Wallabies 2023

[gel]

Conceptually agree with you gel.

Although I’m skeptical that Rugby Australia would take the plunge and host a Wallabies v Italy game in Townsville for example.

Talking specifically in QLD, the catch-22 is there are large supporter groups for Samoa, Tonga and Fiji in Brisbane. But I’m still not sure it’s economically viable to host those games at Suncorp regularly as they’d barely sniff a full house.

Yeah, I am suggesting those specific games aren't played at Lang park, just Canberra Townsville, Goldcoast, (unsure about other grounds tbh)

 

[RebelYell]

Rugby.com.au has been established as a media source, not the governing body's promotional tool. Whether you think it's done well or not, that is it's voice and it's role in the landscape. You won't see @wallabies promoting those things.

 

[gel]

Rugby.com.au has been established as a media source, not the governing body's promotional tool. Whether you think it's done well or not, that is it's voice and it's role in the landscape. You won't see @wallabies promoting those things.

Oh, my bad... I didn't realise that.

Can you link me to their youtube channel?

 

[Marce]

Is there some benefit to be gained in playing home series against other teams such as Japan, Samoa, Fiji and italy? We are forced to play NZ, south Africa and the home nations every year, and in the current times I feel we are learning how to lose and/or maintain any consistency. There is obviously confidence to be gained in winning tight ones against the top tier, but is there not also confidence to be gained in maintaining shape *if* we manage to get a run on another team? Would this team recognise winning positions given they are are travelling so poorly?

I agree. You can't play all your games against Tier 2 nations but you have to manage the game time carefully. TEOYT in Europe is a good example. You can't play 4 games against the Top European nations after have played against NZ, SA and Argentina. You have to pick 2 top nations (France, Ireland, England, Scotland) and 2 weak nations (Italy, Japan, Georgia, Spain or whoever). If you have a hardcore rival in June series like England or France next year you have to pick a weaker rival or play more games against Tier 2 nations in TEOYT.

Beside that, you can't play 5 games in a row in October/November when at the same time NZ and Argentina play 3 games and SA plays 4 games. That one of the reason why you had an injury crisis.

I know that is an economic issue, you play mores games in NH you earn more money but Argentina is not a top Union, they aren't millionaries and they manage to play less games in EOTYT. An injury crisis is more expensive than the money for 1 or 2 extra games

 

[Doritos Day]

Is there some benefit to be gained in playing home series against other teams such as Japan, Samoa, Fiji and italy?

No.
1. The ticket revenue from the 6 home games a year is important and people barely go to watch the Argies let alone the countries listed here
2. Beating up on inferior opposition isn't fooling anybody

 

[Marce]

No.
1. The ticket revenue from the 6 home games a year is important and people barely go to watch the Argies let alone the countries listed here
2. Beating up on inferior opposition isn't fooling anybody

At home maybe not but away you have to manage the opposition level after been beaten by NZ, SA and sometimes Argentina if u want to build a strong brand

 

[PhilClinton]

No.
1. The ticket revenue from the 6 home games a year is important and people barely go to watch the Argies let alone the countries listed here
2. Beating up on inferior opposition isn't fooling anybody

I don’t necessarily agree with your second point.

For proper rugby fans, we would understand whether or not a win was considered ‘a good one’.

But the casual observer who still tune into the Wallabies as a national sporting brand don’t necessarily have that knowledge or really care that much about the opposition.

I think gels point was that the Wallabies a team and brand need a kickstart again to become relevant. Having positive press about wins is an easy way to do that.

 

[stillmissit]

Two words - John Muggleton. The Wallabies decline started when he left after 2007. Look at Australia's results during the Connelly tenure, barely any blowouts, mostly pretty tight low-scoring margins even when losing, that's what effect a former rugby league clinical defense coach has for ya.

McQueen brought him into the Wallabies as part of tightening up the D and he did an excellent job. Jones kept him on as he kept most of the players on as well. After Muggleton there was another good defensive coach Les Kiss at the tahs. Do we still use ex-League coaches for the D?

 

[stillmissit]

No.
1. The ticket revenue from the 6 home games a year is important and people barely go to watch the Argies let alone the countries listed here
2. Beating up on inferior opposition isn't fooling anybody

You wrote what I was going to say. This madness cannot take us anywhere but down, we play the best because we deserve to. The French and Irish tests with our second-string players proved that. Anything else is a fool's parade.

 

[wamberal]

The Irish tour that had to be cancelled because of Covid would have been a sell-out, with lots of Irish supporters travelling here.

 

[PhilClinton]

You wrote what I was going to say. This madness cannot take us anywhere but down, we play the best because we deserve to. The French and Irish tests with our second-string players proved that. Anything else is a fool's parade.

Ha! That's an entirely wrong attitude.

We don't DESERVE anything. Our pathways for both players and coaching have been crap for years because we just figured we deserve to be good at this game as we have in the past and things would unfold nicely. We haven't proved we are an elite rugby nation for a long time.

How do we deserve it?

What's the old saying? The true definition of madness is repeating the same action, over and over, hoping for a different result.

No different to us re-aligning with NZ for Super Rugby Pacific. Slow death imminent.

 

[Wilson]

Is there some benefit to be gained in playing home series against other teams such as Japan, Samoa, Fiji and italy? We are forced to play NZ, south Africa and the home nations every year, and in the current times I feel we are learning how to lose and/or maintain any consistency. There is obviously confidence to be gained in winning tight ones against the top tier, but is there not also confidence to be gained in maintaining shape *if* we manage to get a run on another team? Would this team recognise winning positions given they are are travelling so poorly?

