The Wallabies Thread

[Ruggo]

Good on Cowan. Pretty sad that is the exception and not the normal professional standard. Also sad he has found this attitude at the ripe age of 31. There is a big gap in assisting talented players from adolescence to full adulthood.

We are dealing with human beings and it is an important stage in all our lives. Some grounding experience wouldn't go astray for these young men. Too many players these days take the rare opportunity they have for granted and nobody wins from that.

Shift the attitude and the shift in dedicated effort will follow as a result.

 

[fatprop]

Good on Cowan. Pretty sad that is the exception and not the normal professional standard. Also sad he has found this attitude at the ripe age of 31. There is a big gap in assisting talented players from adolescence to full adulthood.

We are dealing with human beings and it is an important stage in all our lives. Some grounding experience wouldn't go astray for these young men. Too many players these days take the rare opportunity they have for granted and nobody wins from that.

Shift the attitude and the shift in dedicated effort will follow as a result.

Some players never find it, and some like Pocock were pinching the key to the Force gym at 17 to do extras in the dark

 

[Killer]

Force scrum has been good this year, Pek has had some stiff competition this year from a motivated Daley, had a very good year, and Van wyk who finished very strong, its a shame he is leaving. Competition for spots is the key.
Our forwards coach seems very good too.
On the other side Faulkner has had an even tougher time against 2 young guns in Ainsley and Vui.
On Ainsley I would back him against Robinson any day. It was a shame he hurt his elbow when he was killing it mid season, thanks to Crockett boring in.

 

[Ruggo]

That's the point though fatprop. In Pocock's case I wonder if it was his lived experience that gave him the drive to work hard. It probably also explains his strong social conscience away from rugby.

 

[Braveheart81]

That's the point though fatprop. In Pocock's case I wonder if it was his lived experience that gave him the drive to work hard. It probably also explains his strong social conscience away from rugby.

From watching the Australian Story about him, his training compulsion seemed more closely linked to mental health issues than being related to his background.

Certainly his social conscience is based on lived experience. I think that is always the case.

 

[fatprop]

That's the point though fatprop. In Pocock's case I wonder if it was his lived experience that gave him the drive to work hard. It probably also explains his strong social conscience away from rugby.

I doubt a social conscience has got anything to do with it, there are plenty of dickheads doing the work across many sports

Some people just have or gain that work ethic, and others simply don't

We have all watched (and played with) incredibly talented units who disappear after their coaches realise their natural ability will only get them so far and the player doesn't have the self awareness to sort themselves out.

It has to come from themselves, no one else can stop them going through a KFC drive through on the way home from training or make them do those extra sessions.

 

[Micheal]

I doubt a social conscience has got anything to do with it, there are plenty of dickheads doing the work across many sports

Some people just have or gain that work ethic, and others simply don't

We have all watched (and played with) incredibly talented units who disappear after their coaches realise their natural ability will only get them so far and the player doesn't have the self awareness to sort themselves out.

It has to come from themselves, no one else can stop them going through a KFC drive through on the way home from training or make them do those extra sessions.

I don't think he's suggesting that Pocock's work ethic stems from his social conscience, but rather that they both grow out of his lived experience.

His brother had PTSD and developed quite bad anxiety, Pocock had PTSD and it manifested itself as an eating disorder / obsessive training regime.

He went from an environment of chaos where his families' safety was entirely at the whim of others, to an environment in which he could exercise complete control, even it was only over his health and fitness down in terms of reps and calories.

His family rented a yacht for a week for a holiday when he was 17 and he made them tow a dingy behind it with a bench press and dumbells so he wouldn't miss a week of training! Dedicated, but certainly not what we want our players to emulate.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I read a story about Simon Poidevin once, where it talked about his relentless drive to be a better footballer, work harder on his fitness (like staying after Randwick training sessions and doing more work) and general mongrel on the field. Reading the article about Pek reminded me of that story. Needless to say stuff like that makes me very happy as a Wallaby fan and as a person in general. I love hearing about people who are doing everything they can to get the most out of themselves.

I've always said in the professional world that natural ability, talent and knowledge is all good and well but it's attitude you can't teach. It comes from within and the great ones have it. I'm not saying that Pek is world class or anything, but the attitude he portrays in that article is everything I want a Force and Wallaby player to be.

