Search results

but not the hair?

I agree that if you don't start with Waugh, then he is not the best option for the bench. If we are looking at having 4 forward reserves: Prop, hooker, Mumm and Brown (assuming Smith, Elsom and Palu starting). As far as I'm concerned, Waugh is not equal to Pocock - he is better (but if his...

The poll is on the front page - click on "Blog" at the top right of the page. Horwill, really? I love his attitude, and he is on his way back, and even got himself punched IIRC - which he seems to love.

If Giteau or Barnes are injured during a match then JOC (James O'Connor) comes on at inside centre. I don't think you can set up your team based on the slim chance that they will both be injured during the course of a game, there will end up being far too many 'wasted' reseves. The obvious solution if the...

No way. I'd prefer he wasn't in the Waratahs 22 either. Not fast enough (especially lacking in acceleration). Poor kicking skills. Poor passing skills (though that can be overlooked somewhat in a winger). He insists on carrying the ball in one hand (until he almost inevitably drops it - TWO...

There are at least four voters who aren't taking this at all seriously - QUADE COOPER?! No matter what you think of him, he wasn't on long enough to get the vote for best player. Surely not even his nearest and dearest could seriously think he was even in the top 15 performers. If we were...

1. No (but not bad) 2. No (but not too bad) 3. Yes (had a great game) 4. Yes (except later on in the game) 5. Yes (awesome work from Gitaeu and Barnes) 6. Yes (well maybe not a glut) 7. Yes Defence was generally good. In the future, the forwards may need to do a bit more of the tough stuff to...

The reason I was for the pulling down of the maul is because it means there is one less thing for the ref to deal with (and what exactly is going on in a maul can be difficult to see from the outside). The dynamic mauling the Waratahs did during certain periods of the S14 season worked very...

I hope so too.

The ELVs have been given a good run in the Southern Hemisphere now, so which ones do we want to keep? are there any new ones we'd like to try? 'Passing back into the 22' is an obvious one to keep I like the 'numbers in the lineout' I like the 'pass back lineout' Apart from the potential...

I guess that now that G&GR is on the ARU radar, there should be an official Team of the Super 14 season. I'll get the ball rolling with my team of the season (with reserves): 1. Benn Robinson Guthro Steenkamp 2. Bismark Du Plessis Tatufa Polata Nau 3. John Smit Clint Newland 4. Victor...

Spot on Gagger. I just love those clips of the Waratah forwards crushing the Sharks scrum. I would add that not playing a 'counter attacking game' does not have to mean not taking advantage of turn over ball.

Based on this season's form, Adam Thomson will do a better job than McCaw anyway. I know Thomson plays with a 6 on his back, but he does all the work of a 7 and then some. The only question is whether he can be as outstanding at the higher level (considering both the improved standard of...

Lindommer, as far as ARU money is concerned, I think we are in agreement, in principle. Given the salaries involved, I don't know that relocation cash is really necessary (though there is nothing to stop the teams themselves from offering it as an incentive, and 3 year contracts etc). I agree...

Can I safely assume the first statement was sarcasm? The market, even if it was not an unbalanced one (ie ARU funding), may very well not be perfect - but I think it could work better than the other options. (We would still be talking about a somewhat regulated market where the norms of law...

Which only works efficiently when UNHINDERED What proportion of player salaries does the top-up represent? The bigger the percentage, the more it distorts how the four provinces can compete for players. These players remain in Australia (in part) due to the top-ups from the ARU. If the Super...

Maybe this could be a new thread altogether? But, further to my earlier posts: I did consider the 'but that doesn't encourage development of players' argument regarding an even distribution of ARU top up funds. A lot of the development of young players happens before they even become...

Having given it a bit more thought now.... I am not sure about having some kind of convoluted central draft pool. I think that any solution has to: maintain the integrity, identity and autonomy of each side (I doubt they'd accept anything else anyway) be as simple as possible be fair and...

The main problem with the system is that the ARU is paying the players. This means that the ARU, rather than the franchises, are paying for the 'wasted' players. One way to mitigate the impact of this distortion is for it to be applied evenly across the Australian S14 sides ie each franchise...

Well that should cut down the number of....er...correspondents.