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I think it would be really good to get the perspective of someone who has been a part of a large number of RWC campaigns, both good and bad, with multiple nations. Eddie Jones is a name that springs to mind. I believe he's on the payroll for a few more weeks. Put him to work.

Be pretty funny if that was the major finding. Should have won more games. Just been better, made less mistakes. Scored more tries.

I want us to move away from our messiah complex when it comes to coaches. No one person is going to save us and there's no shortcut to success here. Hire Dan McKeller and surround him with steady experienced heads. I'd love to see Joe Schmidt in there. Simon Raiwalui lives in Brisbane and you'd...

We open on a dimly lit basement office deep in the bowels of Stan HQ. A spotty 19 year old hears a ding on a computer, looks up from his phone and reading the email his eyes noticeably widen. He picks up the phone - "Jim, you're going to want to see this" The email is pored over by increasingly...

It raises the question of what has to happen to actually get the full ban as prescribed? Farrell has received a two week discount for merely acknowledging his actions and refusing to verbally abuse the magistrate during the hearing. The state of the bloke who has to serve the full sentence...

This is critical for mine. We can't have a situation like we did a few years ago when three of our five teams had a starting 10 who wasn't Wallaby eligible. From memory the players were Andre Pretorius, Jackson Garden-Bachop and a third who I can't quite recall (Hawera at the Brumbies?).

Ref appointments for pool matches confirmed. We've got Luke Pearce for the Georgia game, Andrew Brace for the Fiji game and Wayne Barnes for the Wales game. Great news for us, especially Barnes. Best ref in the world for teams who want to play free-flowing rugby.

Statements that would seem pretty bizarre if you told me in February: our World Cup hopes rest on the health of Carter Gordon.

So I'm now wondering if people have slightly overreacted to the squad announcement. When it all boils down, the four guys who should feel the most aggrieved are Hooper, Cooper, Ikitau and Holloway. All in our best XV at the start of the season (arguably). Two of them are carrying injury, and...

100%. He'd be on my team sheet. No idea why he's been discarded.

It's not so much that Quade has been robbed of selection, it's they seem to be preferring an untried Donaldson ahead of him. And I struggle to see the justification for that call.

Putting aside the relative merits of Donaldson and Cooper, I find it so strange that Eddie has gone with someone who hasn't played a minute of test rugby this year. Surely if he even has an inkling that he might want Donaldson, he throws him in off the bench against the Argies?

Wow. So he drops Quade and picks the unplayed Donaldson. Presumably seen enough of Carter Gordon to think he can play 80 without cover on the bench? It's a very strange decision.

Where did you see that?

Ikitau out is a massive blow. As discussed, I'm fine leaving Hooper at home if he's not 100%, but wow I would have thought a half-baked Ikitau was still a viable option for us. Big pressure on Petaia now, but I think he's up to it.

We should 100% take two specialist opensides. 33 is more than enough to be able to carry both of them (again, assuming Hooper is fit). I am old enough to remember Ben McCalman packing down at 7 in a game against Ireland in 2011. I still wake up in a cold sweat sometimes thinking about it. I...

In all seriousness, it's obviously a balancing act of factors. Judging a player by the win rate of his teams is pretty ludicrous if that player has clearly been a standout over that period. It applies as much to Marika as it does to Hooper. Now if his leadership is decided to be substandard...

You look at the incumbent Waratah, and if they don't work you reluctantly move to another bloke.

That's a doctored image Reg. This is the reason the actors are on strike.

This is such a dumb argument. 'You know all of that top level international experience? That's actually a *bad* thing'. How good would a team of complete newbies be at the World Cup. They've never lost anything - undefeated!!!! I'm even off Fraser McReight. What have the Reds won since he's...