 

[TSR]

I remember reading a story about Piggy Riddell, the ex St George & Parramatta league hooker. I may not get it 100% right, but it was along the lines that he was complaining to his non-pro footballing mates that he was a bit over it and thought he might chuck it in and play a bit of park footy and get a trade. So one of them took him for a couple of days as an brickie labourer. After a couple of days he realised how much he wanted to be a footballer.

Maybe each young footballer should spend some time on a construction work site (on apprentice wages).

 

[Highlander35]

Are the players not required to do some sort of training/apprenticeship/education program already?

It's surprising to me that they aren't. Every couple of years AFL clubs try and push the feel good look what our youngsters are doing when they aren't training or visiting schools, and it's generally part time Uni or apprenticeship stuff and you occasionally get something interesting (3 or 4 years ago a St Kilda player was the elephant dietitian at the Melbourne Zoo).

There's probably not the same impetus to do so given that you don't get 60 new 18/19 year olds into the league each year, but it's disappointing if that wasn't required as part of your ARU contract if you've not already completed some sort of post-secondary training.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I think the majority of pro rugby players have something else happening besides rugby, mostly study I believe.

 

[TSR]

Are the players not required to do some sort of training/apprenticeship/education program already?

It's surprising to me that they aren't. Every couple of years AFL clubs try and push the feel good look what our youngsters are doing when they aren't training or visiting schools, and it's generally part time Uni or apprenticeship stuff and you occasionally get something interesting (3 or 4 years ago a St Kilda player was the elephant dietitian at the Melbourne Zoo).

There's probably not the same impetus to do so given that you don't get 60 new 18/19 year olds into the league each year, but it's disappointing if that wasn't required as part of your ARU contract if you've not already completed some sort of post-secondary training.

I think must professional sporting clubs have player welfare programs which include either studying or learning a trade or the likes. But, from my very limited knowledge for the best athletes they often have it a bit easier on the work front (I'm sure there are exceptions, but that's my general observation).

Not quite the same as a few days of genuine, back breaking work.

It is all relative of course - I'm sure most brickies don't have the discipline to adhere to the training requirements of a pro footballer either (or they'd be one), but I don't reckon a week or two of seeing how the other half lives, particularly for some of the more precocious talent, would ever be a bad thing.

 

[Henry]

And Hoops has been named captain. No surprises there.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...stephen-moore-retirement-20170802-gxnl5h.html

 

[duckbill]

One of the most underwhelming captain announcements on recent history. In summary, meh...

 

[TOCC]

Maybe Hoops is the best captain, i dont particularly see anything which suggests otherwise, but it all just seems a bit status-quo..

Maybe i was hoping for something a bit more dramatic or unexpected, something which would tell me the Wallabies are ready to make hard decision to make themselves a competitive team again. Maybe that would be a worse decision then selecting Hooper..

Who knows...

 

[Froggy]

There was almost no other decision to make. Of those in the squad, probably only Genia has captaincy experience at a high level among those certain to be selected, and he, at this point, is still playing overseas.

People have mentioned the likes of Coleman and Foley, but you'd like to see them lead a Super team around a couple of times before throwing them in at a Bledisloe. Carter is an excellent captain, but will he be in the run-on side?

Whatever people think of Hooper's captaincy (on-field decision making, ref management) the one criticism that doesn't stand scrutiny at all is lack of respect from other players. Everything I can find, people I can speak to, evidence from player voted awards, all suggest that Hooper has plenty of respect from the playing group.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Yeah I don't know who else is ready to step up. I've expressed the view that I'd like to see Coleman eventually take the job but now is not that time.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Hooper as captain - was always going to be Chek's favourite.

The cupboard is bare.

Unfortunately the culture won't get better under Hoops it will get worse.

Does anyone really see any momentum shift in the coming RC, with Chek, Grey, Larkham and Hops ? Just think it will be more of the underwhelming same

 

[Slim 293]

The only problem I forsee is when Pocock returns next year..............

Are we going to continue with the Pooper, or possibly play our best 7 on the bench?

 

[cyclopath]

The only problem I forsee is when Pocock returns next year......

Are we going to continue with the Pooper, or possibly play our best 7 on the bench?

Wait and see how Pocock goes through the Super Rugby season. He may not be comfortable playing in something that's non-sustainable.
But in all seriousness, let's wait and see who's standing come Test time and worry about it then.