Was his game that bad in retrospect?
It was humid and there were lots of handling errors in general in that game. At the time, Reds fans also thought their team was going to be pretty strong so it was easy to take that frustration out on Paia'aua.
It makes no sense to me that they'll either persist with Frisby or Tuttle is now being considered an option in that position. What will that achieve?
Frisby should be the first choice 9 next year for the Reds. Whilst playing him at 10 might improve his play there, is it ever likely to be a long term option? I wouldn't think so.
What happens if Cooper leaves next season or stays and gets injured again? It seems like they'll be back in that same position without a reasonable 10 to step in and take the reins.
Spot on BH.
The increasingly high-risk, total centricity of QC (Quade Cooper) to any semblance of competent Reds' attack has been increasing since 2013 (and perhaps even 2012, but the huge number of injured Reds' 10s that year muddled the whole picture).
It's been increasing for entirely the wrong reasons, namely that the rest of the Reds attack in terms of well-reheared ensemble play, backs attack ploys off set piece, 'load sharing' in terms of well executed second receiver plays, second and third touches by the 9, 10 and 12, the type of issues you raise in term of planned backs options (actual and decoy) on both flanks, runners from depth, the replacement for the once-invaluable Ioane (and to a degree Higgers who often played like a 2nd 13 or 3rd winger), etc, etc,
have all in these elements markedly deteriorated since late 2012 (see the generally poor Reds attack v Sharks 2012 S15 QF).
And with that deterioration has come a decreasing team w-l ratio, lowered tries per game, etc., we all know the story.
But, as noted, perhaps the most reckless and strategically dangerous aspect of this continuing degradation has been the increasing reliance on QC (Quade Cooper) as 'miracle compensator' as the burden of responding to the whole-of-attack degradation fell on QC (Quade Cooper) to issue miracle long balls, flashy inside balls that often resulted in nothing further, passive support backs just waiting for QC (Quade Cooper) to 'do something to set up points' and so on.
Then, finally, with RG taking over completely from 2014, this whole negative deficiency in team skill and depth has been hugely magnified (in a long-term context) by the fact that virtually nothing has been done to develop a solid plan for growing 'the Reds next 10 in waiting' to deal with both QC (Quade Cooper) injury risks and/or his likely move on from the Reds in 2016. Lucas and Harris were there as tactical gap fillers, but no better solution was planned or prioritised. Then those two departed in 2014. And, of course, a very poor bacsk/attack coach was chosen by RG from the 2014 season on, this has only worsened the pre-existing problems and fixed none of them, it's all quite obvious.
So, today, now, the 2015 Reds have made for themselves the very worst of all worlds: a totally deficient attacking depth and lack of prowess of ensemble attacking skills coupled with a total dearth of alternatives to 'the miracle compensator' QC (Quade Cooper). Hence a complete rookie heads to SA as declared 'back up for QC (Quade Cooper)' and we have a competent 9 in Frisby attempting to face as a 10 one of the comps best and rapidly emerging top 10s in Pollard.
(Btw: another side and negative consequence of all the above is that I am convinced QC (Quade Cooper) himself has not grown as much as the highly talented 10 he is in the environment that's recently existed at the Reds. How could he with such excessive 'save the team' burdens being constantly placed upon his shoulders?)
