Genia Weighs In On Cooper

[daz]

The grape vine assures me that more than a few players, both from the reds and other team, were in agreement with Quades statements about the Wallabies program last year.

It is no secret a chunk of the players are very unhappy with the wallabies program (gameplan, selections, S and C, recovery recourses, facilities etc.) over the last 4 or so years. But as players they have little to no say in this stuff.

Grape-vine assurances? No secret?

It must be a bit of a secret, since I can't recall any other player making a statement about this. If you are so sure, name names.

Sorry, I realise I am coming across as a negative nellie, but I'm not going to take much note of a Chinese whisper. I may as well start believing the Growden gossip column.

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

The grape vine assures me that more than a few players, both from the reds and other team, were in agreement with Quades statements about the Wallabies program last year.

It is no secret a chunk of the players are very unhappy with the wallabies program (gameplan, selections, S and C, recovery recourses, facilities etc.) over the last 4 or so years. But as players they have little to no say in this stuff.

If what you say is correct, then the atmosphere must have been pretty toxic to have players hang one of their team-mates out to dry, like they did with Cooper...

Even Blind Freddie could see that the ARU had botched the recovery and rehab programmes in the past couple of seasons - but overall, I doubt the Wallabies Set-up is too much different in character to that in NZ, SA or Wales... some aspects will be stronger, some weaker.

In terms of Team selection, and given the fact that a few players wore Wallaby Jumpers last year due to injuries, who would normally have never earned one, or would have been hard-pressed to break into the match day squad - for players to be upset about Team Selection is somewat superfluous - they would have been alot less upset than the poor bastards who had to try and select a team....

I was, and no longer am, a Deans Supporter.

I expected he would bring structure and direction to a team which often under Jones and Connolly looked like they had never even been introduced to each other before taking the field.

I expected he would bring the 'play what is in front of you' ethos to the Wallabies, and he has not. His selections have been uneven, and at times so safe as to border on the negligent...

Having said that, the Players cannot keep ducking responsibility... These are big ugly boys, and if what the coach is suggesting is not working, if what he has them doing is counter-intuitive, then at some point they can and should stand up and be counted. They have not.

Since MacQueen and Eales left the Wallabies, they have looked - for about 90% of the time, like a team that does not know what their game plan is, and a team that lacks the skills to execute a game plan at the highest level. This blame must ultimatley fall on the players as much the manager...

If after all this time, Cooper is to be believed to have stood up and said what was on everyone else's mind (and I think in the majority, he did - there were many, many conversations which lead-up to his comments) then for Senior Players in the squad, and recent Past-Players, to have said nothing in support, would be a damning indictment on the character of this team.

Its hard to know who to believe - I don't like the AIGs much, but this whole business would never have made it out of the All Blacks Locker Room.

 

[Scoey]

Grape-vine assurances? No secret?

It must be a bit of a secret, since I can't recall any other player making a statement about this. If you are so sure, name names.

Sorry, I realise I am coming across as a negative nellie, but I'm not going to take much note of a Chinese whisper. I may as well start believing the Growden gossip column.

I'm not endorsing Bowside's post but I would wager a fairly large sum that a number of posters on here are connected or close to some of the players. Just as the players he alludes to didn't come out and say anything, if you knew one of them personally and they had told you this stuff in person, you're not going to come out and name the names either.

You don't have to believe it Daz but to deny that there was not a single other player upset in the Wallabies program recently on the basis of the fact that there are no published sources seems a little naive.

 

[Bowside]

Grape-vine assurances? No secret?

It must be a bit of a secret, since I can't recall any other player making a statement about this. If you are so sure, name names.

Sorry, I realise I am coming across as a negative nellie, but I'm not going to take much note of a Chinese whisper. I may as well start believing the Growden gossip column.

Why would any current player make a statement about it?

It would hinder their own career and if it was anyone else but Cooper it might end their career in Australia entirely (Matt Giteau anyone?) .

I'm no sports psychologist, so take this with a grain of salt if you want to; But when you are part of a sporting program that requires you to devote your self 100% to achieving something, you want to have confidence that every aspect of your preparation is as good as it possibly can be. If you don't have that confidence, it can lead you to doubt those giving you orders, which in turn can impact your performance.

The recent decision by the ARU to improve the High Performance Program (recreation of camp wallaby at Bond University) would indicate that what they have been doing for the last few years has not been optimal. On field performance would also indicate this, unless you choose to believe that our rugby players are inherently inferior to those from rival nations.

