A few thoughts from last night:
1) It seemed to me that what little attack we had fell apart completely when Foketi went off. I still don't know why they brought Petaia on into the centers instead of Hodge.
2) On Petaia, I'm just not convinced. When was his last great (or good) game in gold? His 2019RWC debut?
3) I don't know how we solve our discipline issues, its so bad now that I feel we also get penalized because we are know for poor discipline
4) The fact that we cannot put in two consistent games is deeply concerning. Is it that teams can adapt to our game plan too easily? Are we playing too one dimensional?
5) I cant see us getting to a final in 12 months. At this rate I'm not sure I can see us winning 50% on the EOYT
6) Maybe its because I just watched Gold Digger, but I almost want us to start to pick and stick with the core of a team. Pick a 9,10,12,15 and play them for the next 5 years in preparation of 2025
7) I haven't lost the love yet, but man its hard being a Wallabies fan.
6) So by 2027 (5 years from now) we should be ok for 2025?
Excuse my little dig. I understand what you're saying and hope to see a bit more consistency in selections from now to RWC23 and beyond.
4) I agree. Our plan seems to be to kick the ball on first or second phase in the first half, ie play for territory. Just how successful that is we can see by the amount of time play is in our half of the ground and the time oppositions are hammering away at our try line. It doesn't and won't work while we are outgunned in the kicking department. That includes one dimensional box kicking from our own side of halfway, poor or non-existent kick/chase, and reluctance to compete for the ball in the air. Generally, our penalty kicks for touch are considerably shorter than opposition kicks or fail to find touch when longer kicks are attempted. So, we are not well equipped to implement a territory based plan and in most cases we concede a large margin of points in the first half of games.
Our outside backs only seem to see the ball late in the second half of games. That is too late to be competitive and hence we have a failing game plan.
On an associated topic, whenever we are camped on the opposition try line, we revert to forwards hitting the ball up one off the ruck or pick and drives. We invariably will attempt to bash our way across the line and in the majority of cases will simply lose the ball or concede a penalty. Two hit ups should be sufficient to compress the defence a bit, then swing the ball to the backs who are after all the attacking weapons who can get over the chalk (and then in some instances drop it of fail to ground it; but that's where the attack should be happening).
The game plan needs a complete revision and layers of sophistication added.
