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That is a frightening squad! Unless you get some injuries there are going to be some seriously pissed off players when the finals come round and they have to choose a best 22. Blind side flanker: One position available, Burger, Kolisi and Elstadt all wanting a spot.

I'd take Louden back in a heartbeat given how we played that year, but I had assumed that the bad history would have precluded him from a spot.

Did I miss this rule change? Are we now taking a full front row onto the bench for the EOYT conditions? If so then an extra prop in the squad might be appropriate.

I may be grasping at straws, but I wonder whether Gaffney's DOR duties plus Cheika's use of him as a second set of eyes, somewhat independent of the detailed coaching, means he will not be loaded up with all the attacking responsibilities? Or maybe its a sign that we will do a lot of attacking...

And then there were the Bledisloe games.

If Foley is not a 10, just a converted 15, then who in the main squad is a specialist 10! That's right, no one. If you are right Cheika has no specialist main squad choices at 10 at all!

How is it that in a squad of 30+ everyone is selecting one 10 and a couple of 15's who can play there at a pinch? If Beale gets injured that brings Barnes back to 10, and we all know how well that went this year. I think Foley is the last 10 standing but I'd much rather take him than have Barnes...

Have I missed something? Is Saifoloi signed with someone else or gone OS? We have one decent 10 and one in the EPS and people are talking about props, breakaways and inside centres.

Penguin gave him a point. Not quite sure why after the knockon.

Is there any one of the starting 15 other than Timani who hasn't got at least one point? Says something either about the posters or about the type of game it was.

While Blue is highlighting that SA elite players are playing too much rugby without sufficient recovery time after tests, that is hardly very different to the injury situation in Oz where our elite players have played full Super campaigns followed by 10 SH tests and our best have been going down...

When you have a bad year as a team everyone gets a bit of the shit that is flying around. Its often hard to know who was really responsible for the disasters unless you are close to the team but independent from it. Fans just know that the year is going down the toilet. Knowledgeable fans have a...

It sure was trite. Maybe he did that to avoid exposing better plans to NZ eyes, but I sure thought it was glib, even by his standards.

One thing I am looking forward to is the scrummaging this week. Robinson vs Faumuina with Fatcat coming back into scrummaging form and Charlie being a pretty large specimen and therefore vulnerable to a nuggety LHP has the potential to be very good for us. Woodcock vs Slipper on the other side...

NZ do it differently to us. They plan to have depth at international level. If they can this weekend Vito will get 20-30 minutes of game time. Vito is behind Thompson but he is being given time on the park to develop depth. Cheapening the All Black jersey? Our NZ brothers don't think so...

Another case of the Matt Burke theory.

Interesting is not the word I'd use. Educating maybe. This is how NZ build depth of experience in their team so that when injuries come they have fully tested and proven back-ups. Not for them the "select the best till they're broken" nonsense we go on with. Is this the All Blacks...

At the risk of bringing up a whole lot of anti/pro Deans commentary, let me make some points about why it is rumoured that Deans now wants Burgess: Some people are adamant that the top team must always be picked until those are injured or burnt out. Deans would be one of those but there are...

As a resident of Adelaide, exiled here for my sins :), I heartily endorse that comment! Anywhere I go socially, the one subject I can always guarantee will dominate 50% of the conversation is AFbloodyL.

If there were 15,000 today then they were all out the back. The stands were three quarters empty. They got better crouds in Adelaide.