near the 23.

Ellis Genge is a proper gun

 

[Brumby Runner]

Hmm with rodda out maybe

Big call on Rob as really he is up there with all the options. Reality is great depth in backrow and even Michael hooper can’t rest on his laurels such is depth of talent here.

RN I have to admit that I'm not on the Rodda bandwagon. He is an excellent lineout operator, but imo no better than Philip, Swain, Holloway or Frost, who is the best of the lot.

He is slow around the ground, especially compared with any of the above, and again Frost is the fastest of the lot.

He is adequate at tackling but seems to miss out on making the ground to cover gaps due to his comparative slowness. The others have no issues in defence. Perhaps I should also add Neville into the discussion, as he hits with more aggression in his tackles than any of the others.

He, Rodda, is not as successful as either Swain or Frost at setting up our own, or disrupting the oppositions, mauls.

Ball carrying is probably Rodda's weakest point and not in the same class as Holloway, Philip or Frost.

If Frost isn't on the bench for the tests, we will be missing a huge point of difference. He is close right now to being the best Lock in the country and will in time be regarded as one of the greats. Rodda is far down the list imo.

 

[qwerty51]

Who can forget Farrell sitting a rampaging Rodda on his ass just 5m from the line. Legal or not. Embarrassing for a 120kg lock v 90kg #10.

 

[Wallaby Man]

RN I have to admit that I'm not on the Rodda bandwagon. He is an excellent lineout operator, but imo no better than Philip, Swain, Holloway or Frost, who is the best of the lot.

He is slow around the ground, especially compared with any of the above, and again Frost is the fastest of the lot.

He is adequate at tackling but seems to miss out on making the ground to cover gaps due to his comparative slowness. The others have no issues in defence. Perhaps I should also add Neville into the discussion, as he hits with more aggression in his tackles than any of the others.

He, Rodda, is not as successful as either Swain or Frost at setting up our own, or disrupting the oppositions, mauls.

Ball carrying is probably Rodda's weakest point and not in the same class as Holloway, Philip or Frost.

If Frost isn't on the bench for the tests, we will be missing a huge point of difference. He is close right now to being the best Lock in the country and will in time be regarded as one of the greats. Rodda is far down the list imo.

Frost is not near the best lock in the country. He could be but Swain, Philip and Rodda are all ahead of him. He like Rodda needs to improve his ball carrying. He’s extremely athletic and fast across the ground but opposition teams would welcome him been a focal point with ball in hand as he’s not great in contact. Agree with Harry from the roar podcast, he’s more Rob Simmons currently than anyone else. Simmons btw was a damn fine lock.

Hes still young and will put further weight on that will hopefully improve that physicality.

 

[Derpus]

Who can forget Farrell sitting a rampaging Rodda on his ass just 5m from the line. Legal or not. Embarrassing for a 120kg lock v 90kg #10.

Dude was off balance and got shoulder charged. That whole thing was a stitch up and was peak Farrell.

 

[Slim 293]

Frost is not near the best lock in the country. He could be but Swain, Philip and Rodda are all ahead of him. He like Rodda needs to improve his ball carrying. He’s extremely athletic and fast across the ground but opposition teams would welcome him been a focal point with ball in hand as he’s not great in contact. Agree with Harry from the roar podcast, he’s more Rob Simmons currently than anyone else. Simmons btw was a damn fine lock.

Hes still young and will put further weight on that will hopefully improve that physicality.

I would've pegged Frost as a favourite for the bench lock position for his impact with ball in hand...

 

[Derpus]

I would've pegged Frost as a favourite for the bench lock position for his impact with ball in hand...

I'd expect Frost to get a cap at some point soon but would prefer Holloway get first shot at bench lock.