• Welcome to the forums of Green & Gold Rugby.
    We have recently made some changes to the amount of discussions boards on the forum.
    Over the coming months we will continue to make more changes to make the forum more user friendly for all to use.
    Thanks, Admin.

The Wallabies Thread

neilc

Bob Loudon (25)
Yeah shame Cheika isn't a master dietician, nutritionist and rehab professional as well, he could spend all his time working on those things in the background then.. o_O

Being a selector Cheika could have steered Skelton towards following the advice of the experts in those roles who he seemed to be ignoring. 'Eat properly or you're dropped from the team' is motivation, continually getting selected just reinforces the 'I don't need to listen to these people' attitude. Clearly something has taken place at Saracens to get him in better shape.
 

Lorenzo

Colin Windon (37)
Yeah shame Cheika isn't a master dietician, nutritionist and rehab professional as well, he could spend all his time working on those things in the background then.. o_O


Isn't getting the most out of the players we have available not only CHieka's job, but also his supposed specialty? Is he paid big money so he can avoid responsibility when the players aren't fit enough just because he isn't the fitness coach? Does he get a pass on our awful defence because he isn't the D coach? If you can pass the buck to someone else for pretty much everything, what's the point of having him?

Where does the buck stop? Doesn't he pick all the players and appoint basically everyone else?

I doubt Mark McCall lived with Skelton 24/7 either.
 

KOB1987

John Eales (66)
Being a selector Cheika could have steered Skelton towards following the advice of the experts in those roles who he seemed to be ignoring. 'Eat properly or you're dropped from the team' is motivation, continually getting selected just reinforces the 'I don't need to listen to these people' attitude. Clearly something has taken place at Saracens to get him in better shape.

He wasn't continually selected, he was selected when Cheika thought he was right and dropped when he thought he wasn't. In fact I recall he was sent back to club land to get fitter at one stage. Where's the evidence that either Skelton or Cheika ignored any advice?
Isn't getting the most out of the players we have available not only CHieka's job, but also his supposed specialty? Is he paid big money so he can avoid responsibility when the players aren't fit enough just because he isn't the fitness coach? Does he get a pass on our awful defence because he isn't the D coach? If you can pass the buck to someone else for pretty much everything, what's the point of having him?

Where does the buck stop? Doesn't he pick all the players and appoint basically everyone else?

I doubt Mark McCall lived with Skelton 24/7 either.

He's the national coach and only has an opportunity to work with individual players for a small window at any one time. His primary role is to construct a team that works. He certainly has an obligation to get the best out of the players and the team during the time they are in his care but beyond that he can only provide advice and steer them in the right direction to improve themselves. When you've got 6 weeks to work with a team what would you consider an appropriate amount of time to spend with any one player?

Has McCall come out and said it was because of him that Skelton is the shape he is now? Personally I think that the stint overseas has achieved the desired outcome, Skelton needs to be given credit for getting himself where he is, he's much more mature now and that's why he's being chased to return.
 

Lorenzo

Colin Windon (37)
Didn't MC have 3 years with Skelton at the tahs?

I think you are probably right - Skelton matured and got hold of the idea that he needed to get fitter. I don't really think it's on MC that he didn't do so earlier. My original post was really a bit of a joke, but at the same time I don't see MC bringing an awful lot to the table and we are lead to believe that getting his guys ready for battle is his primary thing. Just thought it amusing that Skelton got motivated somewhere else, really.
 

KOB1987

John Eales (66)
Cheika got him an EPS contract for the Tahs in 2013 and then used him reasonably sparingly in 2014. He certainly made some impact in that year, mostly off the bench, which from memory was his main role. Interestingly it was Link who debuted him as a Wallaby in that year v France.

As mentioned above he has had his share of issues beyond that, my initial post on the matter was to agree with Strewth that that is not really anyone's fault, shit happens. He did seem to be a bit of a Cheika project at times.

If he turns up here next year and kicks arse then I'm all for that. I don't really care what happened in between.
 

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
Being a selector Cheika could have steered Skelton towards following the advice of the experts in those roles who he seemed to be ignoring. 'Eat properly or you're dropped from the team' is motivation, continually getting selected just reinforces the 'I don't need to listen to these people' attitude. Clearly something has taken place at Saracens to get him in better shape.


His transition began at the back end of his tahs contract (he had already signed with Saracens), he finally started a low carb diet and drop some pounds after injury.

It would be highly unlikely that these conversations aren't happening all the time with many players (Latu, Taquele, Beale etc) but it takes something internal to click for it to happen and the player to get his shit together
 

Derpus

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Being a selector Cheika could have steered Skelton towards following the advice of the experts in those roles who he seemed to be ignoring. 'Eat properly or you're dropped from the team' is motivation, continually getting selected just reinforces the 'I don't need to listen to these people' attitude. Clearly something has taken place at Saracens to get him in better shape.
Clearly someone is to blame for something. Must. Blame. People.
 

Proud Pig

Tom Lawton (22)
Bloody youngsters today, always somebody else's fault. In my day the coach would give you a clip round the ear, a kick up the arse and another beer. If your fitness wasn't up to scratch it would be running laps till you puked and if you needed to drop a few pounds it would be "Oi, no more than 4 pieces of pizza after training for you big fella". Bloody soft namby-pamby young-uns don't know their alive. Bunch of bloody sooks may as well be wingers.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
So if slipper has the sort of game he had last week against the Vikings and same for JP Smith had against the Force they would just have to be in the Wallaby mix.

JP Smith months away from eligibility for Wallabies and has to be in the running for Wallabies squad as is Slipper who already had pedigree before injury and drug related issues.
 

Strewthcobber

Simon Poidevin (60)
So if slipper has the sort of game he had last week against the Vikings and same for JP Smith had against the Force they would just have to be in the Wallaby mix.

JP Smith months away from eligibility for Wallabies and has to be in the running for Wallabies squad as is Slipper who already had pedigree before injury and drug related issues.
JP is a year away right? Played Currie cup in 2016 and needs three years here after that?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
Top