Kafe's Chalkboard
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Grandmaster Flash
Johnnie Wallace (23)
Didn't Lee used to say Kurtley had a great passing game for a schooboy back in his Joey days? Have the Tahs coached it out of him?
Edit: I can't spell...
Edit: I can't spell...
Tipping aside, Kafe knows his stuff in game and player analysis I think. He summed up the differences in how these two have developed over the past couple of years well. Cooper is clearly the better of the two at the moment. I didn't realise Beale had such a passing length problem. I still think the "dancing man" stepping style they both try at times may lead to fractured ribs against a switched on defence someday. Interesting he didn't look at their other plays - chip kicks / kick passes etc. Not surprising he chose not to examine their defensive abilities...
Ash
Michael Lynagh (62)
cyclopath said:
Both of them have given some nice cross field kicks that led to tries. Beale's grubber was good vs the Highlanders, though.
Defensive abilities? What abilties are you talking about?
But seriously, really interesting peice from Kafer. You can rubbish his tipping, but his analysis is damn good. I wonder how differently Beale would be playing if he got to go on that EOYT in place of Cooper. What doesn't seem to help Beale is that the Tahs really struggle to play with any width, whereas Cooper normally seems to have a long option floating around. That's a big change from the Queensland sides of a few years ago when they hit the bottom - I can recall the Reds having possession, and all 15 men were in a 5m circle of the ball.
But damn. Cooper has a sweet pass.
S
steiner
Guest
Beale can't pass? News to me. He has thrown a few hospitals of recent times though. But its a fine line between madness and genius and Beale will show his genius in time. Especially when the backline learns to run off him properly.
I think it is a chicken and egg argument to a point.
The Tahs have played a more conservative game with less width than the Reds so far this season.
The Tahs receivers are therefore in closer so Beales stats would suggest he isn't going as wide. Whether that is because Beale can't go that wide, I don't know.
That said Cooper has a great wide pass
On passing styles, I remember reading an article quoting Michael O'Conner where he was of the opinion that the rugby spin pass was not as effective as the league pass. If the examples you use is Cooper's classic style and Beale's league pass he appears to be wrong.
The Tahs have played a more conservative game with less width than the Reds so far this season.
The Tahs receivers are therefore in closer so Beales stats would suggest he isn't going as wide. Whether that is because Beale can't go that wide, I don't know.
That said Cooper has a great wide pass
On passing styles, I remember reading an article quoting Michael O'Conner where he was of the opinion that the rugby spin pass was not as effective as the league pass. If the examples you use is Cooper's classic style and Beale's league pass he appears to be wrong.
Ash
Michael Lynagh (62)
fatprop said:
Yeah, I don't think Beale's long passing game is an bad as Kafer insinuated, but rather it has everything to do with the style of play from the Tahs and highlights their lack of width. What is for sure is one: that Beale does not have the pass that Cooper has, and two: that Beale doesn't get the opportunities Cooper gets, either.
NTA; if you can get your hands on that Kafe's Chalkboard, do so (or just download the whole Rugby Club episode). That skip pass to Horne went the whole of 6m and as fatprop said, was one of the highlighted passes. One of the sticking points made by Kafer was that the longest pass Beale has thrown this year has been 6m, and those passes have either not been in front of the man, have been a little too high (the aforementioned pass, which wasn't that bad really), or have dipped in the end. Kafer then compared it to Cooper, who was throwing a 17m pass in front of his man at chest height, and then showed Cooper doing it again from static ball. The point of the segment was to highlight that Beale's passing this year hasn't been of the best quality and has been in close only with the Tahs showing a real lack of width, whereas Cooper has been playing in a team with a lot more width, and has been passing sweetly.
If that's the gameplans adopted by both teams, (width vs tight) it's very unsurprisingly that Cooper has a better long pass as, no doubt, he'll be practicing it in training a whole lot more, whilst Beale will be practising picking off his forward runners or trying to put his closer centre runners into holes.
Yeah. O'Connor has been whining about that for years. And yes, he's wrong.
The point O'Connor has is threefold, one, that balls off a spin pass are harder to catch (granted, but even I can catch it reliably in touch games and these guys are pros), two, it takes longer to setup and pass vs a simple old school "league" pass, and three, that it stops the players from drawing and passing. O'Connor has some valid points, but he's a muppet for wanting them not to use it at all. When drawining and passing, unless you're a Larkham (or a Cooper with how well he is passing) it is bloody hard to throw a bullet pass right before contact, so of course an old league style pass is correct for 99% of players when drawing and passing. But when spreading quick ball to exploit a compressed defensive line, or to fire a long pass to a centre with a yawning hole (see the sweet pass Giteau used to put Cross into a hole for the first Force try), then a spin pass is the way to go.
Speaking of drawing and passing, I hate the lack of that skill in a lot of today's players. The first Reds try against the Cheetahs saw Braid, 3M, Humphries, Weekes and perhaps another forward I forgot all drawing and passing or offloading in contact - it's not bloody hard. Even I never had a problem with it, and I was never a good rugby player and played mainly flank/lock with only a few games in the backs. It astounds me when professionals have a two man overlap and they simply shovel the ball and let the defenders drift with the ball. At least if they drift with a cut out pass you have an inside option, whereas by simply shovelling the ball normally the inside option disappears as it gives the defence more time.
Scotty
David Codey (61)
This is about the first thing I've agreed with him for a while. Last night he also said that Shepherd is a winger and Mitchell a fullback - most here wouldn't agree with that (including me).
Lets face, it is pretty fucking obvious that the Reds are playing with more width than the Tahs, and it is also pretty fucking obvious to all that watch rugby in this country that Cooper has the best long pass of any of the 10s. Not rocket science from Kafer - I don't really know why he is so highly thought of.
P
PhucNgo
Guest
The thing that Kafe didn't mention was that Cooper can pass equally well off both wings. While Beale may not have as expansive a pass because of the Tahs game plan, he's still kack at any distance from L2R.
P
PhucNgo
Guest
Scotty said:
I agree Scotty. Also, was it just me, or did Shepherd seem like he'd lost about 5m over a 100. Looked to me like he'd be flat out beating Gerrard over 50 metres.
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