What was Rennie’s alternative at 10 realistically. Take a scattergun approach and give them all a couple of tests? Take a punt on one of the others even earlier in their development?
Stewart hasn’t been playing 10 for Qld. I don’t see how you can criticise Rennie for not trialling him at 10 for the Wallabies.
Harrison was included in a 2020 Wallabies squad then subsequently got injured ruling him out of further involvement. I like the kid and I think he was doing a fair job in tough circumstances but he wasn’t playing the house down.
Last year was the first year Edmed & Donaldson played consistently at Super level. They both then got included in the Australia A program. Donaldson performed the better of the 2 and got taken on the EOYT. Not sure what more could be done with those two. There are a number on here that appear to think Rennie backed the wrong horse.
Gordon spent the first bit of the year playing behind To'omua. He maybe could’ve been included in Australia A - but it would have been at the expense of one of the other two. I don’t personally think his form warranted it - but I know others disagree.
Pasitoa similarly only became a starter last year after being behind Lolesio at the Brumbies. Then he got injured. But before being injured does anyone (other than Tim Horan) think he was pushing for higher honours?
It’s all well and good to say Rennie should have done more but I personally don’t believe that stands up to scrutiny. He could’ve maybe backed a different horse than Donaldson but then you would just have a different group of punters arguing he picked the wrong one.
I do think continuing to roll Foley out was an error - so I guess he could have given one of the others an opportunity there but it would’ve been very much throwing them in the deep end. Which he still maybe should’ve done - but doesn’t seem to have done Lolesio any favours. I’m guessing he was probably hoping Foley would replicate what Quade did.
Along the way maybe he should’ve made a point of including 2-3 of the young guys in each Wallaby camp. Other than that not really sure he had many options.
TSR, agree with most of what you wrote but 10 is the critical bit that is missing in the Wallabies and relying on QC (Quade Cooper) has proven to be tricky due to injury.
I thought early on that Lolesio was not the best option to put effort into but then he had a couple of good games and I thought I was wrong. He has not gone on to the next level or Rennie wouldn't have been dragging guys out of semi-retirement. It was a pity there weren't more Australia A games that could have given our second-string stocks a taste of the International experience, particularly in his first year when covid stuffed everything, Rennie might have gone in another direction.
Looking back on it I can't remember another coach with as much bad luck as he had joined in Nov 2019 and Covid hit in early 2020 but you live or die on the result book regardless.
