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.

 

[stillmissit]

Defence, defence, defence -tI's what an average team needs, if you can't put a team away, you can squeeze them and maybe get lucky at the end.
Joe's biggest mistake is not getting a younger D coach who understands modern patterns.

 

[stillmissit]

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.

I, and many here, tend to forget about Horne, we hear nothing from him. I, for one, would love to hear what he has been doing.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

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.

Not sure it's that simple re poor selections when it has been pretty clear the Wallabies lack elite talents in a number of positions. The coaches are then trying to find a guy or combos that could work to a Test standard.

I think changes in some of the assistants (Ulugia, Donnelly) leading into this tour wouldn't have helped either. I also don't think they would be speaking up at Joe about selections. Hard to make too much judgement on them yet but also hard to feel confident in them.

Fisher should be moved on as soon as their home though. His facet of the organisation is failing badly and not showing signs of improvement. You ask Kiss his opinions are and begin to follow them where possible.

 

[Tomthumb]

Defence, defence, defence -tI's what an average team needs, if you can't put a team away, you can squeeze them and maybe get lucky at the end.
Joe's biggest mistake is not getting a younger D coach who understands modern patterns.

I think this may be the best part about Kiss coming in. He's a genuine defense coach, who no doubt will take pride in improving it

The Laurie Fisher tenure has been a really poor one overall

 

[JRugby2]

I think this may be the best part about Kiss coming in. He's a genuine defense coach, who no doubt will take pride in improving it

The Laurie Fisher tenure has been a really poor one overall

The insistence of playing a stand back and wait style of defence when attacks have evolved to exploit the additional time and space, for 2 years, has been incredible in it's own stubbornness.

 

[Red Runner]

Slightly off topic/perhaps unconstructive: has anyone else found the Stan's commentary team to be insufferable lately, and completely incapable of providing a frank and thorough assessment of the Wallabies' woes? Every time the Wallabies err, it is always "brilliant play from [opposition X]" - it never seems to be as a result of unacceptable play from the Wallabies. There is clearly a hesitancy to "offend" any of their Wallaby mates.

J Harrison and M Burke are perhaps the only two who call a spade a spade.

Regards

Justin more likely to call a spade a strategic excavation facilitation tool supporting end-to-end trenching workflow

 

[wamberal99]

I think this may be the best part about Kiss coming in. He's a genuine defense coach, who no doubt will take pride in improving it

The Laurie Fisher tenure has been a really poor one overall

Interesting to note the Kiss has a strong league background. So did John Muggleton from whom the rugby coaches learned so much.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Was a RL Winger who has only coached in Rugby. He's a Rugby coach and if Defence is something he prides himself on it's more self developed rather than some League backrower who bathes in tackling.

We tried Hodgson at the last WC as well. Just get the best coach.