Do our senior men aim to be better?

[Newter]

"You always want to aim to be better, and where I am now compared to 12 months ago I consider myself a whole lot better. But I've still got a lot of room for improvement, and as long as I keep that attitude hopefully I can do a good job for the team."

This isn't a quote from David Pocock or Kurtley Beale or some other young whipper snapper who's new to the Test arena. These words don't even belong to an Aussie.

Richie McCaw said them. A few days ago.

Why don't we have 80 Test players like Matt Giteau talking about "improvement"? The thing that separates the Wallabies from the All Blacks this year isn't really the new personnel - I think it's the quality of improvement of the Kiwis' senior players. Have we ever seen a better Trinations campaign from Mils Muliaina? He's faster and breaks the line more often and at the right time than ever before. Or Conrad Smith? What a craftsman that guy is. Pure mastery of the fundamentals of his position. He's twice as effective as he was last year. Senior All Blacks like Ma'a Nonu and Keven Mealamu have made significant strides forward in their game. And Richie McCaw has outplayed himself of a year ago for sure.

We don't need brilliant new players to start winning again. We need the senior guys to pull finger and start feeling hungry to improve. Nathan Sharpe is the only Test veteran we have who has made some progress since last season, and it's helped his team considerably. Rocky may have inched a bit ahead too, but not by as much as he should.

Giteau's gone backwards. Ashley-Cooper is about stationary. Richard Brown has fallen behind.

Not only have most of our team leaders not improved, they have not spoken publicly about improving. You generally hear Rocky exhorting his team to lift their act, but does he ever talk about lifting his own? You hear Giteau say he's waiting for the backline to "click" but do you hear him confessing how hungry he is to get better as a player? Our senior Wallabies are not committed to individual improvement.

Ewen McKenzie would fix that.

 

[dobduff11]

Newter I agree to a point however, It seems to be very difficult for vets to improve considerably, Sharpie did it but few other players have done for the wallabies

Richie is different as he is a very impressive player and seems to have been the best international player in terms of performance every year since about 2004 so to use him as the benchmark is a bit harsh on the other players.

Mils came back fresh and motivated because of izzy dagg. The rule changes have also suited his running style and looks to be similar to his 2003 form probably better.

Mealamu and nonu were both very impressive ball carriers and have added skills to their game such as a great passing game and lineout throwing skills. But with the time they have had in the all blacks camp im not surprised they have improved their games.

However i would point to TPN's improvement in the lineout as an example of a particular wallabies improvement. Maybe even burgess and genia. Burgo literally couldn't pass when he arrived in camp and now he can. Genia was a crocked queenslander who had much promise but was still quite raw and became the second best 9 in the world, in about a month. However those players are all quite new to the test scene and you may dismiss them.

The other factor to consider is the change in the wallabies team over the past two years whereas the all blacks have had a fairly stable core to build there team around since 2008 with a few additions. The continuity has only been achieved this season because there was no-one else and luckily there weren't too many injuries in the 3N.

The longer the AB's spend in camp the more likely they are to improve especially if they have been there consistently. Take Cory Jane for example he benched on the 2008 EOYT and started in June 09. I don't think he has missed a test since (maybe one or two) but that continuity has led to him improving and developing his game in a world class team around world class individuals.