Wallabies 2023

[Marce]

Apparently none of the coaches or clubs are "worried" about Rugby targeting players with a union background.

Not sure if we could match salaries anyway

The average NRL winger earn something like 400k. That's a number you can pay but the scouting have to be bloody thorough. The best players in NRL generally are the fullbacks, the full skill-set but they are the expensives ones. They earn more than a million per year, they are the Crown jewel

At the present time we have Vunivalu doing nothing so, you have to pick carefully the next Folau, Koroibete, Tuqiri or Sailor. It has to be a freak athlete, someone like Sua'ali'i

The main issue is still the tight-five. That's where you win games and you can't find those positions in the NRL

Actually I'd rather spend that money in reliable Union players like Kerevi or Koroibete

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

NRL coaches asked about Eddie's grab looks like Rugby is still getting mentions in NRL circles even if it's a poll put out by the paper.

Apparently none of the coaches or clubs are "worried" about Rugby targeting players with a union background.

Not sure if we could match salaries anyway

Edit: feel free to move to a different thread if more pertinent

Doesn't surprise me really. For one they aren't going to say if they were which I don't think they are.

There is only a small pool of players that would have the transferable skill to justify being paid and put straight into a Super Rugby squad. Of this group the ones with a Rugby background which is preferential is even smaller. From there it's players that are the right age and in the right contract situation.

They know Rugby isn't going to pillage 60 players and change the landscape. The NRL Clubs also know the amount of talent constantly coming through their systems and everyone can and will be replaced.

Rugby may have 2/3 legitimate targets of which if they landed 1 would be a good outcome. The focus should be and seems to be on retaining talent in country and from the Schoolboy/U20 ranks.

 

[John S]

Doesn't surprise me really. For one they aren't going to say if they were which I don't think they are.

There is only a small pool of players that would have the transferable skill to justify being paid and put straight into a Super Rugby squad. Of this group the ones with a Rugby background which is preferential is even smaller. From there it's players that are the right age and in the right contract situation.

They know Rugby isn't going to pillage 60 players and change the landscape. The NRL Clubs also know the amount of talent constantly coming through their systems and everyone can and will be replaced.

Rugby may have 2/3 legitimate targets of which if they landed 1 would be a good outcome. The focus should be and seems to be on retaining talent in country and from the Schoolboy/U20 ranks.

I agree with that - I'm not surprised either. I think a bit of that article is the Herald trying to generate clicks (possibly someone in the Nine stable saying "keep rugby in the news"

But I seem to be digressing this from the main thread.

 

[wamberal]

At the present time we have Vunivalu doing nothing so, you have to pick carefully the next Folau, Koroibete, Tuqiri or Sailor. It has to be a freak athlete, someone like Sua'ali'i

Vunivalu is in the "freak athlete" category. Eddie knows what he is capable of.

 

[fatprop]

McKellar on the opportunity

'I'm not dirty': McKellar on why he knocked back Eddie, Wallabies head coach ambition and a 'sense of guilt' over exit

Dan McKellar has revealed he was asked by Eddie Jones to join his coaching staff through to the British and Irish Lions series in…

www.theroar.com.au

 

[Slim 293]

McKellar on the opportunity

'I'm not dirty': McKellar on why he knocked back Eddie, Wallabies head coach ambition and a 'sense of guilt' over exit

Dan McKellar has revealed he was asked by Eddie Jones to join his coaching staff through to the British and Irish Lions series in…

www.theroar.com.au

It sounds like he would've taken the Leicester job even if Rennie was still in charge...

I think long term it's the right move into shoring up his credentials, and I'm sure he would've known he was unlikely to get the Wallabies gig if Rennie had gone post-RWC.

 

[Marce]

Vunivalu is in the "freak athlete" category. Eddie knows what he is capable of.

Yeah and sadly injury prone too. His best years has gone, for some reason a well managed team like Storm left him go.

I was a HUGE supporter of Vunivalu coming to rugby. I though he would has been the new Koroibete but that didn't happen.

Remember how started this. Cheika wanted a big Fijian winger from the NRL, he first asked to Semi Radradra. He couldn't bring him cause he was capped by Fiji Sevens, the next target was Koroibete and the last one was Vunivalu. Now with Drua and Moana giving opportunities to Islanders at Super Rugby level the scouting will be harder

Radradra would has been a F*CKING beast in a Wallaby jersey.

 

[fatprop]

It sounds like he would've taken the Leicester job even if Rennie was still in charge...

I think long term it's the right move into shoring up his credentials, and I'm sure he would've known he was unlikely to get the Wallabies gig if Rennie had gone post-RWC.