I've thought for years we should be looking to setup a regular game against a tier 2 nation immediately before the rugby championship to serve as best possible preparation. Particularly during the decade of starting off with a Bledisloe in Sydney each year, getting a game under our belt beforehand would've been a great way to hit the ground running and put us in the best possible stead to compete.

 

[Braveheart81]

Oh, my bad... I didn't realise that.

Can you link me to their youtube channel?

The Wallabies videos also go on the rugby.com.au YouTube.

If you look at the Videos rather than Shorts tab then you will see they are all Australian focused.

I don't know a lot about YouTube Shorts but it is something of a different platform. It would seem you are more likely to get views from people not specifically looking for your content (like TikTok for example) and I am guessing that Rugby Australia is experimenting with that by posting a range of different content.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

McQueen brought him into the Wallabies as part of tightening up the D and he did an excellent job. Jones kept him on as he kept most of the players on as well. After Muggleton there was another good defensive coach Les Kiss at the tahs. Do we still use ex-League coaches for the D?

Not really. Speaking to most diehard Rugby fans they love to put down League for its supposed simplicity, but a lot of history shows our League cousins really do nail the Defensive side of the game. I can already hear someone saying how they don't understand how hard defending at 13 is... They get it and would be able to do it in a heartbeat. Could argue that the speed and ferocity of a league defence these days in union would just lead to yellow cards but I put a lot of that down the intelligence of our own squad.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I've thought for years we should be looking to setup a regular game against a tier 2 nation immediately before the rugby championship to serve as best possible preparation. Particularly during the decade of starting off with a Bledisloe in Sydney each year, getting a game under our belt beforehand would've been a great way to hit the ground running and put us in the best possible stead to compete.

Agree. I'd love to see a schedule between Aus & NZ to play the pacific nations routinely. I know it's about $$ for us but for the growth of the game it would be good to see games v Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and I'd add USA, Canada into it. Even for our own player development it would be good to have the ability to debut a guy in that over back-to-back test v NZ.

Maybe the return of the Pacific Nations Cup will continue in place of this idea. I enjoyed that tournament quite a lot and it sure kept the Wallabies fed with match fit players as they dropped like flies.

 

[wamberal]

Not really. Speaking to most diehard Rugby fans they love to put down League for its supposed simplicity, but a lot of history shows our League cousins really do nail the Defensive side of the game. I can already hear someone saying how they don't understand how hard defending at 13 is... They get it and would be able to do it in a heartbeat. Could argue that the speed and ferocity of a league defence these days in union would just lead to yellow cards but I put a lot of that down the intelligence of our own squad.

Most tackles in loig comprise three defenders, at least one of whom goes high.

 

[stillmissit]

Ha! That's an entirely wrong attitude.

We don't DESERVE anything. Our pathways for both players and coaching have been crap for years because we just figured we deserve to be good at this game as we have in the past and things would unfold nicely. We haven't proved we are an elite rugby nation for a long time.

How do we deserve it?

What's the old saying? The true definition of madness is repeating the same action, over and over, hoping for a different result.

No different to us re-aligning with NZ for Super Rugby Pacific. Slow death imminent.

Ha! that's entirely the wrong attitude.......We deserve it based on our record even with Rennie. I'll have a bit of look at how even in the last few years we could have been successful. I believe we could have done that but we never will with a loser attitude.
If you think we are in this crap and it's so deep that we can only sink further into it then you and I will never agree. A similar POV was being put around before the ARU reluctantly gave the job to McQueen. We need to toughen up in our D, breakdown and our attacking structures and given the right coach we can beat anyone.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Most tackles in loig comprise three defenders, at least one of whom goes high.

You're right. The modern defence relies on that to slow the play the ball, but their structures are still fantastic given they play on the same size field with less players. If you built a base of your D from earlier league styles, I think it would work today but it relies on a high level of individual responsibility to make the tackle which then leads to fitness and ability to dominate an opponent.

 

[stillmissit]

Not really. Speaking to most diehard Rugby fans they love to put down League for its supposed simplicity, but a lot of history shows our League cousins really do nail the Defensive side of the game. I can already hear someone saying how they don't understand how hard defending at 13 is... They get it and would be able to do it in a heartbeat. Could argue that the speed and ferocity of a league defence these days in union would just lead to yellow cards but I put a lot of that down the intelligence of our own squad.

If we are not prepared to learn from other sports we will struggle to improve. Union doesn't hold all the IQ on how to win at sport.
There is an anti-league cohort in union same as in league re union. Yet we are both still looking to take players from each other I find it annoying that we seem to buy their older players and they seem to be wanting our young players.

 

[PhilClinton]

Ha! that's entirely the wrong attitude.......We deserve it based on our record even with Rennie. I'll have a bit of look at how even in the last few years we could have been successful. I believe we could have done that but we never will with a loser attitude.
If you think we are in this crap and it's so deep that we can only sink further into it then you and I will never agree. A similar POV was being put around before the ARU reluctantly gave the job to McQueen. We need to toughen up in our D, breakdown and our attacking structures and given the right coach we can beat anyone.

We probably won't agree on a number of things, but to say that we deserve anything is pretty arrogant and a big reason why our teams aren't up to the standard we expect them to be. The other sports in Australia have adapted, grown and remained relevant, but we've kept the same course for 20 years and declined. That isn't opinion, it is fact.

We are in crap and deep shit, but we can of course get ourselves out of it. But there needs to be change.

Locking ourselves into an elitest mindset where we don't play anyone except the top nations is one of those changes that needs to occur.