Wallabies 2021

[dru]

McReight & Hooper are both great players and I can see a solid argument for McReight in particular being let lose with 20 to go. But I can probably see more upside in subbing off one of the bigger guys and replacing them with an Uru or Valetini - someone who might struggle a little to give you 80 quality minutes, but could give you a game changing 20-25.

Hooper will be getting older, but my guess would be that he might lose a little speed but he will always be an 80+ min player. That would give someone like McReight bench time - where exposure was intentionally being offered by the coaching team. Generally they will want a back up 6/8 on the bench I suspect.

McReight will need to actually displace Hooper to take the 7 jersey. It's a tough task, but it is his gig.

 

[TSR]

100% agree - and Australian rugby will be in a much better place when we get to the point where we are leaving guys out of the test 23 of this calibre because there are other options which will better fill the role of finisher.

All of that said, and at risk of contradicting myself, McReight is extremely impressive as an all round backrower. I won’t personally be surprised if there is a changing of the guard over the next two years and that is not meant as a slight on Hooper.

 

[James GC]

Hooper will be getting older, but my guess would be that he might lose a little speed but he will always be an 80+ min player. That would give someone like McReight bench time - where exposure was intentionally being offered by the coaching team. Generally they will want a back up 6/8 on the bench I suspect.

McReight will need to actually displace Hooper to take the 7 jersey. It's a tough task, but it is his gig.

Hooper doesn't really have poor games he is consistent I'll give him that but he is approaching that part of his career where if he gets a decent injury layoff that could be McReights chance as how Hooper had to do himself he would never have been able to displace Pocock as he was named Captain but long injury layoff and the door opened.

 

[Dctarget]

Let’s hope then Wright continues to develop & Valetini has a big year internationally. Maybe Kemney will go well.

 

[cyclopath]

Quite possible. Again - that might depend on the quality of the 6s & 8s coming through.

McReight & Hooper are both great players and I can see a solid argument for McReight in particular being let lose with 20 to go. But I can probably see more upside in subbing off one of the bigger guys and replacing them with an Uru or Valetini - someone who might struggle a little to give you 80 quality minutes, but could give you a game changing 20-25.

The really good thing is we are currently getting contenders throwing their hands up in each spot. There are still some problem areas - 2, 15 and I would still put 6 there in terms of a proven international level player, and some where the changing of the guard will be really interesting - 7 & 10. But we seem to be forming genuine depth in most positions which we haven’t had for 20 yrs. Players aren’t going to get away with being consistently sub par.

Lock is a really interesting spot for me. It has been a real point of weakness for us, and it’s still not clear, IMO, whether some of the players coming through are the real deal or not. But I think it is likely it’ll be a position of strength for us by the next World Cup, and it needs to be.

Lock should already be a position of strength - look at our stocks of recently departed locks plus some good prospects here. I hope it goes as you suggest.
And the sentence highlighted for me is bang on the money. I want to see us like the kiwis - you might be world class or thereabouts in your position, but if the incumbent is a little better, you wait on the bench. But the incumbent needs to feel they are only as good as their last game, so to speak. Competition. I think we could see an era of tight competition for spots. Hope so.

 

[cyclopath]

100% agree - and Australian rugby will be in a much better place when we get to the point where we are leaving guys out of the test 23 of this calibre because there are other options which will better fill the role of finisher.

All of that said, and at risk of contradicting myself, McReight is extremely impressive as an all round backrower. I won’t personally be surprised if there is a changing of the guard over the next two years and that is not meant as a slight on Hooper.

McReight looks fantastic. I think he needs to expand his repertoire in link play and such to be even better, and I say that only because I think he can be even better. He's not the finished product. And that is a scary, and good, thing. RA needs to hold on to him.

 

[KOB1987]

Hooper doesn't really have poor games he is consistent I'll give him that but he is approaching that part of his career where if he gets a decent injury layoff that could be McReights chance as how Hooper had to do himself he would never have been able to displace Pocock as he was named Captain but long injury layoff and the door opened.

Sounds very familiar to the discussions our friends over the Dutch were having about McCaw and Read respectively leading into the 2015 and 2019 world cups. Hooper rarely gets injured, he will lead us through to the 2023 RWC then call time I reckon.

 

[James GC]

Sounds very familiar to the discussions our friends over the Dutch were having about McCaw and Read respectively leading into the 2015 and 2019 world cups. Hooper rarely gets injured, he will lead us through to the 2023 RWC then call time I reckon.

I think he deserves to go out that way also.

 

[Froggy]

Re the number 7 discussion, I agree with pretty much everything that's been said, but throw in the mix that it will be interesting to see how Tizzano develops over the next two years.