Any good manager wants to develop his underlings and see them excel. Sometimes that is an internal move, sometime external, I see this as a great opportunity for McKellar

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Vunivalu may yet prove to be a good player. I doubt it but I hope.

He certainly struggles with injury, but it sounds like the Storm new this and managed his training appropriately. I'm sure the Storm were never going to break the bank to re-sign him at the time as they have never done this for role players in their team. Melbourne has a history of making a lot of average to above average NRL players very wealthy when other teams come knocking about their services, but they are really a product of being part of that organisation. I worry Vunivalu may be in that category.

 

[Adam84]

He certainly struggles with injury, but it sounds like the Storm new this and managed his training appropriately.

I don’t think it’s that straight forward, he missed a lot of games in his last season at the Storm also, after he had signed with rugby.

Seems there is something bio-mechanically amiss that is causing more issues the older he gets.

 

[rodha]

It is in the rugby bible. 2 Corinthians
Chapter 7, verse 15. Obviously @rodha is a great preacher

Green and gold's shining light, spreading rays of truth & reason across the forum, an evangelist for the unconverted, you might say.

 

[D-Box]

I don’t think it’s that straight forward, he missed a lot of games in his last season at the Storm also, after he had signed with rugby.

Seems there is something bio-mechanically amiss that is causing more issues the older he gets.

Best predictor of hamstring injury is a previous hamstring injury. Second best is age. No biomechanics study has found something yet that says this is what causes a hammy ping (most likely though eccentric strength and short fascicle length)

 

[Slim 293]

Nick Frost: Rookie of the Year

Frost claims 2022 Rookie of the Year award

Wallabies lock Nick Frost has been rewarded for his breakthrough International season, named Rugby Australia's Rookie of the Year for 2022.

www.rugby.com.au

 

[whitefalcon]

Nick Frost: Rookie of the Year

Frost claims 2022 Rookie of the Year award

Wallabies lock Nick Frost has been rewarded for his breakthrough International season, named Rugby Australia's Rookie of the Year for 2022.

www.rugby.com.au

Well deserved

 

[Braveheart81]

The best part (that I hadn't hear before) is that his nickname at the Brumbies at least is Fruit. Solid nickname.

 

[TSR]

The average NRL winger earn something like 400k. That's a number you can pay but the scouting have to be bloody thorough. The best players in NRL generally are the fullbacks, the full skill-set but they are the expensives ones. They earn more than a million per year, they are the Crown jewel

At the present time we have Vunivalu doing nothing so, you have to pick carefully the next Folau, Koroibete, Tuqiri or Sailor. It has to be a freak athlete, someone like Sua'ali'i

The main issue is still the tight-five. That's where you win games and you can't find those positions in the NRL

Actually I'd rather spend that money in reliable Union players like Kerevi or Koroibete

Interesting to use the example of Koroibete given he had no notable background in rugby prior to being poached

 

[Marce]

Interesting to use the example of Koroibete given he had no notable background in rugby prior to being poached

Like Radradra, Speight, Vunivalu and most of Fijians. He could has been poached by ABs, France, England or whoever.

If you look at the full glass thanks to the NRL you got him being a legal Australian resident ready to play instanly. Speight played for Waikato, Vunivalu played for Blues Academy so most of them could have been ABs or even Japaneses with the current market

 

[PhilClinton]

I don’t think it’s that straight forward, he missed a lot of games in his last season at the Storm also, after he had signed with rugby.

Seems there is something bio-mechanically amiss that is causing more issues the older he gets.

Hmmm I think GOR has pretty much nailed it. By Vunivalu's own admission he found the training sessions at the Reds quite different and more onerous on his body.

He missed 9 games in that final Storm season, but played in 17, he hasn't looked close to playing 17 games of anything since coming to rugby.

 

[Adam84]

I mean it’s all speculation at this point.

he was relatively injury free until 2020, where he missed a large chunk of NRL games through hamstring issues and it’s a reoccurring issue ever since.

I really dont think you can rule out pre-existing issues coming with him to rugby in 2021

 

[PhilClinton]

I really dont think you can rule out pre-existing issues coming with him to rugby in 2021

There definitely were pre-existing issues, and that's the point re differences in training approach.

Through Vunivalu's own admissions publicly and privately, he's had issues during his time in the NRL and the Storm simply kept him on a low impact training program to combat this. The Reds didn't do that. To use a basketball analogy, he was much more of a 'role player' in the NRL than in rugby. It didn't require a lot of training or involvement to keep him game ready in the NRL.

Whatever changed in 2020, who knows, as you say something could have gotten worse, or maybe the Storm staff didn't care as much about his long-term health because he was leaving the team and chucked him into the fire a bit more.

Anywho, he's apparently back starting for the Reds this weekend. So lets see what happens.