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Wallabies 2023

HogansHeros

Dave Cowper (27)
So he ran two supporting lines with no one on front of him to beat and now he’s some great attacking threat?
Its almost semantics at this point, but i would say during the match v georgia his attacking threat was running great supporting lines that lead to 2 tries. Im not making the point that he is the greatest attacking fullback of all time.

Just seems people are trying to argue he offered almost nothing which is unfair.

Im still team Kellaway and have been since the start of the rugby championships, shame Gordon couldnt master his kicks.
 

dusk

Vay Wilson (31)
I’m not belittling it at all- I’m trying to provide a little bit of perspective- his motm award didn’t come from his attacking flair; it came from a strong rounded performance (basically good kicking in general play and at goal).
So what's the issue? I don't think anyone is suggesting he's a world class player, but at least he's shown that hes capable of playing in the gold jersey. The big dilemma i have is whether Donaldson perm replaces Gordon or Kellaway purely for goal kicking as i still think both those players are better in their respective positions.
 

Tomthumb

Peter Fenwicke (45)
Seems funny that Kellaway gets praised for being solid, yet that's somehow it's a negative when it comes to Donaldson

He's not Chris Latham back there, but he has added a sorely needed kicking option both in general play and from the tee
 

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
I liked what Donaldson brought. It's still worthy of being worried given he wasn't tested too much aerially but he what he brought to the team certainly helped provide options for other players and kept the scoreboard ticking with his kicks.

I think Kells in the 23 Jersey makes a little more sense than Vunivalu moving forward to cover for the wrong set of injuries. You saw on the weekend that the wrong set of injuries/subs would see a pure winger defending at either 13 or 15, and I think conservatively you'd want to avoid that.
 

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
Seems funny that Kellaway gets praised for being solid, yet that's somehow it's a negative when it comes to Donaldson

He's not Chris Latham back there, but he has added a sorely needed kicking option both in general play and from the tee

He was good enough to get in the team of the week


team.jpeg
 

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
Wouldn’t Petaia be considered cover for 15 if Foketi is on the bench? Kerevi should be expected to play 80 at some point.

The cover concern is when you lose Petaia. He's the only noted player of versatility in that backline (putting aside Donaldson as the other 10 option).

Losing Petaia AND Kerevi/Donaldson/Gordon (literally what happened against Georgia, not unlikely with Petaia's career injury history and Kerevi's recent history) results in backlines which look something like:

Donaldson, Nawaqanitawase, Koroibete, Foketi, Vunivalu, Gordon, White/IFL
or
Nawaqanitawase, Vunivalu, Foketi, Kerevi, Koroibete, Gordon/Donaldson, White/IFL

I'm not saying Kells is an AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) level solution there, but come QF time I think you'd have lot more confidence in those backlines with him at 13 in the first line up and at 15 in the second.
 

Dctarget

Tim Horan (67)
Hypothetical: Tupou knocked himself out on the weekend and not Tate. He's now out for 12 days. Next game is Fiji, we only have healthy tighthead (assuming Pone and Slipper are still out). Do you drop Tupou or Pone permanently from the squad? Do you try and say Kemeny cut himself making avocado toast and needs to be replaced?
 

Tomthumb

Peter Fenwicke (45)
Hypothetical: Tupou knocked himself out on the weekend and not Tate. He's now out for 12 days. Next game is Fiji, we only have healthy tighthead (assuming Pone and Slipper are still out). Do you drop Tupou or Pone permanently from the squad? Do you try and say Kemeny cut himself making avocado toast and needs to be replaced?
Dan Palmer might need to dust the boots off
 

Wilson

Phil Kearns (64)
Hypothetical: Tupou knocked himself out on the weekend and not Tate. He's now out for 12 days. Next game is Fiji, we only have healthy tighthead (assuming Pone and Slipper are still out). Do you drop Tupou or Pone permanently from the squad? Do you try and say Kemeny cut himself making avocado toast and needs to be replaced?
I'm not sure the rules around dropping player who came into the world cup injured and are yet to play, but I think in that situation they'd look at Slipper as a fill in tighthead and hope to hell that he and Nonggorr could hold up the scrum until Pone/Tupou were fit again.
 

TSR

Andrew Slack (58)
Is my memory correct that when Kellaway was first picked a lot of us were scratching our heads as he hadn’t really been anything other than solid at Super level?
 
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