Ireland v Wallabies, Saturday 15/11 (Sunday morning Aus time)

[Joe Blow]

From out of the squad, to starting, to out of the squad again. All in a week

All part of Joe's master plan. You all are too impatient, didn't you know Joe lost a game with Leinster his first season there

I guess it means that CG is available? I would have JOC (James O'Connor) on the pine to back him up. There is no one better to close out a game or slide in at 12 if needed. JOC (James O'Connor) is in good nick and fit. He could easily make it through to the RWC as one of the 10 options.

 

[Joe Blow]

We are going to have CG, Tom Lynagh, Donaldson, Lolesio, JOC (James O'Connor) from the current crop and maybe 2-3 other up and comers that advance. I am certain there would or should be a spot for JOC (James O'Connor) as the 3rd option/coach.
QC (Quade Cooper) has been out of the setup too long and is difficult to work with when it starts to go south. I was always a fan though.

 

[Rob42]

Do we reckon the players are really exhausted

Yes.

 

[dillyboy]

QC (Quade Cooper) (Quade Cooper) has been out of the setup too long and is difficult to work with when it starts to go south. I was always a fan though.

Quade's the attack coach for the liners these days - we could do worse then get on the phone & see if he's interested in at least looking in on Wallabies training.....

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Horses for courses. I reckon you have Gleeson and Tizzano as options. Tizzano can have a huge impact in the right game. Gleeson too. Could use another 6/8 option coming through

I think Gleeson could be a permanent bench player. If a guy like Valetini was out for a week someone else may even start while Gleeson stays on the bench. He brings a speed and intensity that can be valuable off the bench at Test level.

The bench really is becoming increasingly specialised.

 

[Tomthumb]

Yes.

Then why don't they carry a bigger squad? Why don't they lessen the training load?

 

[rugbyAU]

Then why don't they carry a bigger squad? Why don't they lessen the training load?

training load has been quite light, particulary this week and last and all season really they had a full 7 days off before the Arg and NZ tests and 5 days off after Fiji

 

[Wilson]

Quade's the attack coach for the liners these days - we could do worse then get on the phone & see if he's interested in at least looking in on Wallabies training.....

Might hold off on that until he's actually coached a game or two, but even then why Quade and not any of the more experienced Australian attack coaches around the world?

 

[rugbyAU]

Gleeson should be the permanent #20

 

[Rob42]

Then why don't they carry a bigger squad? Why don't they lessen the training load?

A bigger squad doesn't help when we don't have the depth, and we're still trying to build experience and combinations amongst the top 23ish players. I think the narrow, foward-heavy game plan of the last couple of seasons is just really wearing on players, plus Joe's training is renowned for being intense. A light week of training at this point won't recover these guys phyiscally or mentally from 10 months of pro rugby. And a particularly intense season with the Lions.

That's not a criticism of the coach - I think our players just haven't been used to that level of training throughout their careers, which again points back to the standard expected in juniors and Super Rugby.

 

[dillyboy]

Might hold off on that until he's actually coached a game or two, but even then why Quade and not any of the more experienced Australian attack coaches around the world?

True.

Just see quade as a great mentor for Carter (and the style our backs can play).

 

[Tomthumb]

A bigger squad doesn't help when we don't have the depth, and we're still trying to build experience and combinations amongst the top 23ish players. I think the narrow, foward-heavy game plan of the last couple of seasons is just really wearing on players, plus Joe's training is renowned for being intense. A light week of training at this point won't recover these guys phyiscally or mentally from 10 months of pro rugby. And a particularly intense season with the Lions.

That's not a criticism of the coach - I think our players just haven't been used to that level of training throughout their careers, which again points back to the standard expected in juniors and Super Rugby.

Joe has gone on at virtually every press conference about building depth and players being tired, yet he’s the one that won’t rotate the squad to try and build some depth

Our guys have been trained by Michael Chieka and Dave Rennie among others, so I don’t think it’s fair to say our players aren’t used to training hard. I think they are over-trained from an intensity perspective. It’s an old school mentality but it’s outdated. The moronic “test match Tuesday” only delays the players recovery by having your own players beat the hell out of each other

We should really be looking at sports like the NFL where they have modified trainings to improve body recovery throughout the week

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Love to see some of the recent retired players given some opportunities with the U20s if they're interested in coaching. Cooper, Wright could really grab those guys attention and understand the game these kids are moving into.

There is also the battle that comes from coaches of similar ages to players. As much as they can say it doesn't matter and at times it doesn't, there is something to seniority that works. Especially if things go pear shaped. If you see the coach as more of a peer, you give up on them quicker.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Joe has gone on at virtually every press conference about building depth and players being tired, yet he’s the one that won’t rotate the squad to try and build some depth

Our guys have been trained by Michael Chieka and Dave Rennie among others, so I don’t think it’s fair to say our players aren’t used to training hard. I think they are over-trained from an intensity perspective. It’s an old school mentality but it’s outdated. The moronic “test match Tuesday” only delays the players recovery by having your own players beat the hell out of each other

We should really be looking at sports like the NFL where they have modified trainings to improve body recovery throughout the week

I think they do scale it back quite a bit and track these sorts of things. The Brums were adjusting training load in the 2010s depending on Variable HR, hydration and player mental scores.

We are searching for reasons to excuse poor performance and yes they may be fatigued but not to the point of failure. Should RA review the structure of the year? Probably but the Lions did add an extra 6 weeks of international level work to the year which is an outlier. They tried to prep for this with resting policies but you can also only do so much.

The NFL do nail aspects of their training like S&C but also have billions to spend collectively and have big failures in regards to head trauma, PEDs and the abuse of pain killers to keep guys on the field.

 

[Major Tom]

Might hold off on that until he's actually coached a game or two, but even then why Quade and not any of the more experienced Australian attack coaches around the world?

Probably more likely to be a skills coach.

 

[Slim 293]

Joe has gone on at virtually every press conference about building depth and players being tired, yet he’s the one that won’t rotate the squad to try and build some depth

Except for when he selected all those other players and you complained that he wasn't selecting the best...

 

[Pfitzy]

Probably more likely to be a skills coach.

More flick passes. Superb.

 

[stillmissit]

The answer is probably defence discipline, and correctly playing their roles in the attacking structure (ie clean outs)

Strewth, Our Defence discipline is lousy, and our clean outs are always a second or so too late....I don't see him improving in any of those areas, considering his scrummaging and carrying impact are poor.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Strewth, Our Defence discipline is lousy, and our clean outs are always a second or so too late....I don't see him improving in any of those areas, considering his scrummaging and carrying impact are poor.

I'm not saying they are good. I'm saying Schmidt (and all coaches) base selection decions on these things to a much greater extent then us punters appreciate.

And they analyze each players performance far more than we do too.

If a selection seems mysterious, it's probably because it's based on criteria that we aren't paying close enough attention to, tracking or have any stats that give us the info to appreciate

 

[stillmissit]

Could use another 6/8 option coming through

The 2 big problem Schmidt faces are trying to build a team by counting on a core group and the ongoing injury list.
I thought we had a big review about injury issues. particularly Achilles tears, after Rennie's time? At least the Achilles are down but others are up.
Our strength and conditioning seems not to be up to standard.