2011 Rnd 1 Reds v Force

[Set piece magic]

Honestly, if youre going with that many, I'd suggest just going Gold or Silver, because with the sheer number of lads youre going to the game with, alot of them will just be hitting the booze.

You'll see the game just as well in either Silver or Gold, but youll have some extra cash to spend on the grog and enjoy the atmosphere and game.

Some of us will have to settle with being on the other side of the country for the weekend

problem again, we're all only 16. Should've mentioned that...

 

[Red Rooster]

Vickerman is a long shot to get back to Wallaby form though it is possible. Sharpe is not a TH scrummaging lock though he has packed down there. He should be the Wallaby LHP only. Horwill is the only valid tight head lock in the country which is why we missed him so much to help out the THPs in scrums in 2010.

Young Douglas, another good TH lock, may prove himself as a Wallaby squad candidate this year though I suspect his Wallaby time will come after the RWC.

Again - let's not go talking about international locks as though they can switch from the loosehead side to the tight head side of the scrum and be just as effective scrummaging as a specialist TH lock is. Vice versa is OK in the rare case that a team has two good TH locks.

If you are worried about the tighthead side of the scrum you pick Dan Palmer at #3 - How is it you know who can an can't scrum on the rhs - I have seen Van do an excellent job. To dismiss Vickerman is ridiculous otherwise you are saying its a bad Wallaby decision to sign him or Kev sits on the bench - you cant have it every way and you have not solved the lack of proven depth at 6

 

[Bowside]

problem again, we're all only 16. Should've mentioned that...

If your still planing on hitting the piss, make sure you keep one eye over your shoulder as the security at suncorp were cracking down on under-age drinking at the reds games last year.

 

[GC]

If your still planing on hitting the piss, make sure you keep one eye over your shoulder as the security at suncorp were cracking down on under-age drinking at the reds games last year.

I wear one of these:

http://newslite.tv/2010/07/18/wine-rack-bra-helps-conceal-bo.html

Never fails.

 

[bring back rucking]

If you are worried about the tighthead side of the scrum you pick Dan Palmer at #3 - How is it you know who can an can't scrum on the rhs - I have seen Van do an excellent job. To dismiss Vickerman is ridiculous otherwise you are saying its a bad Wallaby decision to sign him or Kev sits on the bench - you cant have it every way and you have not solved the lack of proven depth at 6

He's saying sharpe cannot pack on the tight side... And he is correct... My nirvana would be an in form vickerman paired with horwill... Both good scrummaging locks... Vicks can play the tighter game, clearing bodies etc and horwill can play the occasional 4th backrower role if the game presents the opportunity

Rocky will be much more effective with palu back at 8.... Backrow Balance, and for that matter forward pack balance is so critical... One of the reasons why we have it over league which has been reduced to 2 ball players and 11 athletes

 

[RugbyReg]

When will sides be announced?

Reds not until Friday morning.

 

[TOCC]

Ticket Update: Looks like good sales for next weekend, platinum is sold out, can somebody give me an update on the number of platinum seats at suncorp? And if anyone has any idea, the number of platinum members.

I didn't get a membership because I wanted to go with my mates, but redeeming enough is that I'm bringing twenty of them along

the seating structure varies season to season, you would have to speak to ticketek or the QRU to find those details out

 

[Lee Grant]

Backrow Balance, and for that matter forward pack balance is so critical... One of the reasons why we have it over league which has been reduced to 2 ball players and 11 athletes

Well said that man.


On backrow balance: Ireland suffers from it since all three are principally ball runners, and at a lower level, the Rats were not advantaged by having two fetchers. Sometimes the 2nd and backrow combo is out of balance. Some teams play a 6, who is really a lock, and they are great for playing against physical SAffer teams, but not so nimble defending incursions down the blind side.


On rugby league: the trend of homogenisation of player build and skills has been noticeable over the last 50 years but more so since the scrum was abandoned as a contest.


League had just as much trouble with their scrums before that as we have know with ours. But they decided it was too hard to fix and have a spectacle at the same time. Their solution was to kill yet another contest and just get 12 blokes together in a huddle so the non-offending team could get the advantage of getting the ball in space with those 12 players isolated.


To digress from the digression from the match thread: the Pom commentator Brian Moore is a goose but, he said something during the Wales v England game that made sense. When the referee mentioned the word "hit" to the players in reference to a scrum he said something like: "There is no such word as "hit" in the laws. The "hit" is causing all these scrum collapses."


Well said for a change Mr. Moore; well said.

 

[Ash]

Lee, and didn't the league solution with keeping 12 guys in a huddle work a treat? I reckon that over 90% of league scrums end up with a wing or centre at first receiver who merely hits the ball straight up. Such a waste of an opportunity to create more space.

Regarding league homogenisation: yes, yes and yes. You have back rowers and front rowers (!) who switch between centre (even on team sheets!) and forwards; you have back rowers and centres frequently playing next to each other now; league coaches also typically now number positions by men out from the ruck or another arbitrary place. League is a game of greate athletes covering 10 - 12 positions (if there is a ball playing fullback or not) and a ball player. Some of those athletes are natural footballers, but gee, it's hard to spot them sometimes. I really hope union doesn't end up down that route, but the advantage that union has is that union needs those specialist skills in some positions - prop, hooker, lock, fetcher, etc that just aren't as transferable to other positions on the park, unlike league.

