RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
Ruggo post # 237: + 1.
A few additional comments:
> If KH is not a 13, what is he then? If he was on $75k pa, that's one thing, for someone on c. $700k pa, that's another. We can hope for more, but it's going to have to start blossoming soon.
After how many Tahs games did IF start really showing what a major asset he could be, justifying his cost? Less than a season's worth. He certainly showed it in BIL 1 at Suncorp.
> If the Reds want to be S18 champs again - what a radical thought!, and why the fuck not - they will surely have to recruit some classy Fijian wingers. Fiji is just a bio-genetic factory for men who are perfectly cut out for rugby 11 and 14s, they have it all, the stature, the pace, the strength. People forget the huge value of Rod Davies' pace - and QC (Quade Cooper)'s wondrous skill in exploiting it - in the Reds golden years of 2010-11. Real, real pace on the wing is going to get more important not less as modern defences improve in skill and size and technique, as they are. And we need to start that process of uncovering and recruiting now.
> IMO, Gill's total skill set likely now exceeds Pocock's. RWC games from the SF's on are typically of a type where a stealing, pilfering, penalty-winning-at-breakdown 7s who can also link and offload well (yes, that's Gill) in rapid go-forward moves are simply invaluable. Hooper is a magnificent 'second outstanding 12 who plays at 7' and in games where that skill can flow, great. But that skill won't be of the greatest value in the hardest RWC games, Gill's will and he should go to London.
> Holmes for London is a no brainer. A test of Cheika's selection objectivity. And let's not forget Holmes' generally very low injury count over many years with the Reds, a secondary bonus when assessing props squad risk for the RWC.
> That CFS and so many other relatively new Reds players have not developed since 2012 is as I've said many times one of the more serious indictments of the decline in technical, developmental coaching within the Reds' HPU over that period. Just look at the rapid improvement in so many Rebels players over 2014-5, ditto the Tahs since 2013. The contrast is startling with our many Reds staying-just-as-they-were from day 1. Reason # 36 to urgently upgrade the whole Reds' HPU.
A few additional comments:
> If KH is not a 13, what is he then? If he was on $75k pa, that's one thing, for someone on c. $700k pa, that's another. We can hope for more, but it's going to have to start blossoming soon.
After how many Tahs games did IF start really showing what a major asset he could be, justifying his cost? Less than a season's worth. He certainly showed it in BIL 1 at Suncorp.
> If the Reds want to be S18 champs again - what a radical thought!, and why the fuck not - they will surely have to recruit some classy Fijian wingers. Fiji is just a bio-genetic factory for men who are perfectly cut out for rugby 11 and 14s, they have it all, the stature, the pace, the strength. People forget the huge value of Rod Davies' pace - and QC (Quade Cooper)'s wondrous skill in exploiting it - in the Reds golden years of 2010-11. Real, real pace on the wing is going to get more important not less as modern defences improve in skill and size and technique, as they are. And we need to start that process of uncovering and recruiting now.
> IMO, Gill's total skill set likely now exceeds Pocock's. RWC games from the SF's on are typically of a type where a stealing, pilfering, penalty-winning-at-breakdown 7s who can also link and offload well (yes, that's Gill) in rapid go-forward moves are simply invaluable. Hooper is a magnificent 'second outstanding 12 who plays at 7' and in games where that skill can flow, great. But that skill won't be of the greatest value in the hardest RWC games, Gill's will and he should go to London.
> Holmes for London is a no brainer. A test of Cheika's selection objectivity. And let's not forget Holmes' generally very low injury count over many years with the Reds, a secondary bonus when assessing props squad risk for the RWC.
> That CFS and so many other relatively new Reds players have not developed since 2012 is as I've said many times one of the more serious indictments of the decline in technical, developmental coaching within the Reds' HPU over that period. Just look at the rapid improvement in so many Rebels players over 2014-5, ditto the Tahs since 2013. The contrast is startling with our many Reds staying-just-as-they-were from day 1. Reason # 36 to urgently upgrade the whole Reds' HPU.
