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Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Agree with naza that LaVin is a better player than Mitch Inman is at this point but Mitch is always going to be a 12 and LaVin is a 13. We should have been comparing LaVin to Kellam, another young bloke.
It was good to get LaVin back from league but we could lose him again if he doesn't get recognition at a NSW tour level. Perhaps Hickey is going with Kellam because he knows him from Eastwood.
PS - Scott Fardy has been added to to the tour squad though I don't know why. Should have been picked in the first place.
It was good to get LaVin back from league but we could lose him again if he doesn't get recognition at a NSW tour level. Perhaps Hickey is going with Kellam because he knows him from Eastwood.
PS - Scott Fardy has been added to to the tour squad though I don't know why. Should have been picked in the first place.
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
I think that the ARC did exactly what it had to do as far as revealing talent is concerned. It also did the contrary job of revealing that some guys weren?t good enough to step up.
Most of the Tahs 2008 S14 squad had been finalised by the time the 2007 ARC started but it was a good tool to decide which players would be next cabs off the rank in case the S14 players had to be replaced through injury during the comp. These guys got professional contracts in the NSW Academy in December 2007, or the ?Junior Waratahs? as they are called now.
As an interesting digression ;D here are the 9 guys who got professional Academy contracts after the ARC:
Adam Byrnes ? poached by the Reds
Laurie Weeks ? poached by the Reds
Ben Coridas ? is on the Fiji tour
Al Manning ? used off the bench during the S14; overlooked for Fiji tour
Lachlan Mitchell ? playing in Europe
Daniel Palmer - used off the bench in the S14 and is on the Fiji tour; has 3 year Tahs contract.
Andrew Smith ? is on the Fiji tour
Chris Thomson ? is on the Fiji tour
Patrick McCutcheon ? dunno ? has gone off the radar at Sydney Uni.
Not counting S14 regulars, these guys also played in the ARC and are in the Fiji tour squad:
Rowan Kellam
Ofa Fainga'anuku
Ed Jenkins
Nathan Sievert
Scott Fardy
So that?s quite a few players, not S14 regulars, who played in the ARC and are going to Fiji.
If you mean that the ARC should have produced more players you hadn?t heard about before, well, most players in the ARC had to be heard about else they wouldn?t have been picked for the ARC.
If you mean that you thought there would be more players who jumped out of their skin in the ARC to be noticed for future honours ? you are right there. The only ones I can think of are Ben Alexander, who was already stitched up by the Brumbies, and Ross Duncan, who you mentioned - plus you could probably put Danya Edwards, poached by the Reds, in that category too.
Duncan plays for my Rats club team and has the heart of a warrior in a small man?s body. He?s a case of a fellow who was a star in the ARC, but not big enough to be considered for the S14 by the Tahs. If Waugh and Beau Robinson were not already Tahs regulars and Coridas not able to play 7 and also be a lineout option, things could have been different.
He?s a fellow that the Reds may be interested in if they are looking for a fetcher and they have room.
As for JWH, the other fellow you mentioned: for a young bloke he was decent for the Rays in the ARC and not a star as Duncan was, but it wasn?t his fault he was called another SBW by some plank journalist. He would have been a candidate to go on the Fiji tour had he improved this year in rugby union, but he went to league instead.
You are right in saying that the non-pro ARC players couldn?t match the pro ARC players physically. Aerobically they weren?t too bad after running around in Sydney club rugby under the new ELVs, but they couldn?t match the pros in other areas.
But S14 coaches didn?t expect they would, and had to look beyond what they saw on the park. They always knew that they would have to get them in their pro Academies and work them for a year or two before they?d be effective at the S14 level. Even Ben Alexander, the star find of the ARC, got very little time in the S14 this year.
Agree with formeropenside that the standard would have improved after a few years. I said before the ARC started that it would take 3-4 years to bed down, to weed out the dud players and dud coaches, and a year or two for amateurs to get a bit of physical conditioning.
Most of the Tahs 2008 S14 squad had been finalised by the time the 2007 ARC started but it was a good tool to decide which players would be next cabs off the rank in case the S14 players had to be replaced through injury during the comp. These guys got professional contracts in the NSW Academy in December 2007, or the ?Junior Waratahs? as they are called now.
As an interesting digression ;D here are the 9 guys who got professional Academy contracts after the ARC:
Adam Byrnes ? poached by the Reds
Laurie Weeks ? poached by the Reds
Ben Coridas ? is on the Fiji tour
Al Manning ? used off the bench during the S14; overlooked for Fiji tour
Lachlan Mitchell ? playing in Europe
Daniel Palmer - used off the bench in the S14 and is on the Fiji tour; has 3 year Tahs contract.
Andrew Smith ? is on the Fiji tour
Chris Thomson ? is on the Fiji tour
Patrick McCutcheon ? dunno ? has gone off the radar at Sydney Uni.
Not counting S14 regulars, these guys also played in the ARC and are in the Fiji tour squad:
Rowan Kellam
Ofa Fainga'anuku
Ed Jenkins
Nathan Sievert
Scott Fardy
So that?s quite a few players, not S14 regulars, who played in the ARC and are going to Fiji.
If you mean that the ARC should have produced more players you hadn?t heard about before, well, most players in the ARC had to be heard about else they wouldn?t have been picked for the ARC.
If you mean that you thought there would be more players who jumped out of their skin in the ARC to be noticed for future honours ? you are right there. The only ones I can think of are Ben Alexander, who was already stitched up by the Brumbies, and Ross Duncan, who you mentioned - plus you could probably put Danya Edwards, poached by the Reds, in that category too.
