Australian Rugby / RA

[Quick Hands]

Strength and conditioning/fitness seems a perennial problem in Australian professional rugby.

Super players we're told aren't properly prepared for test rugby and need to undertake extensive training to be where they should be.

But once competition starts i.e. tests, the training should back off a little as it does in most sports. Cheika is old school, maybe he just keeps flogging them week in week out.

I think what BR is saying is that Cheika is more likely to pick someone based on how much they rip and tear at training rather than an analysis of game time performance. This might be a perception but it seems to fit some of the selection choices.

 

[todd4]

Hmm, sacking the organ grinder and replacing him with the monkey.

Gold!

I think this is what RA is likely to do. Larkham is already on the payroll so they wont need to go to the expense of paying big bucks for another HC while paying out MC. They will probably make Larkham interim HC till after the WC, blame any bad results on him then clean them all out in 12 months time.

 

[KOB1987]

Strength and conditioning/fitness seems a perennial problem in Australian professional rugby.

Super players we're told aren't properly prepared for test rugby and need to undertake extensive training to be where they should be.

But once competition starts i.e. tests, the training should back off a little as it does in most sports. Cheika is old school, maybe he just keeps flogging them week in week out.

I think what BR is saying is that Cheika is more likely to pick someone based on how much they rip and tear at training rather than an analysis of game time performance. This might be a perception but it seems to fit some of the selection choices.

I don't think it's so much he's old school, I think it's because his performance is highly tied to the RWC results. So he's been flogging them in the test windows and training camps in the hope/expectation that we'd scrape through with an acceptable set of results, and the tapering will coincide with the RWC campaign. That's why I think it's silly to get rid of him now, we've suffered this much now, we may as well stick with him in the hope that the 'plan' comes off in 10 months time.

Obviously this is a flawed performance indicator. With any luck CEO Castle will tie any future incentives to the individual test windows, not just the RWC results.

 

[Rugby Central]

I don't have any inside running on who's in favour or not. All I know is watching the Wallabies is over complicated, convoluted and players are unable to defend in the positions they are assigned.

The constant shuffling of players all over the field between attack and defense means players are always running to a differently assigned position while the opposition gets on with playing the game.

While I think Hooper is a machine, he is symptomatic of the problem. He's not the best player to be wearing the number 7, he spends more time protecting rubbish defenders and when watching the 2nd Argentina match I saw him as last receiver in the backline.....ON THE WING FFS.

Now he's being coached to play this way because if this is his instinctive play then he needs to go.

By the way 5 year contracts tell young player to forget about trying to work your way up......and the were Cheika's call

 

[barbarian]

The appointment of Larkham would basically be an admission of two things:

a) Cheika can no longer continue as coach, and
b) There are no international quality coaches available at the present time.

So what they will do is appoint Larkham on an interim basis until the World Cup, and either he wins the thing and stays, or we don't and we pick up one of the departing coaches from other teams - Jones, Cotter, Gatland, etc.

To me it's actually worse than doing nothing. At least you could mount a case that Cheika is the best option for the sake of continuity and stability. Why you would disrupt things to appoint an under-performing assistant I don't know.

The plan was always for Cheika to hand the reins to Larkham after the World Cup, but that was obviously predicated on the team achieving a level of success far higher than what they have done thus far.
.

 

[The Nomad]

^ or
c) don't have the money to pay anyone else

 

[Strewthcobber]

While I think Hooper is a machine, he is symptomatic of the problem. He's not the best player to be wearing the number 7, he spends more time protecting rubbish defenders and when watching the 2nd Argentina match I saw him as last receiver in the backline...ON THE WING FFS.

Did you see Dave Pocock out on the other wing?

 

[Derpus]

I don't have any inside running on who's in favour or not. All I know is watching the Wallabies is over complicated, convoluted and players are unable to defend in the positions they are assigned.

The constant shuffling of players all over the field between attack and defense means players are always running to a differently assigned position while the opposition gets on with playing the game.

While I think Hooper is a machine, he is symptomatic of the problem. He's not the best player to be wearing the number 7, he spends more time protecting rubbish defenders and when watching the 2nd Argentina match I saw him as last receiver in the backline...ON THE WING FFS.

Now he's being coached to play this way because if this is his instinctive play then he needs to go.

By the way 5 year contracts tell young player to forget about trying to work your way up..and the were Cheika's call

This has been discussed extensively with all the analysis of the 1 3 3 1 setup. Blindside and openside on either wing (generally). It's got nothing to do with the individual players, its just the system. When Hoops was out, it was Samu and Pocock.

I'm no analyst, but i always figured you stick a flanker out there to secure the ball, not run it. For example, if the winger makes a bit of ground then you have a nice mobile forward up his arse ready to secure the ruck. Always seems to end up in Hoops or Poeys hands (and what the actual fuck are they gunna do from the wing?)

 

[Quick Hands]

. That's why I think it's silly to get rid of him now, we've suffered this much now, we may as well stick with him in the hope that the 'plan' comes off in 10 months time.

We have to stick with him unless, and only unless, there is an option who is (a) available, (b) affordable, and (c) with proven success at international level.

 

[Aurelius]

^ or
c) don't have the money to pay anyone else

Or d) Larkham was appointed as the successor a long time ago and the RA board actually think replacing Cheika with Larkham would be a good PR move on their part.

I'm pretty sure that I read Larkham was being groomed for the top job as soon as he was appointed the assistant, which was - what - three years ago now?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

My head is spinning at the permutations. It really is unbelievable that Australian rugby is in this situation. I honestly can't recall a more shambolic time in the game in this country.

 

[Rebels3]

Its starting to look like Scott Johnson will uptake a DOR role above Cheika. No word on the assistants

 

[KOB1987]

OK can see the headline but can't can't get through the DT paywall..will read about it tomorrow no doubt!

 

[Rebels3]

OK can see the headline but can't can't get through the DT paywall..will read about it tomorrow no doubt!

Sounds like its going to be a very traditional DOR set up, which i personally think is a good thing. Will be interesting to see what happens with the assistants. Johnson will be very familar with them, as you'd imagine any other country would with their oponents.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

Name: Ian Foster.

Resume: laid the groundwork for back-to-back Super Rugby titles with the Chiefs.

Please, God, just take this "no need for an interview for AB head coaching gig, Shag put in a good word for me" brown-nose gravy train putz

​

 

[Quick Hands]

OK can see the headline but can't can't get through the DT paywall..will read about it tomorrow no doubt!

Saw the headline, clicked on the story and then saw it was dated 2006. Le plus ça change, le plus le même chose:

Scott Johnson to join new-look Wallaby Coaching structure


http://www.espn.com.au/rugby/story/...nson-join-new-look-wallaby-coaching-structure

 

[Quick Hands]

Maybe the last 12 years haven't really happened, it is 2006 and I've been in a horrible dream all this time meaning rugby in Australia isn't a shambolic mess.

 

[Joe Blow]

It’s what Cheika always needed. Real accountability and direction from above. If he had had as much we most likely would have already had an independent selector, changes with the failed assistants and a more progressive program in general.

The RA board was unable to give any of it. Maybe a DOR can?

 

[Bobby Sands]

My understanding of the McMahon situation is that all he needs to is sign a contract with an Aus Super Rugby side during the season for the 2020 season?

That is not hard, and assuming his Japan's flirtations are done by then, a likely event I would have thought.

 

[swingpass]

i believe that McMahon (and his management) are still pissed at the way his ankle injury was managed by the Wallabies on the EOYT 2016. He is on record as saying that as a rugby player he has a limited life span and needs to maximise his income during that time.