Australia Vs Argentina, September 13, Gold Coast

[Inside Shoulder]

Who can we move onto next?

Tim Horan? Worst centre ever to play for Australia?

What about Mortlock? That guy was rubbish too.

George Smith could make a turn over for sure, but christ he kicked to much to be considered any good.

This is out of control.
We need to assassinate the memory of these blokes in some orderly fashion you can't just go jumping from team to team and era to era - Kefu has been left unscathed, McCall, Jason Little, Gregan.
They should be bagged in an appropriate order.
or
preferably - picked to play tomorrow night

 

[Scrubber2050]

Who are these players today that are exceeding him, and in what manner are they exceeding him?

Suppose we will nbever know ie without the stats to show how great he was. All current players have truckloads of stats done on them and that is the only TRUE way to measure anybody at all. John Eales captained in a golden age of Aussie rugby AND was a great captain.

Without the stats, we (subjectively)are just remembering the good or great things and conveniently forgetting anything other than the good/great things. Just fucking human nature I suppose.

 

[Wilson]

Genetics. That's why the AIS is going around Australia these days hand picking people for sports based on their physical attributes even though they've never played them.

Kind of like how Eales was first noticed as a cricketer and basketballer before excelling at rugby?

 

[Pjmil]

Kind of like how Eales was first noticed as a cricketer and basketballer before excelling at rugby?

Yeah pretty much, not many people that are 2m high.

 

[Ash]

Eales was an athletic freak, could drive a golf ball as far as professionals, got first class cricket offers before choosing rugby. Eales is the one lock I've ever seen in a professional provincial game make four tackles in a freaking row, jumping up to the next one each time.

I will admit that by the end of his career, injuries and age had taken their toll and Eales was not the player he was even just two years prior. I think that with a modern S&C plan and more recent injury treatment/prevention method it wouldn't have been such as issue for Eales.

But yes, the guy was useless around the field. The mind boggles.

 

[Pjmil]

Eales was an athletic freak, could drive a golf ball as far as professionals, got first class cricket offers before choosing rugby. Eales is the one lock I've ever seen in a professional provincial game make four tackles in a freaking row, jumping up to the next one each time.

I will admit that by the end of his career, injuries and age had taken their toll and Eales was not the player he was even just two years prior. I think that with a modern S&C plan and more recent injury treatment/prevention method it wouldn't have been such as issue for Eales.

But yes, the guy was useless around the field. The mind boggles.

Provide some evidence guys, plenty of footage out there.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Kind of like how Eales was first noticed as a cricketer and basketballer before excelling at rugby?

Wasn't Higgers a soccer player before rugby

 

[Ash]

Provide some evidence guys, plenty of footage out there.

Hang on, so you can say something everyone else here disagrees with, and everyone else has the burden of proof?

You have the counter assertion to conventional wisdom, so you have the burden of proof.

We await your hours of footage proving that Eales was indeed useless around the field with baited breath.

In the meantime, we will resume discussing the Rugby Championship game on this weekend that has the Wallabies vs the Pumas.

edit: PS good luck finding footage of Reds games online from the late 90s / early 2000s, I have tried.

 

[KOB1987]

can someone point me towards the Aus v Argentina thread?

 

[Joe Blow]

It's going to be a great game. Wallaby pack just needs to hold the Pumas and the backs will do the rest.

Wish we had John Eales around now!

 

[eastman]

Over the years of modern rugby which is where the modern lock role has formed. I think you might have some rose tinted glasses on when remembering Eales, great in the lineout but useless in the field. But that's fine because back then that's all what was expected from locks.

I think this comment is actually fair enough, yes he was great in the air and was very mobile/skilled but his actual ball running ability was pretty average. In the modern game he would struggle to make an impact at all with ball in hand.

 

[Ash]

I think this comment is actually fair enough, yes he was great in the air and was very mobile/skilled but his actual ball running ability was pretty average. In the modern game he would struggle to make an impact at all with ball in hand.

Victor Matfield doesn't make an impact with ball in hand. Good thing then that he's not regarded as a modern lock legend. Oh, wait.

That debate is pointless right now and should not be on this thread. Please no more on this topic.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Still no Stats !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pushed the barrow far enough, No-one can come up with any stats to show that Eales was as fantastic as people think.

Back to the game. Wallabies to "shit" all over 'em. Well at least about 5 of our blokes to do that !!!!!!

 

[I like to watch]

I think this comment is actually fair enough, yes he was great in the air and was very mobile/skilled but his actual ball running ability was pretty average. In the modern game he would struggle to make an impact at all with ball in hand.

Except,he was considered elite when he played.
I am of the opinion that the great players in one era would still be great in another era.
He might have been an average ball runner,at a time when that skill was not valued.
Put him in an era when that skill is valued,and is intensely coached,and his ball carrying ability would no doubt be enhanced dramatically.

 

[Braveheart81]

The best players from any era would still excel in the modern game if they had access to the same professionalism, coaching, training etc. that modern players have.

The game has changed but it hasn't changed that much. The same skills are still requirements to play well.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

The best players from any era would still excel in the modern game if they had access to the same professionalism, coaching, training etc. that modern players have.

The game has changed but it hasn't changed that much. The same skills are still requirements to play well.

That's always been my contention too. You have to normalise for modern training techniques. The core skills are still more or less the same.

 

[Braveheart81]

Although I have heard some previous legends in multiple sports suggest that if they'd had ice baths in their day they would have retired much, much earlier.

 

[Oldschool]

I think this comment is actually fair enough, yes he was great in the air and was very mobile/skilled but his actual ball running ability was pretty average. In the modern game he would struggle to make an impact at all with ball in hand.

I dunno about that his ball running was average. Wasn't Eales a center in his school boy days? I think it would of been the coaches saying what the fuck are you doing out in the backs, get back in the F'en rucks and clean somebodies!!!

 

[cyclopath]

Provide some evidence guys, plenty of footage out there.

I think, if the majority seem to feel your point is, at best , flawed, then the onus might rest on you. And I think 3.5 mins of highlights might not be an adequate summation of Eales' career. Just a thought.

 

[Set piece magic]

Conversation with ARU and Mother Earth

Hello Mother Earth are you there
Yes ARU, what is it

Just letting you know that the Wallabies are playing at the Gold Coast on Saturday, you should make it rain like you have our other three home games

Thanks ARU, will do