KevinO
Geoff Shaw (53)
Plenty of chat on the match thread about it.
Rebels 2014
- Thread starter James Buchanan
- Start date
- Status
Plenty of chat on the match thread about it.
Jimmy C
Allen Oxlade (6)
Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
Weeks dropped after his game against the Cheetahs? Paul Alo-Emile must be flash.
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Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
I focussed on the dropping of Weeks but the big story is the totality of changes that TT has made. Six dropped after what appeared to be a scintillating performance. Imagine how many he'll spear if they start losing? Melbourne club players should be alert for the possibility of a call up by Totality at any time.
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Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
Actually he's not.
There was always a strong suspicion that Totality Tony was a hospital pass from Bill Pulver to the Rebels in order to avoid a termination payout from the ARU. The rumour was that the Melbournians were told who their successful candidate was to be.
It's early days but changing 40% of a team which had just played arguably the most outstanding game in the Club's history was certainly innovative but not what might be expected from a coach whose most recent gig was as assistant coach of our national side.
But then you have to think back to the weirdness of that appointment and McGahan boasting to the Irish Times:
"So I'll be dealing with the totality of the strength and conditioning, the medical, the rugby side of things, strategy, the review, preview of the game itself and also the individuals."
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Highlander35
Steve Williams (59)
Woodward. Can you like for one second, not be a complete fuckwit.
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Dumbledore
Dick Tooth (41)
Did anyone hear Tony's post-match conference? I missed it, haven't seen any coverage of it either.
On another note, I wish the Rebels would release their internal stats from the match. The stats you get on Fox, SANZAR, Rugby Stats, ESPN etc. are all so variable that it makes it incredibly difficult to get a numbers-based view on what happened. The eye-test is still just about the most useful piece of analysis we have available to us. Just wish we had the numbers to look at and go okay, X player missed Y tackles and was out of place for Z tackles, on the other hand he had J runs and got over the gainline each time.
The broad spectrum team stats - runs, possession, tackles etc. have us on virtually level footing with The Force. However we got absolutely pumped. So where did we lose the game on a more micro level?
The club are going to have the numbers, I just wish they'd put them out there in an effort to further engage what is, I imagine, a pretty disillusioned fanbase right now.
On another note, I wish the Rebels would release their internal stats from the match. The stats you get on Fox, SANZAR, Rugby Stats, ESPN etc. are all so variable that it makes it incredibly difficult to get a numbers-based view on what happened. The eye-test is still just about the most useful piece of analysis we have available to us. Just wish we had the numbers to look at and go okay, X player missed Y tackles and was out of place for Z tackles, on the other hand he had J runs and got over the gainline each time.
The broad spectrum team stats - runs, possession, tackles etc. have us on virtually level footing with The Force. However we got absolutely pumped. So where did we lose the game on a more micro level?
The club are going to have the numbers, I just wish they'd put them out there in an effort to further engage what is, I imagine, a pretty disillusioned fanbase right now.
swingpass
Peter Sullivan (51)
i have only watched the opening 25 minutes, couldn't bring myself (as yet) to watch anymore. the force did all the attacking and had most of the posession. we kicked away at least 4 of our first chances and didnt recover any of them. the force also could do no wrong, one of those days when everything stuck and the scores came.
for the rest of the game we "won" 7 - 0, so its not surpirsing the stats are similar
what annoyed me most was that last week against the cheetahs we ran and attacked from wide and deep, right from the outset. this was really effective and got everyone into the game early on. however, this was apparently not in the game plan, hedger said so at half time, hegarty i believe was dropped because of it.
the short answer, from the little i saw was a team completely off its game, but who the f--- knows why ?
any answers TT
for the rest of the game we "won" 7 - 0, so its not surpirsing the stats are similar
what annoyed me most was that last week against the cheetahs we ran and attacked from wide and deep, right from the outset. this was really effective and got everyone into the game early on. however, this was apparently not in the game plan, hedger said so at half time, hegarty i believe was dropped because of it.
the short answer, from the little i saw was a team completely off its game, but who the f--- knows why ?
any answers TT
Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
A most interesting observation, swingpass, and very illuminating. This, if reflective of the true situation, taken together with the extraordinary Irish Times interview suggests a coach obsessed with control. This is exactly what the enterprising young Rebels team don't need. They need to be encouraged to express themselves.
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MACCA
Ron Walden (29)
I think Bruce has been far too kind to the Coach. Dropping 6 players from a winning team must be one of the weirdest pieces of coaching I can recall. The Coach needs to be held accountable.
Dumbledore
Dick Tooth (41)
Didn't an almost identical thing happen last year with the Blues? Won their first game or two nicely, Kirwan dropped/rotated/whatever a stack of players and they lost pretty handily to the Bulls?
Someone floated a theory on another rebels thread. Not tryin to make excuses for the performance on the weekend, but do you think some of the team could have been suffering the same fate as Tom? We all know gastro is highly contagious and the group are tight knit. Not trying to take anything away from the force, but it just didn't look like the team that I saw last week against the cheetahs.
Forcefield
Ken Catchpole (46)
Okay so dropping 6 players didn't work out too flash in practice, but was it such a terrible idea in theory?
