Slim 293
George Smith (75)
On the bench?
Wallabies v Lions Game 2 MCG 26 July
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On the bench?
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Ken Catchpole (46)
Over lynagh last year? Yes
Why did he start against Georgia? Why did he start against Argentina? Why was Lynagh never used?
It's so stupid that it's something Eddie Jones would do but people seem so hesitant to criticize Schmidt about anything
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Ken Catchpole (46)
It's about combinations yet we pair Laynagh with a 9 and 12 he has never played with before
The more we talk about it the more it sounds like Eddie Jones. Combined with Schmidt in the post match basically saying this is a development series for them
Slim 293
George Smith (75)
Last year?
Probably because it was Lynagh's debut season and he didn't want to repeat the mistakes Rennie made with Lolesio... but that was last year.
Yoda
Arch Winning (36)
Yes. Complete nonsense. To start a rookie 10 in Lynagh for a Lions series is crazy. Joe obviously doesn't rate Donaldson. Now we go to Melbourne, the series on the line and I'm guessing Joe will have minimal changes apart from Valetini and possibly Skelton. I'm cheering our boys home but the Lions will no doubt step up a gear. They want a clean sweep of this series otherwise they will be deemed failures against a side that hasn't hit its straps for a while.
Slim 293
George Smith (75)
It doesn't... it really doesn't.
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Ken Catchpole (46)
He want's to avoid mistakes by throwing a 22 year old in his first start with no combinations around him against the British & Irish Lions?
Yoda
Arch Winning (36)
It's not like Lynagh is some gun hotshot streets ahead of Donaldson. I don't understand it. The Lions will target him if he is selected again. Probably even more so. Joe knows best ... apparently.
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Ken Catchpole (46)
It does, he did the same thing to Carter Gordon.
Slim 293
George Smith (75)
Does that mean Schmidt will make sweeping changes and start Ben Donaldson this week?
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Ken Catchpole (46)
No idea. Honestly don't thing Joe does either. He's painted himself into a corner a bit
Slim 293
George Smith (75)
So it doesn't appear to be anything like Eddie Jones... not even the slightest bit similar.
Yoda
Arch Winning (36)
No. I'm sure Schmidt has picked Lynagh for all 3 Lions Tests. Difference being for Carter and Donno at the World Cup, it was all their fault they lost, but in Lynagh's case it will be he's young, and had no forward's winning the collisions! How did our forwards go at the World Cup? As we all know, no 10 goes well when the piggies don't dominate. I hope we can miraculously win in Melbourne though!
When Lolesio went down we ended up in an unenviable position of picking between two players with limited experience and issues with their game (not that Lolesio doesn't also have issues, he certainly has more experience though).
My view is Schmidt went with Lynagh mostly on the back of a superior kicking game and thinking that his weaknesses could be largely covered up. His kicking didn't go well and we didn't cover up those weaknesses well.
I don't know if he'll now switch to Donaldson. I would guess he won't and will back Lynagh and the team to improve.
Pretending that there's a clear difference in their relative abilities or that the game would have gone substantially differently with Donaldson starting seems like incredibly wishful thinking. Unless Donaldson was about to start making dominant tackles and making strong carries across the advantage line he wasn't going to change much.
My view is Schmidt went with Lynagh mostly on the back of a superior kicking game and thinking that his weaknesses could be largely covered up. His kicking didn't go well and we didn't cover up those weaknesses well.
I don't know if he'll now switch to Donaldson. I would guess he won't and will back Lynagh and the team to improve.
Pretending that there's a clear difference in their relative abilities or that the game would have gone substantially differently with Donaldson starting seems like incredibly wishful thinking. Unless Donaldson was about to start making dominant tackles and making strong carries across the advantage line he wasn't going to change much.
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Ken Catchpole (46)
Huh? Eddie didn't change the whole team every game
What he did do was throw a young playmaker in unprepared, not use any existing combinations, play players out of position, under-rate experience and not have a gameplan built to beat the opponent coming up next. All of which Schmidt has done
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Ken Catchpole (46)
Does he though. I've watched a lot of Reds games and he's a decent kicker but his boot is underpowered, especially at Test level
Donaldson can certainly be inconsistent but has a massive boot and can be very accurate at times. At what he would have changed is being able to take the ball to the line, draw defenders and make quick decisions. Donaldson can step anyone so defenders have to stay on him more, he's a better passer and he takes the ball forward before passing so teams cant just drift off him like they do with Lynagh