Duncan plays for my Rats club team and has the heart of a warrior in a small man?s body. He?s a case of a fellow who was a star in the ARC, but not big enough to be considered for the S14 by the Tahs. If Waugh and Beau Robinson were not already Tahs regulars and Coridas not able to play 7 and also be a lineout option, things could have been different.
He?s a fellow that the Reds may be interested in if they are looking for a fetcher and they have room.
As for JWH, the other fellow you mentioned: for a young bloke he was decent for the Rays in the ARC and not a star as Duncan was, but it wasn?t his fault he was called another SBW by some plank journalist. He would have been a candidate to go on the Fiji tour had he improved this year in rugby union, but he went to league instead.
You are right in saying that the non-pro ARC players couldn?t match the pro ARC players physically. Aerobically they weren?t too bad after running around in Sydney club rugby under the new ELVs, but they couldn?t match the pros in other areas.
But S14 coaches didn?t expect they would, and had to look beyond what they saw on the park. They always knew that they would have to get them in their pro Academies and work them for a year or two before they?d be effective at the S14 level. Even Ben Alexander, the star find of the ARC, got very little time in the S14 this year.
Agree with formeropenside that the standard would have improved after a few years. I said before the ARC started that it would take 3-4 years to bed down, to weed out the dud players and dud coaches, and a year or two for amateurs to get a bit of physical conditioning.
P
PhucNgo
Guest
formeropenside said:
Some I can think of who've kicked on from (or because of) the ARC. Ben Coridas (Rams -> Waratahs) , Rory Sidey (Rams -> O/S), Lachlan Mitchell (Rams -> O/S), Sam Wykes (Rams -> Western Force), Luke Burgess (Rebels -> Waratahs and Wallabies), Keiran Longbottom (Spirit -> Western Force).
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
As I wrote somewhere else (the Tahs thread probably) Scott Fardy was added to the tour party.
I read in the paper today that there have been others added, mostly due to injury.
Those out are listed followed by the names of their replacements.
4/5 Will Caldwell - Scott Fardy (Rats)
9 Nathan Sievert - Vinnie Byrne (Gordon - poached from Rats)
1 Ofa Fainga'anuku - Aaron Tawera (Easts)
A development player, Lachlan McCaffery, from Chris Hickey's Eastwood club has also been added to the team.
Young Lachlan would be virtually unknown to the average Sydney club fan as he was still at school last year. He made the Oz A Schools team playing no.8 and I remember posting that he was a bit unlucky not to make the 1sts.
Eastwood put him straight into grade rugby and he has been playing in 2nd Grade behind the likes of Josh Dunning and sometimes Gareth Palamo. He has been in the Junior Waratahs all year as an amateur.
None of this is very interesting but it gives Tahs fans an idea of what the pecking order is in a few positions.
Geez, Will Caldwell has been back from injury only about 5 minutes, so I hope that he's not out as long as he was before.
Interesting that Vinnie Byrne is considered the best available alternative to Sievert.
I read in the paper today that there have been others added, mostly due to injury.
Those out are listed followed by the names of their replacements.
4/5 Will Caldwell - Scott Fardy (Rats)
9 Nathan Sievert - Vinnie Byrne (Gordon - poached from Rats)
1 Ofa Fainga'anuku - Aaron Tawera (Easts)
A development player, Lachlan McCaffery, from Chris Hickey's Eastwood club has also been added to the team.
Young Lachlan would be virtually unknown to the average Sydney club fan as he was still at school last year. He made the Oz A Schools team playing no.8 and I remember posting that he was a bit unlucky not to make the 1sts.
Eastwood put him straight into grade rugby and he has been playing in 2nd Grade behind the likes of Josh Dunning and sometimes Gareth Palamo. He has been in the Junior Waratahs all year as an amateur.
None of this is very interesting but it gives Tahs fans an idea of what the pecking order is in a few positions.
Geez, Will Caldwell has been back from injury only about 5 minutes, so I hope that he's not out as long as he was before.
Interesting that Vinnie Byrne is considered the best available alternative to Sievert.
D
domestica
Guest
Obviously not full strength. Vinnie Byrne being our best available 9 is a bit of a laugh.
T
TOCC
Guest
PhucNgo said:
Luke Mclean (Spirit -> Italy national side)
T
TOCC
Guest
regards luke mclean, his actually a 5/8 who can also play fullback,j i used to watch him during schoolboy and juniors days and i rated him over Ben Lucas any day of the week, unfortunately for luke his family wasnt involved as Lucas's family was in the rugby fraternity and therefore didnt get the accolades he deserved.
He would have being a fantastic fullback for the Reds in 09 had they offered him a contract, but the Italian gigged jumped up and it was to hard for a young bloke to dismiss
He would have being a fantastic fullback for the Reds in 09 had they offered him a contract, but the Italian gigged jumped up and it was to hard for a young bloke to dismiss
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
I saw Luke playing for the Qld U/19 team playing fullback and he didn't take my eye. But good luck to him.
The Tahs beat Nadi 31-20. Here's some You Tube vision:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfs_...Waratahs/DevelopmentTours/Fiji-2008/Fiji.aspx
The Tahs beat Nadi 31-20. Here's some You Tube vision:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfs_...Waratahs/DevelopmentTours/Fiji-2008/Fiji.aspx
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