Rebels 2012

[Lindommer]

Betham gone. Anyone know where to?

And his schoolmate, Afusipa Taumoepeau. Two talented young blokes who've now racked up a couple of clubs each in the early 20s. Why?

I admire Macqueen's loyalty to his former Brumby charges but keeping both Huxley AND Mortlock seems one old stager too many. Can't see either of them getting much game time.

 

[Slim 293]

Macqueen never coached Huxley... but I agree...

 

[Army_Gav]

And his schoolmate, Afusipa Taumoepeau. Two talented young blokes who've now racked up a couple of clubs each in the early 20s. Why?

I admire Macqueen's loyalty to his former Brumby charges but keeping both Huxley AND Mortlock seems one old stager too many. Can't see either of them getting much game time.

I thought Sipa was picked up by the Tahs (not in the squad list)? I guess Betham was put off by the fact of packing down at 6 against the Reds (if I recall)?

 

[Melbourne Terrace]

don't know why we ditched betham, we are so short on a quality winger it's not funny. Picking quality props at a young age is incredibly difficult so this new kid we got i'm hoping turns into something decent soon.

1. Weeks
2. Frier
3. Blake
4. Pyle
5.Campbell
6. Saf
7. Lipman
8. Gaz
9. Phipps
10. Danny
11. Vuna
12. Bieber
13. Inman/Johansen
14. Gerrard
15. KB (Kurtley Beale)

16. Heath Tessman/Nic Henderson/Paul Alo Emile
17. Robinson
18. Jones
19. Chamberlain
20. Kingi
21. Mortlock
22. Hilgendorf


I wouldn't been keen with gerrard on the wing and would much prefer him closer to the action but i don't know how fast either inman or this lloyd fellow is. Mortlock cannot make 55 minutes, let alone last a whole game, therefore making it necessary to bench him. None of this pre planning to sub bs. Huxley to be bannished.

 

[Army_Gav]

MT

Ged would start ahead of Freier, considering his 2011 season. Gerrard is fine on the wing, gives us another kicking option, and allows KB (Kurtley Beale) to run the ball back like he so often does.

 

[spectator]

Given that JOC (James O'Connor) will be playing closer in and Beale is at the back, that squad looks decidedly bereft of pace out wide to me. Who are the out and out speedsters apart from the aforementioned?

 

[Melbourne Terrace]

LG

such a bs rule, these players are lifting the standard of the competition. The ARU are way too tied up in the wallabies to realise how much more valuable super rugby is too VIC and WA than the national team they barely get to see. how do you even get close to replacing players like cipriani or delve without signing some dead shit australian with no potential. Australian Rugby has bugger all depth, let alone Victoria and with nearly the entire junior nursery in NSW, ACT and QLD there should be a relaxation on the rules for force and rebels regarding foreigners to balance things out. i (and i'd assume most other fans) would prefer to pay and watch good quality rugby each week than some piss poor standard.

 

[Slim 293]

It's hard to lift the standard of the competition when you finish last...

I'm curious as to which 'dead shit Australian' has no potential?

 

[Melbourne Terrace]

and yet without those foreigners the floggings would have been even worse.

the point was that any quality australian player is generally going to be locked away in his contract for several years when looking for replacement players. when you try to fill in gaps in squads each year with the few off contract players teams generally end up with those like huxley who fall below the acceptable line in super rugby rather than be able to look overseas to much better stocks of players and who would actually add to the competition.

 

[Lee Grant]

It was always going to be hard for a new franchise starting up. We all knew the quality would be higher if we stuck with 4 teams but having the extra foreigners to help Melbourne start up made sense and it helped the other teams from being raided so much too. This was something one suggested on a Kiwi forum before the Force started up though I had no idea then that Queensland would be hammered so much.

But beyond the start phase, ending in 2015 when the Melbourne dispensation ends, we can't sanction the employment of too many foreigners. We have only 5 professional teams and unlike NZ and the RSA we have no semi-professional rugby between Club and Super rugby to assess domestic players in. Super rugby is the first exposure of Oz players to rugby above the Club level and we have to process as many as we can week in, week out to pick our national squads.

Things are not black and white: they never are in life. I can see arguments the other way.

What the ARU have to do at the elite level (there are more pressing problems at grass roots IMO) is to put things in place so that NSW and Qld players are encouraged to move to Vic and WA (the Brumbies are already nearly all from outside the ACT).

Because of the tyranny of distance the Force will likely have the greatest need 5-10 years from now. Melbourne, closer to NSW and Qld, will be better off.

What those things should be could be the subject of a new thread but I am convinced that the continued use of of a lot of foreigners is not the right answer.

 

[Slim 293]

What's interesting is that the Reds have the same amount of Canberra juniors as the Brumbies...

 

[Ruggo]

Melbourne punched above their weight in their first year. Sure they faded half way through but that first half of the season they did well. Don't forget they won their first game in only their second start when most prodicted they would win nothing in their first year. They also won away from home don't forget.

 

[Lee Grant]

What's interesting is that the Reds have the same amount of Canberra juniors as the Brumbies...

So they also have 3?

 

[Army_Gav]

Melbourne punched above their weight in their first year. Sure they faded half way through but that first half of the season they did well. Don't forget they won their first game in only their second start when most prodicted they would win nothing in their first year. They also won away from home don't forget.

I won't, Brumbies (Home), Canes (Home) and Force (Away)

 

[waratahjesus]

I don't think you need to worry about player recruitment. Teams will go up and down thatsthe way life is, but when a team finds success such as QLD it leaves players without room to progress, just look at the QLD thread to see 4-5 names that people are saying are ready now, there the guysmelbourne need, not washed up englishmen.

 

[Slim 293]

So they also have 3?

Yep, 2 x Faingaas and Shepherdson...

 

[spectator]

And his schoolmate, Afusipa Taumoepeau. Two talented young blokes who've now racked up a couple of clubs each in the early 20s. Why?

I admire Macqueen's loyalty to his former Brumby charges but keeping both Huxley AND Mortlock seems one old stager too many. Can't see either of them getting much game time.

Agree Lindommer, both guys are getting a bit long in the tooth. Feel a bit sorry for Betham and Taoumopeau, as I didn't really think they got much of a chance to prove themselves at the Rebels. Maybe they're off overseas and will make a name for themselves in another comp?

 

[Army_Gav]

Agree Lindommer, both guys are getting a bit long in the tooth. Feel a bit sorry for Betham and Taoumopeau, as I didn't really think they got much of a chance to prove themselves at the Rebels. Maybe they're off overseas and will make a name for themselves in another comp?

And they say there's a lack of talent depth in Australia?

 

[James Buchanan]

Ultimately, both players have been looked at in depth by a couple of franchises and let go from both.

Its sad, but it happens.

 

[light]

I wouldn't been keen with gerrard on the wing and would much prefer him closer to the action but i don't know how fast either inman or this lloyd fellow is. Mortlock cannot make 55 minutes, let alone last a whole game, therefore making it necessary to bench him. None of this pre planning to sub bs. Huxley to be bannished.

If it is Lloyd Johansson you are talking about, than a lot quicker than Gerrard. From his schoolboy days he was played either in the centre's or at 10 (I'm still groggy from yesterday so this is a memory tester, LG would probably know more) but the kid still holds a few sprint records in the GPS competition in Queensland. He was lightening quick over 100m (got sub 11 sec I think) and even more so over the shorter stuff, had a few injuries and never really broke through so I would expect he's slower than he was but certainly no slouch. Whether or not he can play wing is another question ...