Reds 2015

[Floggn']

its been rumoured as a possibility that Laurie Fisher may be available.

but if you are going to look at the best available Australian forwards coaches then Stiles is right up there.. People need to look past last weekend, in 2014 the Reds had the best success rate of any of the Aussie scrums and the Brisbane City NRC Championship was built on the back of a dominant scrum, which coincidentally Nick Stiles was the head coach of.

Agreed. I posted it earlier that I don't think our scrum was as poor as soom people say it was there were a lot of pot luck penalties blown plus we have 3rd and 4th string people there. We can not forget we have great set piece %'s before that game. We had a pushover tighthead against the Brums last year and wasn't Fisher there then? We have had a tighthead penalty try this year.

 

[Floggn']

I think RG had no choice regarding Harris. He knew he was going to be a 'pine-duster' player with Cooper at 10, and with both Hunt & JOC (James O'Connor) better fullbacks, then who wouldn't move onto the Rebels where there was an attractive pay packet after they lost their fullback back to Hurricanes in NZ.

I would much prefer to have Harris over Ant Faainga. He has far more tackle busts, kicks goals and doesn't give away at least 2 or 3 dumb penalites a match. Plus Faiinga has lost his ability to be a great tackler. He is missing far too many for someone of his ability.

 

[Strewthcobber]

I would much prefer to have Harris over Ant Faainga. He has far more tackle busts, kicks goals and doesn't give away at least 2 or 3 dumb penalites a match. Plus Faiinga has lost his ability to be a great tackler. He is missing far too many for someone of his ability.

Pretty sure the faiinga twins signed up for 2 more years in 2013. Harris was off contract last year.

It wasn't really a choice between them.

Edit quick check shows 1 year in 2013 and 2 year deal in 2014. So there was the choice.....

 

[RedsHappy]

I think RG had no choice regarding Harris. He knew he was going to be a 'pine-duster' player with Cooper at 10, and with both Hunt & JOC (James O'Connor) better fullbacks, then who wouldn't move onto the Rebels where there was an attractive pay packet after they lost their fullback back to Hurricanes in NZ.

Just to mention: as at 2014, when these JOC (James O'Connor) and KH deals were made with the Reds, where was the objective and compelling evidence that JOC (James O'Connor) and KH were 'better (rugby) fullbacks' than say Harris or even Lucas?

I am not trying to pick an argument with you, rather I conclude that the dispensing with Harris and/or Lucas IMO was an extremely poor and high risk squad planning move as they deprived the Reds of crucial back-up utilities at 10 and 15 in the event of injury (which RG and McCall now conveniently use as their major excuse for a very poor 2015 so far) or variations in game plan.

By any standard KH was in the 'high risk/high potential reward' category at 15, as he'd barely played any serious rugby since school days.

I would contest also that a close reading of JOC (James O'Connor)'s Super rugby career to date reveals that his Super play was often very inconsistent and very 'one out'. His classic Super contribution was just what we saw in the Highlanders game - dazzling highly mobile breaks through tacklers in broken play moving his team's attack well up field. But his linking and smart distribution ability were often poor, and he seemed way more motivated and generally skilful in Tests. The seeming notion that he'd be a great 15 or backup 15 for the Reds was without any factual basis IMO.....whatever, RG said he'd recruited him as an 11 or 14.

 

[TOCC]

Karmichael has the skill sets to be a good fullback and I have no doubt that's the position he was recruited for.. RG openly said JOC (James O'Connor) was intended for the wing, however he can and has played fullback at Test level, Super Rugby level and he played quite a few good games from fullback in the Top14.

RG played his hand recruiting some bigger name players which meant they couldn't fit Harris and Lucas in the squad anymore, it was a gamble and evidentially it hasn't paid off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[USARugger]

I was always under the impression both twins were re-signed so we could keep Saia. I believe they've made it clear in the past they are a package deal for Super Rugby level.

Which sounds completely fucking insane from an American sporting perspective, especially when you're talking about a code that's more or less chronically short on cash in Australia. But the Australian Super franchises aren't really analogous to NFL/NBA/MLB franchises in many ways so it's not surprising that Reds HQ bent to this desire in the first place, precedent was set after that point.

 

[thierry dusautoir]

Is Big Ed injured? Or just way down the pecking order?

 

[Ben Smith]

Quade Cooper $800,000
Karmichael Hunt $650,000
James O'Connor $450,000

Watching Nick Frisby play 10.... priceless

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Tangawizi]

Is Big Ed injured? Or just way down the pecking order?

Injured - http://www.commentaryboxsports.com/...n/2631-reds-lock-o-donoghue-out-for-six-weeks

 

[Bobby Sands]

If there has been one positive this season, it has been the continued run of Sautia. Not that his form as been outstanding by any means, but the only way the man can grow into his immense potential is to stay on the the paddock. A full super season, plus NRC would be a great result for Chris.