 

[James GC]

Re the number 7 discussion, I agree with pretty much everything that's been said, but throw in the mix that it will be interesting to see how Tizzano develops over the next two years.

I like Tizzano but I think he is going to be like Liam Gill gun player stuck behind even better players.

 

[bring back rucking]

I posted this in the match day thread by mistake but I’m a little perplexed why Swinton is out of everyone’s calculations after only playing 3 games of super rugby this year. He is a guy who’s game has more freedom when paired with quality locks as he naturally commits to the breakdown to compensate.. Put him next to locks who actually do their core job of shifting rocks and his impact game comes back. Very much a guy who complements a well balanced back 5. He’s a genuine 6 that aus rugby has been lacking since Matt Cockbain / Finnegan: A lineout jumper, gets off the deck quickly for repeat efforts, hits hard and is a villain (which yes needs some tweaking). He’s not a ball runner but is a terrific first clean following that runner. Put him in a side with ball runners like Wilson at 8 and Phillip at 4 and he complements that well.. plus he has actually done what plenty of others haven’t and walked the talk against the all blacks. there’s a long list of supposed tough guys that have not stepped their game up in that arena. He delivered

 

[Adam84]

Reasons why Swinton isn’t featuring; discipline and intelligence.

Test rugby isn’t the place for hot heads, he needs to learn to control his anger and channel it effectively, cut out the shit off the ball.

If he demonstrates that then absolutely he is my first choice 6

 

[bring back rucking]

Yeah I agree and that’s a fine balance. Hopefully cockbain is a good mentor for him at the tahs given he played that role at wallaby level and his brother often found himself over the edge

 

[James GC]

Reasons why Swinton isn’t featuring; discipline and intelligence.

Test rugby isn’t the place for hot heads, he needs to learn to control his anger and channel it effectively, cut out the shit off the ball.

If he demonstrates that then absolutely he is my first choice 6

Also maybe give the appearance of wrapping his arms in tackles might help, I personally don't rate too highly he seems very inconsistant. Last year opening round vs Reds he was an absolute monster and took it to the reds well for the first half but seemed to run out of steam for the second. I haven't seem him reproduce that effort except for his 15 min "cameo" for the Wallabies last year.

 

[Adam84]

Also maybe give the appearance of wrapping his arms in tackles might help, I personally don't rate too highly he seems very inconsistant. Last year opening round vs Reds he was an absolute monster and took it to the reds well for the first half but seemed to run out of steam for the second. I haven't seem him reproduce that effort except for his 15 min "cameo" for the Wallabies last year.

I think he has read too many articles about being an ‘enforcer’ and bought into the idea, he just needs to get back to rugby basics. Because when he does that he is very good.

 

[wamberal]

I think he has read too many articles about being an ‘enforcer’ and bought into the idea, he just needs to get back to rugby basics. Because when he does that he is very good.

According to direct quotes in a newspaper article I read a couple of weeks ago, he revels in the idea of being a tough guy.

 

[TSR]

Last year opening round vs Reds he was an absolute monster and took it to the reds well for the first half but seemed to run out of steam for the second. I haven't seem him reproduce that effort except for his 15 min "cameo" for the Wallabies last year.

This is it for me. This year I haven’t seen him do anything of note.

I take the point that he is in a poor team, but I haven’t seen him step up and lead from the front like you’d want a test forward to do, and particularly one whose game style is to take on the opposition pack. There has been none of that.

When he played he Reds last year it was quite obvious that he had taken it on himself to smash Tupou & Wilson every time they got the ball. I thought it was a cracking performance. I don’t think it’s enough that he did it for 30 minutes against the ABs. Where is it this year?

Produce a few performances like that and I’m happy to have him in the mix again.

 

[Derpus]

This is it for me. This year I haven’t seen him do anything of note.

I take the point that he is in a poor team, but I haven’t seen him step up and lead from the front like you’d want a test forward to do, and particularly one whose game style is to take on the opposition pack. There has been none of that.

When he played he Reds last year it was quite obvious that he had taken it on himself to smash Tupou & Wilson every time they got the ball. I thought it was a cracking performance. I don’t think it’s enough that he did it for 30 minutes against the ABs. Where is it this year?

Produce a few performances like that and I’m happy to have him in the mix again.

He did speak about how useful it was having Hooper etc. next to him to help guide his aggression. He's got obvious shortcomings that could be worked out of his game but, like everyone else in the team, he won't develop at the Tahs.

 

[Drew]

He also finds it hard to put on his A game unless the other team has someone he can go toe to toe with.

 

[TSR]

He’s 24 now Derp, has been around Super rugby for 4 yrs, has a test cap and has every opportunity to stand up and show the kind of leadership that the young Tahs team needs.