Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
I'll never forget his 21st birthday when he was MOTM in the 3rd Lions test - the game where Googie poached the series with a lineout steal near the Oz line 4 minutes before time and right in line with my seat. That's one trouble with starting so high so young: you have to leave the elite level sooner.
Nobody can blame Smith; he's done his bit. He will fetch top euro (I'm thinking: France) in Europe because all clubs need good players during the RWC campaign, the extensive training period before it and the recovery time after it. I don't think that Mortlock will be far behind him though there was talk earlier of the yen being the likely currency.
When Pocock is the same age as Smith he will be thinking the same. Even Bam Bam's body will be feeling the strain by that time and like Smith now, I'm sure: feeling the mental strain also.
Pocock overtook Smith by the end of 2009, though he'll never be the linker Smith was, but George's absence will affect our depth. Waugh may be a stopgap backup, but he is older than Smith and is more a tight fetcher of the Neil Back type - not bad in a tightly played test, but less valuable when the ball is moved a lot.
If not Waugh short term, it will be interesting to see who emerges as Pocock's backup. Nobody jumps out at you as a specialist fetcher and the best 2 talented schools fetchers since Pocock were still at school in 2009 and are years away. Don't expect them to develop at the same quick rate as Bam Bam. He was a freak who frightened opponents at school and the only schools player you could compare to him at that age was TPN.
As wj indicated: Deans could do an experiment and try TPN at 7 reserve in a inbound game this year, just to have a look. Nobody who saw him in the backrow for Oz Schools would disagree, though he was mainly a 6 or 8. Would be very hard to move off the ball methinks.
Nobody can blame Smith; he's done his bit. He will fetch top euro (I'm thinking: France) in Europe because all clubs need good players during the RWC campaign, the extensive training period before it and the recovery time after it. I don't think that Mortlock will be far behind him though there was talk earlier of the yen being the likely currency.
When Pocock is the same age as Smith he will be thinking the same. Even Bam Bam's body will be feeling the strain by that time and like Smith now, I'm sure: feeling the mental strain also.
Pocock overtook Smith by the end of 2009, though he'll never be the linker Smith was, but George's absence will affect our depth. Waugh may be a stopgap backup, but he is older than Smith and is more a tight fetcher of the Neil Back type - not bad in a tightly played test, but less valuable when the ball is moved a lot.
If not Waugh short term, it will be interesting to see who emerges as Pocock's backup. Nobody jumps out at you as a specialist fetcher and the best 2 talented schools fetchers since Pocock were still at school in 2009 and are years away. Don't expect them to develop at the same quick rate as Bam Bam. He was a freak who frightened opponents at school and the only schools player you could compare to him at that age was TPN.
As wj indicated: Deans could do an experiment and try TPN at 7 reserve in a inbound game this year, just to have a look. Nobody who saw him in the backrow for Oz Schools would disagree, though he was mainly a 6 or 8. Would be very hard to move off the ball methinks.
