Wallabies 31 Man Squad

[fatprop]

Passes that go behind a player are not generally a style of play most teams want to utilise, but I guess Deans is two steps ahead of the rest of us...

I like White as a player, but I think he is a starter, not a finisher of a game.

Great pass, great kicking, but he is a passive defender and doesn't have a great running game. Now if Deans is looking for someone to play the last 15 minutes, driving the forwards in close, running at tired forwards and tackling hard, is that Nic White?

 

[Slim 293]

Now if Deans is looking for someone to play the last 15 minutes, driving the forwards in close, running at tired forwards and tackling hard, is that Nic White?

a) Yes
b) Yes
c) No, his defence isn't as good as Burgess, but he's definitely better in just about every other aspect of play......... and he's in form, and Burgess' off the bench play for Toulouse the past couple of years has not been impressive..........

And besides, we already have Phipps' in the squad......... a halfback with an average pass, terrible kicking game but pretty decent with ball in hand.......

Burgess is not required, and if he wanted to have a run at the Lions he should've made himself available much sooner so he could actually display some kind of legitimate form.........

 

[fatprop]

a) Yes
b) Yes
c) No, his defence isn't as good as Burgess, but he's definitely better in just about every other aspect of play... and he's in form, and Burgess' off the bench play for Toulouse the past couple of years has not been impressive....

And besides, we already have Phipps' in the squad... a halfback with an average pass, terrible kicking game but pretty decent with ball in hand...

Burgess is not required, and if he wanted to have a run at the Lions he should've made himself available much sooner so he could actually display some kind of legitimate form...

I take the point as to whether Burgess should be available, but as to a & b

mate .....

 

[BDA]

Yeah, if it happens the Burgess and Beale inclusions will be farcical.

Burgess is an experienced test scrumhalf. If Australia selected foreign based players to play for the Wallabies (like the Springboks do for instance) he likely would have been selected as the starting no.9 several times last year. Whether he should be chosen ahead of White, a test rookie, is up for debate but its hardly farcical. My preference would be for White, but I can see arguments both ways.

I've already posted my views on Beale, and quite frankly I would think it farcical if he were left out at this stage. He's fit and available. Ipso Facto, he should be selected.

 

[Ignoto]

He's fit and available. Ipso Facto, he should be selected.

In what sense is he fit?

Is he mentally fit to play in one of Rugbys biggest games?

Is he match fit after spending a majority of 2013 on the sidelines and a majority of 2012 with a beer belly most men would be proud of?

Frankly I can't see how he's "fit" to be considered whatsoever and he's done nothing really in the last 12-18 months that show any glimpse of his 2010/2011 form.

 

[Braveheart81]

In what sense is he fit?

Is he mentally fit to play in one of Rugbys biggest games?

Is he match fit after spending a majority of 2013 on the sidelines and a majority of 2012 with a beer belly most men would be proud of?

Frankly I can't see how he's "fit" to be considered whatsoever and he's done nothing really in the last 12-18 months that show any glimpse of his 2010/2011 form.

He was excellent when he came off the bench in his one return game for the Rebels a month or so ago. His fitness and form looked fantastic then.

I have no idea whether he is mentally fit to play after everything that has happened in the last couple of months but I certainly feel like the ARU staff and Robbie Deans who have been spending time with him are in a better position to decide that.

 

[fatprop]

In what sense is he fit?

Is he mentally fit to play in one of Rugbys biggest games?

Is he match fit after spending a majority of 2013 on the sidelines and a majority of 2012 with a beer belly most men would be proud of?

Frankly I can't see how he's "fit" to be considered whatsoever and he's done nothing really in the last 12-18 months that show any glimpse of his 2010/2011 form.

I guess that is why they are having a look at him

 

[Ash]

The issue with Burgess v White is that Burgess was on the bench for his French club, and not exactly setting the world on fire. White, in comparison, was in very good form for the Brumbies.

Those are the two facts that I see being overlooked.

 

[Ignoto]

He was excellent when he came off the bench in his one return game for the Rebels a month or so ago. His fitness and form looked fantastic then..

But is a 20-30 minute stint in a Super game remotely comparable to the step up that's required at an international level? Especially playing the best the Northerners can put together?

Robbie generally picks a bench favoured to the forwards as he banks on his backs lasting the full 80. I can't see Beale coming off such a lay off playing at such a high quality for such a long period of time.

 

[RedsHappy]

Hey grumpy..who are we to tell Robby? As a passionate Wallaby follower for 40 years and having seen some of his selections over the past 6 years, and about to watch a Lions series that only comes every 12 years, I would not call it hysteria at all; I would call it being entitled to a friggin opinion just like you are.