Furthermore the fact that Genia has come out and made this statement indicates that there is some doubt in his mind that deans is going to make what he believes to be the right decision when selecting a flyhalf. This bloke is the best rugby player in the world and the Wallaby vice captain and he is in effect openly stating that he doesn't have full confidence in his coach to make the right selection.

I'm not saying Genia knows better than Deans, but I do think it is pretty clear that there is not widespread confidence in Deans and the wallaby program as a whole. And on the current results Genia's opinion is not totally unreasonable.

 

[daz]

You don't have to believe it Daz but to deny that there was not a single other player upset in the Wallabies program recently on the basis of the fact that there are no published sources seems a little naive.

Fair enough.

I shall withdraw semi-gracefully.

 

[Bowside]

If what you say is correct, then the atmosphere must have been pretty toxic to have players hang one of their team-mates out to dry, like they did with Cooper.

Even Blind Freddie could see that the ARU had botched the recovery and rehab programmes in the past couple of seasons - but overall, I doubt the Wallabies Set-up is too much different in character to that in NZ, SA or Wales. some aspects will be stronger, some weaker.

In terms of Team selection, and given the fact that a few players wore Wallaby Jumpers last year due to injuries, who would normally have never earned one, or would have been hard-pressed to break into the match day squad - for players to be upset about Team Selection is somewat superfluous - they would have been alot less upset than the poor bastards who had to try and select a team..

I was, and no longer am, a Deans Supporter.

I expected he would bring structure and direction to a team which often under Jones and Connolly looked like they had never even been introduced to each other before taking the field.

I expected he would bring the 'play what is in front of you' ethos to the Wallabies, and he has not. His selections have been uneven, and at times so safe as to border on the negligent.

Having said that, the Players cannot keep ducking responsibility. These are big ugly boys, and if what the coach is suggesting is not working, if what he has them doing is counter-intuitive, then at some point they can and should stand up and be counted. They have not.

Since MacQueen and Eales left the Wallabies, they have looked - for about 90% of the time, like a team that does not know what their game plan is, and a team that lacks the skills to execute a game plan at the highest level. This blame must ultimatley fall on the players as much the manager.

If after all this time, Cooper is to be believed to have stood up and said what was on everyone else's mind (and I think in the majority, he did - there were many, many conversations which lead-up to his comments) then for Senior Players in the squad, and recent Past-Players, to have said nothing in support, would be a damning indictment on the character of this team.

Its hard to know who to believe - I don't like the AIGs much, but this whole business would never have made it out of the All Blacks Locker Room.

Great post mate.

Whilst the players should no doubt shoulder some of the responsibility, I think it is important to note that for the most part they still give 100 percent every time they pull on the jersey regardless of their orders. Evidence of this can been seen in the performances against South Africa (WC Quarter final), Wales (2012) and the All Blacks (2012 in Brisbane).

The mistakes made may only be little things, but test rugby is the pinnacle of professionalism and at that level the little things often matter more than many can comprehend.

I agree totally with your last sentence though, and I would hazard a guess and say thats what actually separates the two teams over the longer term.

 

[Ruggo]

Would love to know the question Will is responding to in that original quote that started the thread. It would actually add context to what he is saying.

 

[Caputo]

I think Genia has been foolhardy because when JOC (James O'Connor) is picked at 10 he will have seen these articles and may feel unloved or Genia might be required to do some verbal gymnastics and say how good the versatile JOC (James O'Connor) is or asked if upset because QC (Quade Cooper) is not 10.

 

[Richo]

I think Genia has been foolhardy because when JOC (James O'Connor) is picked at 10 he will have seen these articles and may feel unloved or Genia might be required to do some verbal gymnastics and say how good the versatile JOC (James O'Connor) is or asked if upset because QC (Quade Cooper) is not 10.

There's no chance JOC (James O'Connor) read those comments... unless they're were reported in GQ as well.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

JO'C reads?

 

[Scotty]

JO'C reads?

There are pictures in that mag as well!

 

[Braveheart81]

There's no chance JOC (James O'Connor) read those comments. unless they're were reported in GQ as well.

If the ARU wants him to read anything, they have to subtly glue it in to a copy of Women's Day just before JOC (James O'Connor) gets to his hairdresser.

He's always surprised when on one page there are pictures of Kim Kardashian and Miley Cyrus and the next is an article about rugby.

 

[boyo]

JO'C reads?

You'd have to be able to read to a certain extent to use Twitter, Facebook, etc.

 

[USARugger]

Campo manages it..so it can't be that hard