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HSBC 7's: ROUND 5 - LAS VEGAS

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galumay

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Not so sure about QC (Quade Cooper), I do think 7's suits his loose style better than 15's but his discipline is still an issue. A YC magnet, once again one for a head high tackle near the try line.

Pretty amusing that we beat SA without scoring a try!
 
barbarian

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
qwerty51 said:
Why would you play Quade in a final.
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Because he needs that experience if we want to play him in Rio.

Can't agree he 'lost us the game'. Made a few errors late, but none were outright clangers and no-one really shone in the second half (with the exception of Jenkins and Myers).

Few key defensive errors were especially costly, allowing the Fijians to go the length on two occasions when we were evenly numbered across the field.
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galumay

Guest
I think its pretty clear we DONT want him in Rio, at least we found out in time. Interesting that neither he nor Speight look up to the task in 7's.
 
qwerty51

qwerty51

Stirling Mortlock (74)
None were outright changers? Not the one 5m from the line with an unmarked man and he goes himself and loses the ball which results in a Fiji 100m try to take the lead?

Nah not a big error at all.

Or the our last possession of the game and he throws a typical Quade forward pass? Nope. Not defining at all.
 
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
galumay said:
I think its pretty clear we DONT want him in Rio, at least we found out in time. Interesting that neither he nor Speight look up to the task in 7's.
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Quade didn't have a good game in the final but everything else he showed in this tournament has made it look like we probably do want him at Rio.

He's by no means a walk up starter and will be fighting it out for one of the last couple of spots but he's certainly in the conversation. I agree that Speight is very unlikely.

I think our team will be firming as something like:

Probables:

Forwards (5 players): Jenkins, Myers, Cusack

Backs (7 players): Clark, Stannard, Fa'alava'au, Holland, Hutchinson, Fou (if healthy)

If I was picking the squad and everyone was available I would go with:

Forwards: Jenkins, Myers, Cusack, Killingworth, McCutcheon/Foley

Backs: Clark, Stannard, Fa'alava'au, Holland, Hutchinson, Fou, Cooper
 
I like to watch

I like to watch

David Codey (61)
qwerty51 said:
None were outright changers? Not the one 5m from the line with an unmarked man and he goes himself and loses the ball which results in a Fiji 100m try to take the lead?

Nah not a big error at all.

Or the our last possession of the game and he throws a typical Quade forward pass? Nope. Not defining at all.
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I agree it appeared Boyd was unmarked,but Jelodiv missed a standard tackle to allow them to go the length,why no criticism of him?

I'm not sure the pass was forward,you did see the goalposts nearly blowing over?
You saw the kickoff where the wind blew the ball back 10 metres?

Happy for you to criticise him,but if we are going to analyse each players mistakes with the same detail as you do with Quade,it will be a long conversation.
 
qwerty51

qwerty51

Stirling Mortlock (74)
I should mention that the final was the only match I saw so didn't see any of our previous games where Quade was apparently good.
 
barbarian

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
qwerty51 said:
None were outright changers? Not the one 5m from the line with an unmarked man and he goes himself and loses the ball which results in a Fiji 100m try to take the lead?

Nah not a big error at all.

Or the our last possession of the game and he throws a typical Quade forward pass? Nope. Not defining at all.
Click to expand...


Was the man unmarked outside him? I'm not sure he was. And what about the other 6 guys who were well placed to defend the ensuing Fiji attack, but flew up on the inside, giving the Fijians a free man out wide? Or Jeloudev, our fastest man, who should have been able to make the tackle on the man who broke free, but slipped off?

You could point fingers at 4 or 5 blokes who made errors in the last five minutes, all of which were costly.
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Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
The biggest question regarding whether Cooper is a shot of making it is the composition of the backline players you'd pick and who he'd need to make it ahead of.

Fa'alava'au had a great tournament and I think really firmed his spot. I'd say he and Chucky Stannard are pretty much guaranteed spots.

Clark and Holland often play similar roles and I also think they're pretty certain to be there. Sometimes halfback, sometimes playmaker, etc.

Hutchinson has been excellent and would seemingly be our top speedster. Fou is also very likely if he gets healthy.

Whether you can fit in another playmaker or whether Cooper would have to push out Stannard, Fa'alava'au, Clark or Holland for a spot in the squad seems the biggest issue to me.
 
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
I tend to think that decision might come down to Fou's fitness. If Fou misses out I think they have to pick Jeloudev as he'd be the second speedster to Hutchinson.

If Fou is fit it probably provides a bit more flexibility.

I've been impressed with Jelly this year. He's improved a lot.
 
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Regardless, the last two tournaments has been the best our 7s team has looked in a couple of years.

I feel like we're now building well towards Rio and a lot of the fringe players are actually standing up and making solid cases for selection.

Tom Kingston was an asset this tournament and his struggled previously. Tom Lucas looked really good before he injured himself.

Having plenty of players vying for the last couple of spots in the squad is a far better than having to scratch around to fill the squad with players that didn't suck.

Our biggest problem last year was that outside our best 5 or so players we had no depth and were entirely reliant on a few guys to play really well. That seems quite different lately.
 
Highlander35

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
You guys have got Canada, Russia and Wales (Japan in top 8, but Brazil take the invitational spot, so Bowl winner up) next week, so there's another opportunity to still get the maybes a lot of game time while still going deep.
 
Brumby Runner

Brumby Runner

Jason Little (69)
Quade wasn't good at all in the final. Head high tackle, missed tackles, an air swing at the ball on the ground, the dropped ball on the tryline and the final forward pass. But he wasn't the only culprit. Clarkie had a horrible miss on the Fiji halfback on their try line and he then went the whole length of the field to score. Best on ground for the Aussies was definitely Myers followed by Captain Ed. They will be a lot better with the return of Stannard and Holland, and if they can make it back from injury, Fau and Cusack.
 
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