Reds 2014

[Forcefield]

I wonder if Badger would like to play for Graham again?

 

[TOCC]

I don't know of an Australian team outside the Rebels that wants JOC (James O'Connor).

Every team in Australia would love to sign JOC (James O'Connor), but the salary he demands puts him outside most of their salary caps.

 

[Scoey]

His contract is up and he's done 2 knees in 2 years without playing a single game for the reds.

Oh yep I was aware of that. I just read your post as he had signed somewhere else. I would understand if the Reds didn't renew but would be blown away if he was the one that went looking elsewhere first. I hope the Reds give him one more year though. Would love to see him have a go for us!

 

[Scotty]

We do need an outside back. Maybe even 2. I'd like to sign up the Honey Badger. Maybe O'Conner but i dont know whether the price would be worth the reward. JO'C probably wouldnt come. We could potentially get Beale pretty cheap if we wanted him but i dont know again whether the risk is worth it.

Go the Honey Badger for sure. He would be a fantastic addition and have a great following here.

 

[Scotty]

Then work on getting Mogg to come home, whichever year that may be.

 

[USARugger]

Muscles don't have memories. Not having a dig at you, but it is a term that is incorrect.

I know but I'd rather just use the common phrase than bog the thread for 5 pages explaining motor learning and procedural memory states.

Honey Badger would be a nice like-for-like replacement for Ioane.

 

[humanbeast]

As much as I would really like the reds to have a crack at SBW without link there I'm not sure you could control QC (Quade Cooper) and him together, Honey Badger is a much better option

 

[East Coast Aces]

Looking at the players leaving next year and their (possible) replacements from the QLD comp:

Samo - Browning
Jono Owen - (Phil Kite), (Paraka), (Kevin Davis), (Sam Denny)
Dave McDulling - Enever, O'Donohue
Morahan -
Lance - (Placid), (Tuilagi)
Ioane - (Felsman), (Parker), (

Danny Routledge)​

Aidan Toua is also off contract end of this year. I really hope they re-sign him.

If the Reds can keep Stolberg and Enever another year in the EPS then I would sign O'Donohue full time. But if not you have to look further down the track to who will replace him and AWH.

I think the replacement for Lance should be a young fly-half who Quade and the Reds can develop. I think from club rugby you have Dion Tuamata from Sunnybank as a good option. Or maybe if there is a School Boy prodigy this year.

I would get T.White signed to replace Morahan as a centre/wing replacement. Just imagine what a professional environment would do for him considering he's never been in the academy, the 2 x 2 hour training sessions a week and he's the best 13 in the comp every year since 2010.

 

[RedsHappy]

The big question that lurks behind all of these 2014 recruitment requirements and possibilities is that of the calibre of R Graham as team designer and then skilful recruiter of key talent, both upcoming and proven, and both from within and without QLD.

Let's face it, his late 2010 to mid-2012 record at the Force was, most generously, mediocre, and less generously, appalling. Many parties I know in WARugby rightly or wrongly believe he badly mishandled the JO'C negotiations that led to JO'C's departure.

We have yet to see how a year with Link and the Reds - and the better platform he obviously has with a QRU than with a WARU - has developed his talents in this crucial aspect of his role as 2014 rolls around.

And, yes, like others above I agree that we require a number of external recruits to bolster our 2014 and beyond playing stocks, we cannot purely rely on home-grown timber to keep supplying the Reds with all of the right talent at all of the right times. In 2014 it's almost certain that, at minimum, the Tahs, Blues, Brumbies and Chiefs attacks will further improve, we cannot in any way be complacent regarding the talent we'll need to keep credibly aiming for S15 champions status.

 

[USARugger]

With Link as Director of Coaching does he have any input into this selection and developmental process? I'm still not exactly sure on what Ewen's exact role is at the Reds now. I know you've some connections RedsHappy, got any insight?

 

[Jets]

With Link as Director of Coaching does he have any input into this selection and developmental process? I'm still not exactly sure on what Ewen's exact role is at the Reds now. I know you've some connections RedsHappy, got any insight?

Link is Head Coach. They changed the names of their roles but mostly do what they did last year. I think RG was involved more in the planning at the start of the year from a logistics point of view.

 

[RedsHappy]

^ USARugger Link is clearly moving away from all but an advisory and support role to RG in terms of 2014 squad planning, who's staying, leaving, etc. He made this clear when questions arose re DI's 2014 dramas. All matters 2014 are principally with RG now, which is logical given Link's avowed departure from the Reds/QRU from August (sniff, sniff).

There are rumours around - and I stress just that, I have no hard data at all - that Jim Carmichael may want to return to Melbourne soon-ish for personal and career reasons and I think his contract is up for renewal in late 2013. If JC should depart, and Link is not chosen for the Wallabies (which I think is more than 50/50 against), then I'd love to see Link as QRU CEO as I am sure he's smart enough, and now commercially savvy enough after 3 years with JC, to do this key job justice. Link has of course said he now wants to stay coaching, but what if no suitable international jobs arise in time - surely another S15 franchise is no step up or forward for him.

 

[USARugger]

Will be sad to see JC go as well. He's clearly been working very hard to grow rugby in QLD and I thought he handled the DI situation superbly.

