Wallabies 2023

[Namerican]

This is excellent news. No chance of coming back to OZ rugby.

I'm not sure Eddie and USA would be a good fit. The man can coach so I don't doubt that he would find success, but you are dealing with semi-amateur players, low funding, and geographically dispersed players. I think he'd find that extremely frustrating. You also have to be a bit of a cheerleader in a country like the USA to build the game and I'm not sure that's Eddie's strong suit.

 

[dru]

How? The period where players are being pushed their hardest physically is right now leading up to Christmas.

You can't really push someone to their limit to build that fitness and strength when you are trying to bring them back from injury. It's the opposite. You're ramping them up from a low base.

@BH I was being facetious. There is no training time slot of any significance returning from the EOYT. You've made the point quite succinctly, I think.

 

[dru]

Pretty sure Cheika said the same thing.

And McKenzie.

 

[dru]

Regardless of where they are in club level, it's still poor S&C at the Wallaby level if they're overloading players in the process of trying to increase their fitness once in Wallaby camp. A slightly less fit player is still better then an injured player, as a coach they could tailor the game plan to reflect fitness levels as many other nations do.

Alternatively manage the workloads of the players who are lacking fitness better, put them through dedicated S&C programs away from match conditions. But from what the casual observer can see, we haven't see any of that. If anything, we've seen the opposite where players were promoted into the matchday squad whilst still carrying lingering issues.

As I understand it, the annual work load - measured in scheduled professional games - isn't really that high. I get that the international windows for open National selection are dictated around NH domestic/club requirements. A probable consequence is that the annual program ends up working in the NH. But not in Australia.

It probably takes some re-thinking here, probably with emphasis in those time slots at the end of season to tests. If it's true that the annual load is OK just arranged uncomfortably, we should be able to be smarter.

 

[upthereds#!]

Wales 23 vs 'The Others' - Talk about Australia A....

1. Slipper 2. Fainga'a 3. Ala'alatoa
4. Frost 5. Neville
6. Holloway 8. Gleeson 7. Mcreight
9. Gordon 10. Donaldson 11. Nawaqa 12. Hodge 13. Ikitau 14. Petaia 15. Wright
16. Lonergan 17. Robertson 18. Talakai 19. Hanigan 20. Samu 21. Mcdermott 22. Lolesio 23. Campbell

1. Bell 2. Porecki 3. Tupou
4. Arnold 5. Skelton
6. Swinton 8. Valetini 7. Hoops
9. White 10. Quade 11. Koroibete 12. Kerevi 13. Paisami 14. Kellaway 15. Banks
16. BPA 17. Sio 18. Pone 19. Rodda 20. Leota 21. Genia 22. Foley 23. Beale

 

[qwerty51]

As a shock to no one...

Rennie to lobby for expansion of Giteau Law

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has given the strongest indication yet he will push hard for an expansion of the Overseas Player Selection Policy - dubbed the Giteau Law - in a bid to have the strongest squad possible at next year's Rugby World Cup.

www.espn.com.au

 

[Rugby Head]

Wales 23 vs 'The Others' - Talk about Australia A....

1. Slipper 2. Fainga'a 3. Ala'alatoa
4. Frost 5. Neville
6. Holloway 8. Gleeson 7. Mcreight
9. Gordon 10. Donaldson 11. Nawaqa 12. Hodge 13. Ikitau 14. Petaia 15. Wright
16. Lonergan 17. Robertson 18. Talakai 19. Hanigan 20. Samu 21. Mcdermott 22. Lolesio 23. Campbell

1. Bell 2. Porecki 3. Tupou
4. Arnold 5. Skelton
6. Swinton 8. Valetini 7. Hoops
9. White 10. Quade 11. Koroibete 12. Kerevi 13. Paisami 14. Kellaway 15. Banks
16. BPA 17. Sio 18. Pone 19. Rodda 20. Leota 21. Genia 22. Foley 23. Beale

The 2nd team would put 30 on the 1st.

 

[Tomthumb]

As a shock to no one...

Rennie to lobby for expansion of Giteau Law

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has given the strongest indication yet he will push hard for an expansion of the Overseas Player Selection Policy - dubbed the Giteau Law - in a bid to have the strongest squad possible at next year's Rugby World Cup.

www.espn.com.au

Hasn't Rennie been spouting about how much depth he's built though?

 

[PhilClinton]

Hasn't Rennie been spouting about how much depth he's built though?

Meh, depth or no depth, it's become pretty clear the divide between our best players and the rest.

And when your best players are constantly being pulled overseas, the writing is on the wall.

