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Not sure Afusipa is quite to the quality that surrounds him there - shift Piutau to 12, Folau to 15 and include one of the other wingers and you have a real quality starting backline.

It's not that puzzling really - Roberts hasn't been anything more than average, and with ball-in-hand, arguably below average. The coaches obviously feel that that they will get more from getting Donaldson on the field.

Not sure if Banks is as marginal as being suggested. He has been in sublime form during Super Rugby (especially during the early stages of the competition) and the competitors are Petaia and Hodge. Petaia is too green to start important matches at this stage and Hodge is Hodge.

On a more positive note, the hooker who started on the weekend had an absolute blinder; strong carrier and lineout held up.

Gee some of you lot have a short memory - everyone was saying the exact same thing following the signing of Perese two years ago and that has turned out ok. Linking up with Latu would have to be predicated on him agreeing to a significantly reduced contract to reflect his 'risk' and lack of...

Ironically Pietsch has replaced Newsome as the ' placeholder' outside back of the Waratahs - the player you reluctantly select because you don't have any better options. Newsome offers more than Pietsch at this level and surprisingly has arguably more upside.

The Hodge- effect is a real phenomenon. Great athletes who can at times appear to be, or actually be, exceptionally uncoordinated or awkward.

I don't think it's attitude- based as he's generally pretty enthusiastic to get off the line and hit a defender As Purce said I think it's a combination of poor technique and a lack of coordination/ athleticism to react.

There's no doubt that Paisami played better than his opponent (albeit in a match were every Red outperformed their counterpart), but I think you are underestimating the strength of his 2022 form and the value of his incumbency in the Wallaby jersey. Just don't be too disappointed when he's...

And we're getting closer to the point of not having to consider Hodge - which is very positive.

There's a little bit of recency bias here - Ikitau has been strong all season and would have earnt plenty of credit from his breakout Wallaby season last year. He might not be as robust as Perese or Paisami but he's more rounded, far less prone to mistakes and makes good decisions in defence...

For a player like Foketi let's hope it's a token amount at best and mainly used as a signal/carrot that he is on the radar for the Wallabies. Like others have said, I don't think he's a good enough to consistently be in the Wallabies 23 squad (although inside centre is a position of relative...

He doesn't have blinding speed at all - he's very athletic with a great vertical leap but he's no speedster.

Ignoring the old 'you're worth whatever someone will pay you' - I hope he's not. That's an obscene salary for a first-time coach with no Super Rugby/ international experience - the Force would be be better off buying two legitimate rugby stars for that amount.

It's a shame he doesn't have better acceleration and top- end speed, he really could be an absolute attacking weapon then.

Bizarre response as most of your points are directly applicable to Coleman - 'What has he actually run? Gordon, a retirement village in California and coached the Waratahs to wins over the rugby powerhouses of Melbourne, Perth and Drua" Simon Cron was literally the head coach of Toyota Verblitz...

Out of interest what puts Coleman ahead? Coleman has won more amateur Shute Shield competitions and a semi- amateur MLR comp but prior to this season had never been directly involved in a full-time professional set- up. Simon Cron has won a Shute Shield competition, was previously assistance...

You do realise that our current top wing is also a rugby league convert who had even less 15s experience?

FP's pretty much nailed it - Stewart is a very solid player who is arguably more valuable than Foketi, however Stewart's more rounded skillset of toughness/ ball-playing is already adequately provided by JOC (James O'Connor) or Hodge if absolutely needed (and let's hope it isn't). For mine, the player with the...

It hasn't been a great decade.