The U15 Reds didn't look that strong when I saw them play a few weeks ago. They won, but only just and against a side full of reserve players.
My observation on the NSW team was that there was an overemphasis on selecting backrowers based on their ball running ability. Many of the backrowers displayed very strong ball running capabilities at Camden and hence stood out to the casual observer. However picking all them in 1 team, when many of those players have obvious deficiencies at set pieces isn't viable at this next level. eg. In game 1, the starting no.8 clearly didn't know how to pack into a scrum. He simply leaned on the back of the scrum like a league scrum.
The other interesting observation re the backs is the idea of do you select talented players regardless or position or at this level do you need to start to consider position specific selections. At one stage, the NSW team had 3 players (all who are very very good) on the field who all play 10 for club / rep (playing 10,12,15) and another 3 (again, who are all very good) who all play 15 for club / rep (playing 11,13,14).
I somewhat agree with you on the backrowers, it's all well and good to have a couple of ball runners but there needs to be workhorses in the pack 'doing their shitters' which was lacking, and in my opinion is lacking all the way up to the Wallabies. I blame league
.
They did have a 7 who was 'Mr Everywhere' very quick around the paddock, but unfortunately just ineffective.
In my opinion Cooper from Bathurst showed he was the best all round backrower.
I can remember who was the starting 8, but I do agree there were a lot of quality players, playing out of position, which could have been why the #8 didn't know how to pack in. Unless it was the big fella Cordell, then yes I agree 100%.
Wilson, Finn & Payton are all quality 10's and great footballers who deserved to be there, but as you said they all cant play 10 at the same time so where do you play them and who do you leave out.
Cant remember if Charlie played #12 or #13,
who unfortunately I think is playing union for a bit of extra training and is destined for league.
Asher was a standout on the wing. Julian had a very quiet game and I've seen him play much better than he did against the Reds. Not sure why Isaac wasnt playing, another quality fullback. I know he had a broken nose but he played the first game with it broken.
For me the biggest omission was a young bloke called Bailey Logue, who in my opinion is the best full back in the comp. The sad thing is he was selected to play in the Next Gen comp but decided not play. Not sure why but this young bloke needs a huge sales pitch on Union because you can bet the NRL is on the phone to him every week.
There were only 3 players that stood out to me, Isaac at #9 was superb, Wilson at #10 and Asher on the wing.
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