 

[hammertimethere]

If there has been one positive this season, it has been the continued run of Sautia. Not that his form as been outstanding by any means, but the only way the man can grow into his immense potential is to stay on the the paddock. A full super season, plus NRC would be a great result for Chris.

He's been lazy and tentative so far, showing only glimpses of how damaging he can potentially be. If there is one player who needs a NRC more than any other it's CFS.

 

[Floggn']

If there has been one positive this season, it has been the continued run of Sautia. Not that his form as been outstanding by any means, but the only way the man can grow into his immense potential is to stay on the the paddock. A full super season, plus NRC would be a great result for Chris.

Sorry Bobby all has shown this year is that he shouldn't be playing Super rugby. I think if we didn't have the injuries he wouldn't be in the team. Mind you RG is the coach so no doubt he would be. He has to be the laziest 21 year old rugby player on the planet. I know a few ex-wallaby and reds boys and they rate him as one of the worst players they have seen. They rate him at training but he can't seem to put that same result or effort on game day.

 

[Bobby Sands]

He has barely played rugby in the last few years, I'm not sure what people expect of him. But yes I agree, sometime he does seem pretty lackadaisical.

 

[Godfrey]

I know it might just be his resting face, but he always looks so down on confidence for me that there is not enough focus or determination. Even in his Wallaby tests things like standing outside the touchline and not noticing, nearly flubbing a walk-in try against the Spring Boks. It seems to be something that happens when people have an easy start followed by a dose of reality (making the initial line break then scoring the try with your first and second Super Rugby touches). I don't know exactly what is broken about him but if a coach manages to fix it he will be one hell of a player.

 

[TOCC]

Eddie Jones made the point that the Reds look a little unfit compared to the other teams, and i agree.. Whilst there is certainly some luck(or lack thereof) when it comes to injuries, good strength and conditioning is proven to help prevent injuries and improve rehabilitation times. So how long can 'bad luck' be blamed for the Reds injury situation, 2 years in a row the injury list has reached ridiculous proportions..

In case you were wondering, this is the current injury list:

Greg Holmes*
Samu Kerevi
James O'Connor*
Lachlan Turner*
Quade Cooper*
Rob Simmons*
Ed Quirk
Beau Robinson*
JJ Taulagi
Hendrik Tui
Ed O'Donoghue
Jake McIntyre


In 2014 the Reds had 13 players who suffered injuries which had them ruled out for more then 6 weeks, the Waratahs had 3, Rebels had 5, Force had 4 and the Brumbies had 10.... The only other team which had more injuries then the Reds for durations of longer then 6 weeks was the Stormers who had an extraordinary 21 players ruled out for more then 6 weeks.

Already in 2015 the Reds are up to around 7 players who have been out injuries for more then 6 weeks.

 

[Sully]

Seriously misleading list thought.

Greg Holmes - Broken bone Nothing to do with conditioning.
Quade Cooper - Broken bone Nothing to do with conditioning.
James O'Connor - Came late from OS already broken
Rob Simmons - Injured On End of year Wallaby tour Not Reds Fault
Ed Quirk - 2014 Injury
Hendrick Tui - Broken bone Nothing to do with conditioning.


Is McIntyre part of the program?

Blaming broken bones on the conditioning program is a little rich.

 

[TOCC]

Sully no it's not misleading, you can blame "bad luck" for some of the injuries and for those injuries outside of their control but at some point you have to question why do the Reds have significantly more injuries then other teams.. Reds have the highest injury number in Super Rugby and more injuries then the rest of the other Aussie teams combined.

The sample base is too big to ignore, Reds had the second highest number of long term injuries in 2014 and are on track to record a similar number in 2015.. Only 2 of the 21 injuries from 2014 were from broken bones.

Just on that list though, James O,Connor has been here for a couple of months now, and returned from injury only to be ruled out again... He was either fully fit or he wasn't, again this is an issue with the S&C/Medical department.

Ed Quirk, It's irrelevant as to whether that injury occurred in 2014, it's still the same S&C department.. McIntyre injured his knees post NRC during a Reds training I heard.. Could be wrong.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TOCC]

And you can now add Ben Daley to that injury list


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kiap]

Nah, I'm with Sully on this one. There's plenty other things to bitch about without trying to overreach.

The S&C team are gooone anyway. Take out Turner (who just got smashed - that's rugby) and the others and the melodramic headline melts away.

Beau Robinson*
JJ Taulagi
Ed O'Donoghue
Samu Kerevi
Jake McIntyre
Lachlan Turner*
Greg Holmes*
James O'Connor*
Quade Cooper*
Rob Simmons*
Ed Quirk
Hendrik Tui

The real question with Ben Daley was why did he even get a contract?

 

[RugbyReg]

Does anyone think that heat and fatigue could be a factor? Some none injuries sure but how they happened could have been exacerbated due to fatigued players.