I think your confused and think we are sitting in the ARU boardroom ffs and anything that might be said could be deemed as inappropriate. If it was Deans first go at this I would get your point..but nah I don't.

As far as 36 players in the squad or whatever that number might be - the point is to have combative training not just a bunch of fluffy bunnys running around feeling good about themselves before their first test of the year.

Oh and I doubt very much that Deans reads the opinion of people like myself ..unfortunately!

Come June 22 I will follow the Wallabies with passion and will be shouting and cheering just like everyone else.

gh, good stuff, passion man!

But please don't worry too much over the 'Deans really knows best' brigade.

For a number of Deans' fumbling and inexplicable years of tenure, I've had cause to post each year, and by now it's almost like an anniversary date I privately keep, as follows:

- (a) whatever Deans' idiosyncrasies, game debacles, oddities, weirdnesses and other forms of totally bewildering outcomes and decisions, there will always be at least (at a bare minimum) three prominent posters that declare that he's really a great coach that truly knows what he's doing and further that we're fools for not appreciating his superior insight and how on earth could we think we'd do better, AND (b) upon looking hard and long enough, there is an impressive Unique Deans Rationality that silently underpins and explains all his outputs, all of verbal, selections-wise and on field Wallaby play.

My anniversary of this required observation unfortunately always seems to occur right upon a kind of crescendo of the above as-issued Deans defences occurring just prior to the biggest Wallaby events, like a Bled series or a RWC.

 

[qwerty51]

The issue with Burgess v White is that Burgess was on the bench for his French club, and not exactly setting the world on fire. White, in comparison, was in very good form for the Brumbies.

Those are the two facts that I see being overlooked.

How many Toulouse matches have you watched lately?

 

[wamberal]

gh, good stuff, passion man!

But please don't worry too much over the 'Deans really knows best' brigade.

The Australian Rugby Union, you mean? They are the people who run the game, and they are the people who employ Deans.


All idiots, of course.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Conspiracy theorists & Others: note that KB (Kurtley Beale) is wearing the non-official Wallabies kit (the one they give out to anyone who asks) whereas JOC (James O'Connor) is wearing the official stuff.

 

[Braveheart81]

Conspiracy theorists & Others: note that KB (Kurtley Beale) is wearing the non-official Wallabies kit (the one they give out to anyone who asks) whereas JOC (James O'Connor) is wearing the official stuff.

I thought it was just an older official team kit (i.e. he hasn't been given the new one so he just wore something he already had to training).

If you go through the photos they posted from training, there are definitely a few photos that show Beale standing at 10. That certainly seems to be more prevalent than photos of JOC (James O'Connor) or Barnes there.

http://sphotos-a.AK (Andrew Kellaway).fbcdn.net/hphotos-AK (Andrew Kellaway)-ash3/944302_10151665541425731_928131553_n.jpg

 

[qwerty51]

If that's a 1st team running.. I see Robinson, Moore, Alexander, Horwill, Mowen, Hooper, McCalman, Genia, Beale, Tomane, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Folau. Probably a lock on the ground, maybe Douglas.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I thought it was just an older official team kit (i.e. he hasn't been given the new one so he just wore something he already had to training).

If you go through the photos they posted from training, there are definitely a few photos that show Beale standing at 10. That certainly seems to be more prevalent than photos of JOC (James O'Connor) or Barnes there.

http://sphotos-a.AK (Andrew Kellaway).fbcdn.net/hphotos-AK (Andrew Kellaway)-ash3/944302_10151665541425731_928131553_n.jpg

could be - but its not the current one: all protocols are being observed - other than the one that says he's not in the squad and so it makes little sense to run him at 10

 

[Ignoto]

could be - but its not the current one: all protocols are being observed - other than the one that says he's not in the squad and so it makes little sense to run him at 10

For a team with such limited preparation, you'd think that every backline move etc would have a purpose

 

[Richo]

But please don't worry too much over the 'Deans really knows best' brigade.

Who is in this "Deans knows best" brigade? I can't really think of "three prominent posters" who will eagerly and unquestioningly leap to his defense. I do see a lot of people trying to understand the selections and their relation to the possible game plan, which is not at all the same thing as agreeing with those selections. For me, at least, it provokes more interesting discussion than everyone bashing away at a variation on "Deans sucks".

 

[Ash]

How many Toulouse matches have you watched lately?

Two, both a month to two ago. And he wasn't particularly impressive in either. TBH, I was going on what the French supporters have been saying about him as much as anything. There's even been some french supporters in here who posted that Burgess is no big loss to Toulouse.

Are you going to claim that Burgess has been playing better than White, comparatively?

edit: and where would you rank Doussain?

 

[qwerty51]

No I'm not saying he's been good but I don't think it's his fault. He does not fit in the Toulouse style of play at all and he's coming off the bench.