Wallabies v France, 7.00am AEDT Sunday Morning

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Usually Harrison is the guy tip toeing around direct criticism and I think it stems from his role with RUPA. Burke seems to see shit and make it clear he thinks it's shit but yes it's all very kind overall. They should note Cricket commentary and how they pretty comfortably call things for what they are. Granted they have to fill a lot more time.

 

[Major Tom]

I think the bench has been pretty important for a while we're just late to the party. We sort of stumbled on Tate as a good bench player as he was in the team because he was consistently one of the Reds best. His pass has let him down a little which often relegated him to the bench. But in hindsight it's pretty easy to see how it works given his 7's background. He would have to be one of quickest 9's in WR (World Rugby) (particularly off the mark) and for a small player he is bloody strong one on one! I always thought he had the skillset to cover the wing if we needed and it was proven accurate this year for one of the games.
As for selecting a bench it's still the same criteria: Pick players that are good enough to start and pick players that can play multiple positions, so you have coverage for when the shit hits the fan. Then from there we need to instruct players on how to come on and impact a game.
I'm with Ghost, we don't need 2 specialized 7's in a team. We need McReight to go the distance or other players to step up in that department if he goes off. I thought Hooper was able to do what Tizzano could do and more.

 

[Major Tom]

I know he's singed through to the WC with RA and they rejected a previous release request but his body has been struggling and he has some good talents below him.

If a good offer came forward and he was keen I could see them letting him take it for a fee. At least one of Thomas/Wilson would need to make the next leap in performance otherwise the Wallabies could find themselves extremely thin in a key position.

I thought re-signing him was one of the odder decisions from RA. The bloke is 31 and wanted a fresh opportunity. This was a win/win situation. The money saved could be redistributed elsewhere.

 

[stillmissit]

Our approach gives us an advantage from around 54mins to 64 mins, at least theortetically

So the replacements are good for 10mins of advantage???

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I thought re-signing him was one of the odder decisions from RA. The bloke is 31 and wanted a fresh opportunity. This was a win/win situation. The money saved could be redistributed elsewhere.

With how JS clearly saw him as the starting 9 I can only assume it was heavily encouraged by Joe. Offering through to 27 was probably required to get Gordon to sign.

 

[stillmissit]

It is pretty obvious that JS, whilst a top level coach, has poor ideas on selections. Then he is surrounded by coaches who have their own ideas. In the vacuum of a clear ability at selections, he must often be too reliant on those around him.
I suspect that is the problem many here see.

 

[Major Tom]

With how JS clearly saw him as the starting 9 I can only assume it was heavily encouraged by by Joe. Offering through to 27 was probably required to get Gordon to sign.

Yeah, Schmidt would have likely had influence but Horne would have made decision that ignored his age, injury history and his actual desire to play overseas. It seemed like a risky list management then choice then and more so now. And then after he re-signed we now pretty much have an open selection policy.