Gnostic you seem to have a real bee in your bonnet about Elsom, to the point where your death-ride-coloured glasses are obstructing your view.
His captaincy/leadership/diplomacy was fairly atrocious last night. I think everyone agrees on that. And it's been an ongoing issue.
But his play as an blindside breakaway was very high quality. He worked his guts out, well past the point that he should have been replaced, and kept fighting to the last. Workrate, high. Effectiveness at the breakdown, good. Link play, not great. Seagulling, minimal.
Like WJ and Disco I thought Genia was ordinary, and I thought he struggled in a dominant side last week. He'll get back to where he was, no worries, but he doesn't need the pressure of being captain too.
Pocock has just gotten to the point where, at international level, he can truly impose himself. He is going to be a leader in the squad hopefully for the next decade, but the time is not right for him to be captain.
Benn is making his way back from injury, and doesn't really have much form as a captain.
Sharpie I suspect is not amongst first picked atm and will be challenged by Horwill et al next year. Otherwise, if we knew we could get June series and Boks level performances out of him for another season I'd agree, give it to him.
I don't think a single member of this forum would give the captaincy to Gits.
So Rocky is, at the moment, our best option. He needs to work on his dealings with the ref (and stop taking lessons from Hoiles), but those other leaders need to step up too on-field. Quite obviously, none of the lot of them is doing enough in that regard, and quite obviously, last night's loss does not belong at Elsom's feet alone.
End rant.
