Wallabies 2023

[The Ghost of Raelene]

The idea is for the lions tour and 27 World Cup. Also it was coming from Rugby Aus not his manager

Hope Rugby can land him. He's definitely a huge talent.

Since June there were reports he wants an upgrade in the range of 800-1m and wanted back to Penrith, he's currently on around $600,000. Said to be un happy when Trent Barret got sacked but we know players will use any excuse for leverage.

What position do we think he would play? He's a big unit that can kick. 10, 15?

Rae Rae

 

[Viking]

He was in everything. Looks to be good defensively and also has a decent passing game. 10 or 12 in union I would think.

FB or 12 for sure. I think 10 is a stretch for any League convert. Not sure his distribution game would be that good. Could be proven wrong though.

 

[scrans21]

Do we know how long some of the players are out for? Specifically Cooper, Rodda, Kellaway and Holloway? Having those 4 players healthy for the Rugby Championship will be a significant boost.

 

[Rebel man]

Hope Rugby can land him. He's definitely a huge talent.

Since June there were reports he wants an upgrade in the range of 800-1m and wanted back to Penrith, he's currently on around $600,000. Said to be un happy when Trent Barret got sacked but we know players will use any excuse for leverage.

What position do we think he would play? He's a big unit that can kick. 10, 15?

Rae Rae

Not sure how he would get an upgrade to get back to Penrith. They would have to be tight on the cap

 

[LeCheese]

Do we know how long some of the players are out for? Specifically Cooper, Rodda, Kellaway and Holloway? Having those 4 players healthy for the Rugby Championship will be a significant boost.

I think I recall reading Cooper, Kellaway, and Holloway are expected back, but Rodda is longer term.

 

[Wilson]

I think I recall reading Cooper, Kellaway, and Holloway are expected back, but Rodda is longer term.

SMH has it as Cooper, Petaia, Swain and hopefully Sio ready, the rest probably still out:

The good news is that Cooper will be fit an available for the trip to Argentina, as well as fullback Jordan Petaia, and second-rower Darcy Swain. Rennie added that he hoped loosehead prop Scott Sio would also be ready to return.

Still out are Andrew Kellaway, Izaia Perese, Tom Banks, Cadeyrn Neville and Izack Rodda. Inside centre Samu Kerevi is expected to join the Australian sevens side in Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, and there is a question mark over Angus Bell, who has a toe injury.

Hollaway unmentioned so I assume he's more less fine now.

 

[Joe Blow]

SMH has it as Cooper, Petaia, Swain and hopefully Sio ready, the rest probably still out:



Hollaway unmentioned so I assume he's more less fine now.

Worth a run at 6 if fit. Still looking for the right fit there

 

[PhilClinton]

What position do we think he would play? He's a big unit that can kick. 10, 15?

I think he would nearly be wasted at 15 - he's a big unit as you say, he can tackle as well. Put him at 12, plenty of ball in hand and a secondary kicking option.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Not sure how he would get an upgrade to get back to Penrith. They would have to be tight on the cap

I agree he wouldn't get an upgrade to go back to Penrith but might take his current money to go there. Just saying there has been a lot of talk surrounding the kid.

Will be the AFL next which tbf he would probably be very good.

Rae Rae

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I think he would nearly be wasted at 15 - he's a big unit as you say, he can tackle as well. Put him at 12, plenty of ball in hand and a secondary kicking option.

Depends how you build the attacking structure of the team. When Folau was flying the Wallabies used him as a focal point.

Freddie Steward for England has a huge impact on game and their 13 becomes the floating/less used player. Our structure at the moment rightly goes through 12 with Kerevi. NZ is going through this currently. They use to have a big focus on Center play that released Wingers but the current Centers have been ineffective v Ireland. 12 could be a great place for him to start if he did come to the light.

Rae Rae

 

[Rebel man]

I agree he wouldn't get an upgrade to go back to Penrith but might take his current money to go there. Just saying there has been a lot of talk surrounding the kid.

Will be the AFL next which tbf he would probably be very good.

Rae Rae

Can’t see him playing AFL

 

[qwerty51]

I got to say I find the positivity baffling around Rennie. I wouldn't give him higher than 4/10 right now. Firstly, we cannot use injuries as an excuse, everyone is dealing with them except Ireland and South Africa. England lost Tom Curry in the first half of the first Test, Itoje in the 2nd Test and Underhill didn't play the 3rd. That's arguably their three best players and not even counting the quality left at home either.

Rennie is now 1-5 v England, Wales and Scotland. Not good. Last year he went 0-3 against NZ despite going 1-2-1 in 2020. Zero improvement. He's drawn twice to Argentina already. Yes, we beat the Springboks 2-0 and that was very impressive but an outliner now. He's 2.5 years into the job, that's equivalent of Cheika's reign after 2016. There's no way we would have the same positivity if this were Cheika. I'd argue he had a better record and accomplished more in 2014-2016 than Rennis has so far.