BTW, I bet you enjoyed the Charity Shield, Lee!

 

[Ash]

PS go the Reds in round 1, I will be there!

 

[Lee Grant]

1. Lee, and didn't the league solution with keeping 12 guys in a huddle work a treat?

2. BTW, I bet you enjoyed the Charity Shield, Lee!

1. Yes sometimes they pervert the rules they have but it's the closest thing they have to a set piece I suppose and sometimes they do clever moves from the scrum - but most often not, as you say. The retreat from the scrum contest changed the build profile of league forwards. They still need a couple of big boppers to take the ball up at the beginning of the tackle count but by and large the forwards are homogenous, and the Dragons have props who can play in the centres, as you touch on.

The real big change though was the change in the unlimited tackle law. When I first watched the Dragons they often used to kick the ball to the other team and let them have it as long as they liked. They'd belt the shit out of them on defence and if they got it back unexpectedly they'd kick it back to them again. After one quarter of the game like this the other mob was softened up nicely.

They don't need big guys to tackle like that now.


2. Yeah it was a good win and it looks like we have some good young players coming up. Folks may wonder why I watch league, but I don't watch a lot and very little when Super Rugby is on. My allegiance is not to the game. It is often boring and a paint by numbers game. When the Dragons aren't playing I have trouble watching a whole game and I don't try that much to unless it is a big match.

I miss the specialities of union and the set pieces. My allegiance is to one team, not the code itself, and there is a personal story about that which I won't bore folks with here.

 

[Ruggo]

Is this weekend Quade's 50th Reds cap?

 

[RugbyReg]

yep, and Kev's 49th (I think)!

 

[Reddy!]

Is there any kind of GAGR shindig after the game, caxton st?

 

[Mr Tank]

problem again, we're all only 16.

Back in the Ballymore days this was never a problem. Ahhhhh under the scoreboard at the corner of the Eastern stand and the Castlemaine stand, how many reputations of Brisbane GPS's finest young gentlemen were ruined there?

 

[Set piece magic]

They really cracked down after the "generation of idiots" last decade... It was never a problem, when those guys would only have a couple of drinks or so each, but some idiots ruined it for everyone by going and having some ridiculous amount of beer until they would almost die of alcohol poisoning... then the authorata stepped in. We're not planning on hitting the piss for risk of being thrown out by security, but if opportunity's arise then we'll take them.

I often hear people rant about the security nuisance at suncorp but to be honest I've never experienced it really. I'm a seasoned suncorp addict (it's so convenient to get there on the train) and i've never really had to talk with one and I'm sure I'm one of those people that security would just look at and go, "bloody hell some teenager trying to cause some trouble".

I was at the Roar on the weekend and they only really appeared when the bogans from "The Den" started letting off flares (see opposition bannor: the den, sponsored by centrelink).

Whatever the case hopefully their will be no need for piss due to the entertainment coming from on the field!

 

[The Mayor of Perth]

Shep's fine, Sharpie's better than 50:50 but there is the tantalising week 2 bye to really get him right. Just love the proposed Reds tactics of targeting the Force pack - blokes like Samo and Humphries (have you tried to get Connors back?) v Hodgo, Browny, Poey and McCalman...go for it!

 

[RugbyReg]

Mayor,

first of all. Welcome to the site. Great timing!

secondly, I am not sure if anyone suggested we'd target the pack. I think the Reds game is too holistic to simplify things to that level. I think most of us recognise that the Force have a fantastic backrow, and that the breakdown would be a big test for the Reds, without Daniel Braid. I do think there is an opportunity at the set piece, particularly the lineout, for the Reds to take it too the Force. There is not a real lineout jumper in that backrow, and if Sharpie doesn't play that leaves McCalman and Wykes or Hockings as the locks right? If the Reds opt for Higgers at 8, Horwill at 6 with Van and Simmons at lock, that is 4 very handy jumpers.

The question becomes, will Link play the power game, with Kev on the side. Or does he opt for more of a ball running, quicker game, with Higgers at 6 and Leroy possibly at 8.

Then there is the backs, in which I firmly believe we have a massive advantage. JOC (James O'Connor) is a great player, but playing him at 10 is like Richard Graham throwing up his hands and saying "well, its all up to you now". Alternatively if he plays one out, which I think he should, we have our best defensive back (arguably player) marking him.

And your comparison of "Samo and Humphries (have you tried to get Connors back?) v Hodgo, Browny, Poey and McCalman" is quite the stretch. How 'bout we compare Wykes, Hockings, Jenkins and Dunning to Horwill, Simmons, Higginbotham and Slipper?

Oh, and one more thing...

[video=youtube;Fw_vgVqR3L4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw_vgVqR3L4&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[slasher]

reg, is shatzy available for selection?

 

[RugbyReg]

good question. Haven't heard to be honest. Saw him at the fan day and he looked fit and HUGE!

Just trying to remember if he was at training on Thursday...I think he was. Pretty sure he trained normally.