Been done over a million times on here that any of the other Oz Super XV would be a lateral or likely --backwards step for Link. Maybe he'll get lucky and the French job will open up this Summer or maybe even South Africa in the next year. If not, can't say I wouldn't mind keeping him around a few more years

On another note.. what is going on with Shipperley this year? I ask because his form has clearly dipped to the point where I saw him listed in the 'Super Rugby Coaches Wallaby XV' and had to do a triple-take. He was incredibly exciting in bits of 2012 but has really fallen flat this year. Is there something else going on or is this recurring 'back injury' something more serious? He seems to have either lost his pace or is afraid to back himself now for whatever reason. Some of his best moments in 2012 (hello Tom Carter) were from him simply pinning his ears back and burning dirt under his boots. Another thing I've noticed is he has started going into contact like he is trying to do his best impression of Sitaleki Timani, in 2012 he would go in with his shoulders down and showed some impressive strength in the contact zone. I just haven't seen any of this in 2013 and I don't like it!!

 

[lewisr]

I think the replacement for Lance should be a young fly-half who Quade and the Reds can develop. I think from club rugby you have Dion Tuamata from Sunnybank as a good option. Or maybe if there is a School Boy prodigy this year.

That would've been Sam Lane who played a few times last year but we let him go to the Tahs. Big mistake in my opinion. He was absolutely brilliant and integrated straight into super rugby like hed been playing for the reds for years. South Aftrican School boy but Aussie at heart. Unfortunately he seems to be tearing ACLs left right and centre... Fingers crossed he can get that issue sorted!

 

[Jets]

He had an option to stay in Brisbane but took up the option to head back to Sydney. He wasn't going to be a long term option at the Reds.
Tuamata has been a bit out of form so far this season. He has great potential but will have to find some form. How's UJ going? He's meant to be the next big thing.
U20's will be interesting. Reds might look at someone like McIntyre as a possible long term option.

 

[RedsHappy]

USARugger - as I've said elsewhere, agree totally re Shipps. You're so right re his body height into contact, especially near the try line, great leg drive, getting the final attack angle right, and low body height into defensive contact was a very compelling feature of his 2012 skill-set. Such was often why he'd actually score the try vs getting the raw push into touch from fast cover defence that's befallen a few of our near-tries this year and others.

It's a matter of record that he seems to have had some back-related problems on and off this year, but if that was serious Link wouldn't have played him.

I have the same moments of unsatisfied wonder re Taps 2013 version - he seems to have almost entirely lost his instant-on, cunning lines, acceleration into productive gaps, and great attacking penetrations off QC (Quade Cooper) and others.

With a soilid-ish but far from spectacular Lance at 15, a diluted Shipps and de-tuned Taps, our whole back line is relying too much on our 9, 10, and 11. A Fainga'a temporarily at 12 may help, but he's simply not a classic attacking 12 and likely never will be. And please let's not kid ourselves overly; the latest Sharks version we just faced was roughly as injury-ravaged and run down as we were vs the Bulls away last year, with similar results in reverse. I'll surely hope and want to see that same Reds back line dynamism repeated vs sides with better all-round defence and less prone to handling error.

 

[RedsHappy]

Btw boys, and Scott Allen will I think agree, keep an eye out for S Greene at Wests this year. Wonderful potential at 10 or 15, almost single-handedly won the QLD GPS rugby title for BGS vs Nudgee last year. I'm sure he could appear in Red in a few years.

 

[USARugger]

RedsHappy

I don't know about you but it felt like the Bulls beat us much worse than we just beat the Sharks..

I'd be interested to learn exactly what the nature of his back injury is. If it's a disc-related injury in his lower back I could see how that could directly impact him in the collision area and may explain his tendency to run high (it's far more comfortable than going low when your lower back is crocked at all). I just can't think of many other reasons why. With Taps it seems he has lost a bit of his 'nous' and isn't seeing the gaps he was before but he is still doing the basic stuff right. I just can't imagine a professional player would suddenly forget how to control their body height in contact after doing it well for so long. That wouldn't be a loss of form, it would be a loss of a very basic skill -- which makes me think there may be more than him just having a poor year.

 

[something]

Btw boys, and Scott Allen will I think agree, keep an eye out for S Greene at Wests this year. Wonderful potential at 10 or 15, almost single-handedly won the QLD GPS rugby title for BGS vs Nudgee last year. I'm sure he could appear in Red in a few years.

I was going to post this. I dont know how he has been going at Wests but saw him in a few BGS games last year as i have ties with grammar and he was really good. Bit on the smaller side i think but over 40m he was super fast. Decent defender. Decent in attack. But what really separated him was his amazing kick both off the tee and general play, the best i've seen including in professional level.

 

[Ash]

I've had a disc problem, and it's not pleasant when they don't go away. If they don't go away within a month or two, then it's best to get the operation, take the couple months out and get ready for the next season. That's the option I took, except with the caveat that I didn't go back to rugby despite intending to play one or two more years. Note that after a month or two a bulging disc you start risking permanent nerve damage, some doctors say it starts as soon as a few weeks.

Most important is to work on your core strength or you have a high risk of it reoccurring.