Vickerman to play with Northampton ASAP

[Lee Grant]

Even if he does not take the field, he will be of huge value to the Tahs as I could not think of a better player to be mentoring young Kane Douglas.

And since he will be around for 2012 and 2013 he will be of value to Greg Peterson also. This was the first thing I thought about when I heard he was coming back - value as a player coach for the Tahs and especially for those two youngsters.

Anyone who has seen a Tahs lineout session bossed by Vickerman will have no doubt about his natural coaching ability and I could see him as a lineout and restarts coach for the Wallabies even if he doesn't make it as a player.

Opinion may have it that in the professional era a player should not be coaching his team mates, but Vickerman has the gravitas to make it work.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

He has a certain amount of authority.

 

[Tank]

A half in form/half fit Vickerman is better than Mumm & Chisholm

Absolutely agree.

A question for those more knowledgeable than I on matters of conditioning - Bruce perhaps. Is 5 months not sufficient for someone who must be considered a fairly fit guy, to get very fit and ready to play at least 60 mins hard?

Form is more up in the air but I would have thought there was time to get fit?

 

[cyclopath]

Vickerman is good or was a good player in his day. The whole signing of him by the ARU is a joke. By the time he is ready to play for the Tahs one would hope they had a very settled pair of locks that at are fucnctioning well. With the lock stocks available we have Vickermans attributes covered. Sharpie to run a well drilled lineout and Horwill to provide the up front aggression. The investment in Simmons is paying off. Should depth be tested we have several other options, some old and some young.

I like Vickerman but I don't see his return as a wise investment for Australian Rugby.

Well that would depend upon how much they invested.
I find it intriguing when a player like this maybe coming into reckoning is discounted with the argument that we will have others to fill the position, and some depth if they don't, probably unproven as well. Same too with possible players leaving to go OS.
Intriguing, since depth has been our Achilles' heel for some time.
I don't advocate a free ride for anyone into the team, but a class player should be considered, if they can get fitness and form.

 

[Bruce Ross]

A question for those more knowledgeable than I on matters of conditioning - Bruce perhaps. Is 5 months not sufficient for someone who must be considered a fairly fit guy, to get very fit and ready to play at least 60 mins hard?

Form is more up in the air but I would have thought there was time to get fit?

I agree with you, Tank, that five months should be more than enough time for a dedicated footballer to get fit. Of more importance is the amount of time that Dan has had to repair his body and strengthen and rehabilitate it. Even during the time that he has been prevented from working on his lower body because of the stress fracture of his shin I imagine he would have been building up his upper body. Hopefully he has been focussing on the muscles of the shoulder girdle, given that a lot of his injury time has been because of shoulder problems.

International rugby players of the modern era do not have the luxury of an off-season to recuperate with the game calendar becoming more and more loaded with fixtures.

I hope the great warrior comes back and recaptures his old form; although I have been surprised to learn from some of the hard markers and astute judges on this site that he was never much of a footballer.

 

[disco]

Again though he's injured I just have this feeling that he won't be anywhere near his best, this has all the makings of a Chris Jack/ Luke McAlistair comeback.

 

[kiap]

I read somewhere the wallaby strength and conditioning coach (can't remember who it is) has had bucks on am intensive targeted training schedule for some time to get him up to pro rugby condition. BUT, he is doing it alone. In my experience you always train harder in a team environment. But he should be old enough to know hard he has to go.

Yeah, Vickerman should well catered for that at Northampton.

A training program was devised for Vickerman to follow while at Cambridge. But it is understood that by switching to Northampton he will undergo his conditioning under the eye of Saints performance director and tough nut Nick Johnston.

This bloke is probably the best rugby fitness coach in the UK. Huge factor behind Sale's earlier success before he left to join Saints.

Dan needs game time obviously before he can become The Man but, if he gets some decent matches under the belt for the Tahs, he's gotta be considered in the mix for somewhere in the squad later in the year. Can never have too much depth with the bench.

 

[RugbyReg]

who are the Northhampton locks? Is Vickers likely to get game time?

 

[Lance Free]

I don't think they're overly strong in the 2nd row, albeit they're near the top of the premiership again.

Just had a look on their website:

Courney Lawes is their No 1 - he's injured at the moment.

Christian Day - England 'A' (Saxons).

Mark Sorensen - that ex Kiwi - was it Wellington or Waikato? Usually on the bench.

Couple of backups in Sanderson (not the international) and Eustace (ex Glos - I think he played against the Wallabies in 2009).

Pretty solid but I'd say he'd be welcolmed.

 

[Jets]

With Courtney Lawes out injured then Vickerman might be a chance to play. He would need to back to playing condition soon though.

 

[Lee Grant]

Lawes will be back by the time Vickers is ready and they will use him and Day, who has been mentioned before as an England squad hopeful. As 3rd lock (and on the TH) side Vickers (assuming he is ready to go) will be used in front of Sorenson, a workhorse IMO.

They would see value in Vickerman imparting some knowledge to Lawes and Callum Clarke, a 6 who plays sometimes in the 2nd row, especially in the lineout. Their lineout is not great though to be fair to the locks: it is usually because of the crap throwing of Hartley, the England hooker.

 

[en_force_er]

With Courtney Lawes out injured then Vickerman might be a chance to play. He would need to back to playing condition soon though.

Squad rotation is something that well and truly exists in Europe, you very rarely see a pure 1XV out unless it is a very important game but they rotate well enough to make sure it's always there abouts.

Dan would get a crack.

 

[Burke's Boot]

A half in form/half fit Vickerman is better than Mumm & Chisholm

Precisely.

 

[Slim 293]

I've seen a half form Vickerman play before...

I'm not sure if it's any better...

 

[TOCC]

Wow, some of you on here would have us believe this is the second coming of the almighty saviour Dan Vickerman... LOL

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I think the thing is that Vicks when fit is clearly in our best two or three second row options. For that reason alone, I think it's a punt worth taking.

 

[bring back rucking]

If he is at his best (at lets assume he will be given that he was the consumate professional prior to leaving) then he will be the tight side lock with horwill on the other side come the pointy end of the year. Sharpe had one good super rugby series last year and the world has forgotten that he is the worst scrummaging lock to wear a wallaby jersey in the professional era... Vickerman is a dominant scrummager, clean out merchant and line out general... the only area that sharpe has over him is "Ball carries"... thats not his job.... The balance of this wallaby side would be greatly improved by having a genuine tight forward in the second row rather than makeshit 6's playing in the second row coupled with Sharpe... Think about the common traits of John Eales, David Giffen, Martin Johnson, Ian Jones, Fabien Pelous, Victor Matfield, Paul O'Connell... probably the best locks of the past 20 years... not one of them famous for wanting to be an outside centre...

 

[Jets]

Wow, some of you on here would have us believe this is the second coming of the almighty saviour Dan Vickerman... LOL

Having watched some of the guys who have filled in his role since he left surely you can understand. Mumm, Chis et al.

 

[Burke's Boot]

Having watched some of the guys who have filled in his role since he left surely you can understand. Mumm, Chis et al.

+1

 

[Lee Grant]

Don't look at Chiz, Mumm etc - don't look at Sharpe either. They are all locks who pack down on the LH side of the scrum. (Sure Sharpie has been on the TH side of the scrum for the Force and even the Wallabies when Simmons is playing, but he is not a TH lock).

You can only compare Vickers with Horwill, and you should think of Vickers in the situation: what if Horwill is injured - again? This is why we should also be looking closely at Douglas, a genuine TH lock, but one who has had just a single year of Super Rugby.

Let's get our lock comparisons organised.