Search results

Perhaps despite my earlier comments, given your v interesting account above, Cooper will on Saturday feel he owes Barnesy some fabulous passes and back up and lots of other favours!

Sorry, I missed the red flower in you signature line! (But you have confessed to a 'soft spot' so I was partly on the right track :-) )

Actually Groucho, in my experience up here in Reds' land, any bitterness has largely dissipated as (a) many of us sympathised with Barnes that the QRU as at 2009 had become and been for many years disastrously mismanaged and directed and (b) Genia + Copper + McKenzie etc went off like the...

I think that's an excellent point/observation rsea. C+F+H could be brilliant! And there's no doubt that, as other astute posters have noted, 2009's pairing of C + Barnes was not compelling. I would also imagine that there's a bit of negative - or ambivalent - emotion between these two given all...

Perfect. The other dreamy implied fallacy at work in this dangerous 'it's all about the RWC' thesis is that somehow the grand victory there will massively impact the following 4 years' gate receipts and media viewership for Aus rugby and fix its problems in a business and sports market share...

I suppose RD worried that with no Giteau, if Cooper goes down, there's limited kicking or playmaker cover?...whatever, as RD has gone all-out with the 'development and youth' strategy for this Test, for me it's debatable to play the dubious risk-reward calculus of a Barnes whose last 5 months...

You are so, so right! And that is _precisely_ where the ARU and the elite coaching establishment have not learnt the awful lessons of Marseilles 2007 (and prior) and set about radically improving our forwards' _real_ depth and technical skill levels (plus speed-to-ball fitness and agility...

This is really worth debating. 'It's all about the WC' vs 'It's all about consistent, exciting wins now'. A number of the posts above say or imply that going all out in selection terms for a big win on Saturday is actually less important than a developmental process for the benefit of exciting...

Well yes fair point again Daz, but did all that 'meddling' (Deans' words) and shuffling and pulling JO'C and kind of humiliating Weeks with swapping him to wrong prop position etc, really produce anything useful? Where perhaps we differ Daz is that I think in these scenarios Aus should fight to...

Indeed, astute summary. But, as Scotty has noted, would you not agree that, on a balance of important attributes (speed, high-ball, defence work, skilled counter-attack, performance consistency through the S14 season, etc), Hynes was definitely the stand out in 2010 and thus deserved a prominent...

OK, OK. But this also true: Rugby is a business now. JO'N knows that if it's not a long-term combination of (Wallabies and S14 teams) winning a lot and entertaining quite a lot, it will decline relative to other sports. In fact, sadly, that exactly what is happening to Australian rugby. Our...

In fact, after the Tuesday game, he more or less said he had no issues with the result, partly as he was "meddling". To me, this was another alarming lapse of judgement, to so concede momentum and the capability of conquest to England knowing the very weaknesses we'd surely have the following...

Rsea, I used to think I grasped RD's thinking and logic, now I am just bamboozled. It is clearly a secret formula that will drive this experiment on....

Yes mate. And as mentioned prior, if we strip away our love of the G&G, the whole thing is now like a wildly eccentric scientific experiment 'never before tried and with results completely unknown' that could amuse us in some other-worldly way.

Absolutely. And if Genia has to come on, it's likely to be earlier than later when things have started to go badly for Aus. So, if he's still recovering and cannot take a hard 80 mins, what on earth are we doing risking him (say in a high-tackling 20 mins) for who knows how many more tests if...

Whatever RD may have done or not done with the bench in the past, there's a high chance he'll need it this time if the England forwards hold lots of possession and t/o well and we have to tackle like demons throughout to hold on and tired legs factors really build...any coach in this very real...

Hey Henry, I really meant of course the kind of regrets that must have/may have gone through Barnes' mind when he started to play as poorly - or disappointingly - as he did for much of the Tahs' season, and when he saw what Link was achieving in Brisbane. As you rightly infer, his call to the...

PS - WTF is Genia on the bench. Valentine should be there (and I agree with Burgess starting against a bruising team like the Poms and Boks if Genia isn't). If they think that Genia is still a bit tender he shouldn't be in the 22. Lee Grant, with your knowledge of the game, would you not...