Our attack is pathetic, we're doing the same dumb shit under Cheika (look at our run metres compared to England). We're not tactically better, we don't know how to play proper pressure Test rugby and can't break down defences after sustained pressure. Rennie won't be sacked before the RWC but I don't think he's the saviour by any means. A false dawn.

 

[Braveheart81]

^ I agree with pretty much all of that.

Rennie has had a tough schedule with COVID etc. but so far the results are not good.

The end of the Cheika era was the lowpoint of his tenure so saying things are a little better than that isn't overly encouraging.

I wouldn't say we're clearly on an upwards trajectory. There are some positives but plenty of negatives.

 

[Rob42]

Rennie won't be sacked before the RWC but I don't think he's the saviour by any means. A false dawn.

When will we stop thinking a new coach will be the messiah? We were saying the same things about the Wallabies when they were coached by Robbie Deans. We said the same things when they were coached by Ewen McKenzie. And Michael Cheika. All coaches with excellent resumes.

Maybe we need to step back and look at the pattern? I.e., the problem ain't the national head coach? I'm a big fan of good coaching, but it doesn't seem to be the solution here.

 

[qwerty51]

I don't know. I've always thought the expectations are too high for the Wallabies and that being ranked 5-7th in the world is probably the best we'll ever do now with the game's popularity here and after a few good wins we get carried away too much. I guess this is the reality now. The media and casual fans expectations will never change unfortunately so they'll constantly keep shitting on the Wallabies thinking they need to be top 3 in the world again and anything less is underachieving.

 

[RugbyReg]

I don't know. I've always thought the expectations are too high for the Wallabies and that being ranked 5-7th in the world is probably the best we'll ever do now with the game's popularity here and after a few good wins we get carried away too much. I guess this is the reality now. The media and casual fans expectations will never change unfortunately so they'll constantly keep shitting on the Wallabies thinking they need to be top 3 in the world again.

yep. 1999-2002 was really an anomaly on the back of having 3 or 4 players who were in our best ever wallaby lists

 

[barbarian]

yep. 1999-2002 was really an anomaly on the back of having 3 or 4 players who were in our best ever wallaby lists

And adapting to the professional game a lot faster than every other nation.

 

[barbarian]

When will we stop thinking a new coach will be the messiah? We were saying the same things about the Wallabies when they were coached by Robbie Deans. We said the same things when they were coached by Ewen McKenzie. And Michael Cheika. All coaches with excellent resumes.

Maybe we need to step back and look at the pattern? I.e., the problem ain't the national head coach? I'm a big fan of good coaching, but it doesn't seem to be the solution here.

This is the comment I agree most with.

Rennie is fine. I don't think he's a mastermind but I also think he's performing adequately with the cattle at his disposal. This team get themselves into games, they are tactically sound, have plenty of ticker, don't get blown out.

It's just that we don't have an enormous pool of talented players and you can only play the cards you are dealt. Another coach may do better, but not so much better that I think there's any point changing. I don't think Eddie Jones out-coached Rennie.

You compare it to the last years of Cheika where his approach was very visibly holding us back.

 

[Derpus]

This is the comment I agree most with.

Rennie is fine. I don't think he's a mastermind but I also think he's performing adequately with the cattle at his disposal. This team get themselves into games, they are tactically sound, have plenty of ticker, don't get blown out.

It's just that we don't have an enormous pool of talented players and you can only play the cards you are dealt. Another coach may do better, but not so much better that I think there's any point changing. I don't think Eddie Jones out-coached Rennie.

You compare it to the last years of Cheika where his approach was very visibly holding us back.

We had the talent to beat England IMO. Those last two games were entirely winnable and, for the third game, should have been won.

I think they are quite tactically naive, to be honest. England turned the screws on us when they had early dominance in game two by taking every point on offer. For our dominance in that first 15 minutes of game three we got nothing. Kicking goals wins test matches.

We also seem to want to run it from the middle third of the pitch. The percentage play is to kick for territory or a contestable bomb which pretty much all the top sides now utilise as their primary midfield tactic. This is a tactical decision.

And it's weird to be so focused on a running game when our set piece, particularly the lineout, actually looked to have a little ascendency.

And honestly can we just bench Tupou? He's probably our best player, but he's half arsing it.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I understand your position on Rennie but I also think he walked into a Cheika trashed house of broken provincial relationships and RA in house issues which would of taken time to get back on track (who knows if that's all doneyet). He's also only just got his coaching staff in permanent roles as well.

He won't be sacked before the RWC but for a contract extension to be offered straight away I think he will need a Semi Final berth.

Rae Rae