Rebels v Force games, prior to yesterday, had always been decided by a try or less. So the impact of the bench is paramount. If you were confident in your guys (like Neville and Lahiff) not to fuck up, wouldn't you run out a team that you thought would be able to match the Force only to win the game in the final 20 with your superior bench? Yeah, I know, I know- it didn't work- but maybe the theory wasn't so bad. Neville and Woodward are capable of being very, very good players. Who knew they would have such shockers?
I agree with what Bruce is getting at though. Maybe someone like Scott Johnson or Todd Louden would be a better fit for them.
Rebels v Force games, prior to yesterday, had always been decided by a try or less. So the impact of the bench is paramount. If you were confident in your guys (like Neville and Lahiff) not to fuck up, wouldn't you run out a team that you thought would be able to match the Force only to win the game in the final 20 with your superior bench? Yeah, I know, I know- it didn't work- but maybe the theory wasn't so bad. Neville and Woodward are capable of being very, very good players. Who knew they would have such shockers?
I agree with what Bruce is getting at though. Maybe someone like Scott Johnson or Todd Louden would be a better fit for them.
Highlander35
Steve Williams (59)
No. No Scott Johnson. Fuck off. 100%.
Liked him initially. But he's a patter merchant. The most you could say is that he has facilitated the development of Matt Scott, blooding some new faces and the rejuvenation of Jim Hamilton.
I can think of nothing he's done that couldn't have been done by anyone else for a lot cheaper.
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Liked him initially. But he's a patter merchant. The most you could say is that he has facilitated the development of Matt Scott, blooding some new faces and the rejuvenation of Jim Hamilton.
I can think of nothing he's done that couldn't have been done by anyone else for a lot cheaper.
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The Rebels clearly underestimated the Western Force.
The word from Melbourne is that Higgers was trash-talking the Force all week. Great way to build-up any cockyness.....
McGahan obviously was of the view that having some of his good players coming off the bench would cover all contingencies.
If Foley made a decision like this the press would be all over him like a rash.
It was the last 15 minutes of the first half which was just as important as the 4 tries for the Force. MCGahan made his changes, the Rebels had 75+% possession and still couldn't get any points.
Blind Freddy knew that the team would lift for Matt Hodgson's 100th game. Matt's 21+ tackles and try certainly helped.
The Western Force played the game-plan that they showed in their trial games - especially against the Pampas XV. Clearly they were outgunned by currently #1 & 3 on the ladder in the first 2 games but the 2nd half against the Brumbies showed hints of the game they played against the Rebels. Just needed an 80 minute effort.
Concerned about Higgers as he showed little leadership on the field in this game and in the end the Ref wasn't even listening to him.
The word from Melbourne is that Higgers was trash-talking the Force all week. Great way to build-up any cockyness.....
McGahan obviously was of the view that having some of his good players coming off the bench would cover all contingencies.
If Foley made a decision like this the press would be all over him like a rash.
It was the last 15 minutes of the first half which was just as important as the 4 tries for the Force. MCGahan made his changes, the Rebels had 75+% possession and still couldn't get any points.
Blind Freddy knew that the team would lift for Matt Hodgson's 100th game. Matt's 21+ tackles and try certainly helped.
The Western Force played the game-plan that they showed in their trial games - especially against the Pampas XV. Clearly they were outgunned by currently #1 & 3 on the ladder in the first 2 games but the 2nd half against the Brumbies showed hints of the game they played against the Rebels. Just needed an 80 minute effort.
Concerned about Higgers as he showed little leadership on the field in this game and in the end the Ref wasn't even listening to him.
Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
Rebel yell: Melbourne hopes ‘fairly harsh and very brutal’ review lead to attitude turnaround
So now we know what went wrong. It was the players' attitude. But even in defeat Totality showed the analytical rigour that caused him to be recruited from Ireland to school Robbie Deans and transform the Wallabies:
“The guys are getting better at maintaining a higher level for longer at training sessions."
That'll certainly help. Straight after you've conceded four tries in 27 minutes to a team expected to have a death grip on the Thanks-For-Coming award, it's entirely appropriate to put this week's focus into "maintaining a higher level for longer". Next week we'll move on to "getting to a higher level before the other mob have streaked away with the game."
"McGahan expects to start his strongest 15 against the Crusaders after making six changes against the Force." That would suggest another six changes in the opposite direction. Brilliant.
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So now we know what went wrong. It was the players' attitude. But even in defeat Totality showed the analytical rigour that caused him to be recruited from Ireland to school Robbie Deans and transform the Wallabies:
“The guys are getting better at maintaining a higher level for longer at training sessions."
That'll certainly help. Straight after you've conceded four tries in 27 minutes to a team expected to have a death grip on the Thanks-For-Coming award, it's entirely appropriate to put this week's focus into "maintaining a higher level for longer". Next week we'll move on to "getting to a higher level before the other mob have streaked away with the game."
"McGahan expects to start his strongest 15 against the Crusaders after making six changes against the Force." That would suggest another six changes in the opposite direction. Brilliant.
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Tomikin
David Codey (61)
No its a 35 man squad there is another 6 changes he can make with out going back to a team that won..
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