Scott Johnson, Tim Lane. There are more than a few good coaches around, some with significant international experience. I do think that assistant roles especially should be limited to Australian Coaches to develop the home grown talent.
Is McKay gone from the Reds? I mean can he do both or are they mutually exclusive?
The Tahs signing Jacques Potgeiter for two seasons as a marquee international interests me. Would be interesting to know if he was openly shopped to the other Australian provinces ie the Reds or whether Cheika head hunted him.
His style of play (aggressive, line bending runs, hard hitting tackles) seems to be exactly what we've discussed the Reds need in a backrower for next season, he plays a little wider too like Higginbotham did for us. Would have fit in well with the Reds imo.
the NSW team song must be a crackerA very good point, but the Reds have to operate under a salary cap, unfortunately.
A very good point, but the Reds have to operate under a salary cap, unfortunately.
Some of the posts here suggesting JOC (James O'Connor) is over rated make my head spin. There is some serious hair cut hate going on.
So lets try a little Super Rugby 2013 trivia game.
How many players in the whole comp made 5 or more linebreaks this year?
65 (12%)
How many of those ran 650+ metres?
44
How many of those made 10 or more offloads?
21
How many of these made 3 or more try assists?
7(1%)
Who's left from the whole comp?
Bernard Foley, Tim Nanai-Williams, Drew Mitchell, Rene Ranger, Quade Cooper, Israel Folau, James O'Connor. And of those only one makes significantly more ground ball in hand, Folau.
People can argue O'Connor isn't a ten, but there is something seriously wrong if we can't find a way to get the best out of this guy in Super Rugby, be it at 12, 11, 14 or 15. Or frankly, 10.
As for Wallabies, madness not to play him, madness not to resolve whatever the issue is.
The Reds seem to have paid above the odds to keep some of their key players in the past couple of years if they can't afford to buy any new players.
It does seem surprising that they haven't signed any big names with Ioane leaving. Perhaps the Reds pay the lower end players in their squad more than the other franchises?