It's not Cheik's team, he wouldn't put both Horwill AND Skelton in the reserves. One or the other.
The earlier remark about selecting on potential was quite astute. To this end I'd have Jones in the mix somewhere.
I wrote on the front page last week we simply must plan for the future with the slow demise of Robinson, Alexander, Horwill and, dare I say it, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) (no favouritism here, in jumper order). Time stands still for no man. On Saturday Horwill played as well as he's played the last coupla years but he's not the player he was due to injuries and age. Carter looked to be growing into an international lock with glimpses of effective mongrel together with a few nice touches. Depth in the tight five is by far our most pressing problem ATM. If Cheika can go some way to addressing this he'll have made a good start, but this squad isn't making that task any easier. The lack of a good reserve THP could cruel our chances next year.
Genia and Cooper present tricky problems for Cheika: will game time bring them back to their best? I suspect a word in Quade's shell-like about too many wide passes will significantly tighten up his game. It was nice to see him do a few full-blooded tackles against the BaaBaas, take note, Kurtley.