Happy to Chat
Nev Cottrell (35)
Game time for Jake to take over from Cooper next week.Perhaps makes sense of the decision to bench him for Strachan in the NRC clash, who is going well at 15
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Game time for Jake to take over from Cooper next week.Perhaps makes sense of the decision to bench him for Strachan in the NRC clash, who is going well at 15
Ngamanu not resigned, heard Kuridrani heading offshore and Riley not going to 7’s.
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Anyway - enough from me. Interested to hear the thoughts of others.
I wouldn’t rule that out at all. Frisby has lots of potential. But I just thought he seemed to have lost his way a bit more than Ready.I know Frisby had a shocking 2017, but would you rule him out completely over Moses? I'd imagine him and Tuttle would be competing for the starting spot with Moses spending another year developing?
So, I’m a bit bored so I thought I would try and provide a basis for discussion.
1. What is our best 23 (assuming everyone is fit)?
1. Slipper
2. Mafi
3. Tupou
4. Rodda
5. Tui
6. Higgers
7. Smith
8. Timu
9. Tuttle
10. Cooper
11. Nabuli
12. Paia’aua
13. Kerevi
14. Perese
15. Hunt
16. Ready
17. Fa’agese
18. ?? Maybe Vui
19. Douglas
20. Korczyk
21. Sorovi
22. Stewart
23. CFS
Pretty decent side. But then we had a pretty decent team this year. I certainly expected the Reds to do better than they did. Which brings me to discussion point 2 - why will we be better next year than this?
The obvious one is better coaching. And if that doesn’t prove to be the case, than we almost certainly won’t be any better. But, as critical as that is, I am going to leave that one.
So, aside from that here are my observations which, I hope, will translate to a much improved result next year -
1. Youngsters delivering - for some time we have had boom youngsters coming through who, for whatever reason, haven’t really delivered. But the new bunch seem to going ok. Rodda, Tui, Korczyk, Tuttle, Tupou & Perese are all showing signs of delivering on their promise. Paia’aua had a break out year. Timu & Stewart are looking good. Hopefully Ready & Frisby will get back on track.
2. More from the seniors - Quade didn’t have his best year and seemed hampered by injury. We lost Slipper early. Douglas just never fired. He’s not really a senior player, but I expected more from Nabuli. Kerevi’s defence was sub par. I don’t really expect all of these guys to turn it around but for me Cooper, Slipper & Kerevi are the keys. If they can give us a year of the standard of Hunt, Higgers & Smith did, we’ll win at least 3- 6 extra games on that alone.
3. Wallaby impact - maybe I’ll have to edit this post in two hours, but the Wallabies do seem to be genuinely improving. In particular the execution in attack. The players work rate has improved.
Anyway - enough from me. Interested to hear the thoughts of others.
After watching Brisbane City’s second half performance, I don’t see the Reds getting any better next season.
Up 19-0 against club rugby standard players. Frisby, QC (Quade Cooper), Hunt played majority of the games minutes and to lose the way they did shows me the game controllers are still not delivering in key moments of the game, this time at NRC level.
Queensland Country are doing great but the Reds won’t get the rewards until those players are Super Rugby tested and consistently performing weekly (my prediction is in 3-4 seasons time, if they can keep them all).
They have not added anyone to the roster who can help the cause against any rival Australian team let alone SA & NZ franchises. I just don’t see where and how they can get better with the same yet a less experienced squad, unless 2011 Quade is back in business.
It is also possible we can credit the QLD Country head coach for some of their success. I live in hope it's a sign of things to come!
Yeah, it's gonna be a long offseason.
yep, I think many of us have acknowledged the impact of Thorn's coaching. Many of us have also pointed to Stiles having the same success in 2014 with Brisbane City.
The only issue that matters today and that will matter from February 2018 and will determine whether Thorn and his team of ACs succeeds or fails (and ditto the interminably hapless QRU) is this: Can the 2018 Reds consistency beat Kiwi Super 18 teams? There is nothing else to really worry about - assuming that the objective is to properly revive the Reds and get them to become serious 2018 Finals contenders. Kiwi Super teams are so far ahead - in terms of skill, rugby fitness, match smarts etc - of any Aust NRC team that coaching success there has zero predictive validity to what will be fate-determining in Super Rugby.