Strewthcobber
Simon Poidevin (60)
Strange example to pick though, given Tui's suspension and injury
Strange example to pick though, given Tui's suspension and injury
One of the answers to our current mess is for RA to pay for (and appoint) all coaching and support staff for the Soup franchises.
We have very sparse elite playing resources, we simply have to find a way to optimise our playing strengths.
Knuckles apparently quoted in today's Rupert saying that the national coach should have more influence over the Soup coaches. He uses the example of Tui being needed as a 6 at national level, but having virtually no experience there at the Soup, and it would have been nice if Chubby could have asked Thorn to play him there. Thorn, of course, does not give a shite about what Chubby wants, he needs to do what he deems best for the Reds in the short term, not what might be best for the Wobbs.
The only way for this sort of thing to be rationalised is not through cooperation, but through a chain of command, with the national coach being able to intervene and request a player be played in a position that suits the national requirements.
There's a pretty major difference in the locks role and Tui's current role as 6 in Cheika's 1-3-3-1.
The reds don't use the same pod system in any case so he's not really going to be getting the experience he needs.
I reckon he's one of the 1s - which is why he is on the wing when the do the ABs do the transition at turnover.Tui plays in the 3s in the 1331 though, not on the edge like most 6s in the shape. He actually usually plays in the locks' pod anyway (in most 1331s the 8 would be here).
Much like at the Reds where he's used as a mid field carrier.
I reckon he's one of the 1s - which is why he is on the wing when the do the ABs do the transition at turnover.
Poey is with the locks
^^^^
How the hell do we implement it though? You'd have to get people agreeing to relinquish power which seems somewhat unlikely.
Mostly kick-offsIt's situationally tied to what the origin of the ball is (scrum, line out, turnover, etc.)
Who was with the locks against Ireland, Pocock? Seem to remember BPA with them at some point.I reckon he's one of the 1s - which is why he is on the wing when the do the ABs do the transition at turnover.
Poey is with the locks
Looked that way in the first game - but might have just been a way to ease Timu into things. Can be a bit hard to tell (see Amirite's very true situational post above)Who was with the locks against Ireland, Pocock? Seem to remember BPA with them at some point.
Maybe off turnovers and kickoffs, but even then I don't think so unless play breaks down. Obviously if stuff's a mess they've got to work it out on the fly.Who was with the locks against Ireland, Pocock? Seem to remember BPA with them at some point.
RE the Cheika debate...
Nothing will improve IMO, he's an emotion based coach. A coach who comes in, introduces a few new things and fires everyone up so much that they work for the first couple of years. After that, everything is stale, people get desensitised to the rev ups, and here we are.
Add to that the dictatorial control where no one seems to be capable of challenging him or offer new ideas (Larkham hasn't ever proven capable of coaching a backline despite his ability to run one, Grey's defence has been rubbish for 3 years) and it's a bad combination.
We won't win away against either the Boks or Argies, and I reckon we might even lose one of them at home. Should that happen, I cant see how his position is defensible.
ESPECIALLY considering the increase in quality players available - Dingo never had a forward pack of this potential quality. Depth in the 2nd row and front row hasn't been this good since Eales retired.
Problem is, who the hell could replace him? KB (Kurtley Beale)'s antics ensured we lost the only other high quality coach in Aussie rugby, so there really isn't a single Aussie going around who could take it.
I reckon (and i know this will cause outrage) we should throw what's left of the sink at Jake White. The Brumbies really were not boring under him, they scored more tries than the other Aussie sides. The boring happened after he left, when Larkham and Fischer were given control. We scored lots of tries from set piece, we counter attacked well, played in the RIGHT parts of the field, our set piece was spot on and there was clear direction and progress.
Under White, the Brumbies went from 2nd last to 8 mins away from a title in two seasons with a bunch of absolute nobodies at the time. It was after he left that the plan fell apart and the Brumbies became a rolling maul only team, because Larkham was in charge. McKellar finally seems to have made progress on the run the ball front, but we'd have no chance of doing that without the foundations of upfront power White instilled.
He's the only possible option other than Cheika.
Without a doubt.
Chiek's most frequent supporter cry is that he took a bunch of scrubs (who were performing exactly as the team is now, though that is never mentioned) to the RWC final. Sadly, since that final, Chieka is 41.2%. putting us begind NZ, SA, Eng, Ire, Wal, SA and Sco on that metric.
Two of the 3 sides below us have seen fit to replace their coaches in that time.
It's just pathetic now, honestly.
And when he was back played a shocker at 6Strange example to pick though, given Tui's suspension and injury
We don't have a head coach, we have an extremely powerful sports psychologist who just so happens to pick the lineup. Cheika's strength is getting the players to believe in themselves and the plan. When it comes to tactics and skills, he's not an idiot, but his ceiling in those areas is B-. And obviously we need a head coach with that ability to interact with his players, given what happened with McKenzie and Deans.
Basically, unless we get super lucky and find ourselves another Rod Macqueen or Jake White or Graham Henry, we're going to keep losing. And we can't afford to pay out Cheika anyway, so we just have to accept that things are pretty shit and they won't get better for a few years.