I don't think this is a shock to anyone, especially leading into a RWC.

 

[Derpus]

Meh, depth or no depth, it's become pretty clear the divide between our best players and the rest.

And when your best players are constantly being pulled overseas, the writing is on the wall.

I don't think this is a shock to anyone, especially leading into a RWC.

Been saying unrestricted eligibility is inevitable for ages.

 

[Slim 293]

Some potential insight into why there's so many injuries...

Highlanders hooker Rhys Marshall has played under Rennie, Rassie Erasmus and Stephen Larkham (Rennie at the Chiefs and the last two at Munster). He offered the Herald an eloquent and nuanced view of the situation — and their potential connection to culture.

“Rens’ didn’t really know the area of fitness [at the Chiefs] so he went away and we got a couple of guys ... one was from rowing and the other brought a different element,” Marshall said.

“They work on a model stretched out throughout the year, so often your biggest training weeks are often your best game weeks, and you have to pick those. So he took on a couple of guys who modelled it throughout the year, and what the loads were going to look like throughout the season.

“His [strength] is his ability is to develop culture and understand people, which a lot of other coaches don’t bother with — guys like Rassie and Steve Larkham aren’t culture-driven coaches.

“Culture is Rens’ bread and butter, so when you get guys performing for a bigger cause than themselves, they play really well. But they also injure themselves a lot.

“We found out in 2014 [at the Chiefs] ... guys would injure themselves and run themselves into the ground for him. We were doing hamstrings and all the rest of it.

“It’s not that the modelling was wrong, but the boys knew after 2012 and 2013 [the Chiefs’ Super Rugby title wins], they knew what they could get if they really worked for it. But it’s a very fine balance.

“I’m not sure what he’s doing in the conditioning space but I’d say what he is doing is that team culture to make guys train harder and play harder. Whether that’s [having] an impact on injury ... it’s a balancing act.“

Raw Wallabies side could leave Dave Rennie on the brink

A win against Wales this weekend is essential but it is hard to remember a Wallabies side so callow being asked to perform such a difficult task.

www.smh.com.au

 

[dru]

Some potential insight into why there's so many injuries...

Very interesting, Slim. For my money, I'm shutting up about my disappointments with Rennie and now focusing on supporting the guy. We can't solve that shit (training to resolve injuries) in 12 months, but we can take advantage in the culture thing.

Bring in an S&C guru that reports directly to RA all the same.

 

[LeCheese]

Some potential insight into why there's so many injuries...

Raw Wallabies side could leave Dave Rennie on the brink

A win against Wales this weekend is essential but it is hard to remember a Wallabies side so callow being asked to perform such a difficult task.

www.smh.com.au

Surely it can't be as simple as blokes putting in too many overs?

 

[Derpus]

Surely it can't be as simple as blokes putting in too many overs?

Simplest explanation is usually the right one.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

As a shock to no one...

Rennie to lobby for expansion of Giteau Law

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has given the strongest indication yet he will push hard for an expansion of the Overseas Player Selection Policy - dubbed the Giteau Law - in a bid to have the strongest squad possible at next year's Rugby World Cup.

www.espn.com.au

I wouldn't be surprised if selections are open slather on overseas players in the lead up and after RWC23

 

[RugbyReg]

Is it 5 tests next year before the RWC? I hope the players are made available for every test as prep.

 

[qwerty51]

Is it 5 tests next year before the RWC? I hope the players are made available for every test as prep.

2x NZ, 1x Arg, 1x SA I assume. Who is the 5th?

edit: France

 

[Slim 293]

I wouldn't be surprised if selections are open slather on overseas players in the lead up and after RWC23

Yep…

And I predict RA to announce that in a RWC year all players are eligible for selection…

And then again in 2025 for a Lions series.

 

[Brumby Runner]

There is no doubt that there are some very high quality players overseas, but even this year the Giteau Rule has indicated that we need to be very selective when considering players for our home tests, TRC etc. European based players were either generally not up to scratch due to insufficient time in our training setup or out of form because their season had already finished (Arnold).

So, while for one-off special tournaments like RWC and Lions tours it might be possible to parachute some Euro-based players in, loosening the Rule in ordinary years probably won't offer the same advantages, as we found this year. I don't think it will be open slather anytime soon, if ever.

 

[qwerty51]

BR I reckon part of the issue is the communication, RA rightly couldn't commit to Arnold because he might not have made the 3 but if everyone knows they're part of the plan Arnold might prepare himself better for the Tests?

I still think Arnold is in our best 3 locks. Skelton, Arnold, Frost and then Rodda are 4 high quality locks.