Wallabies 2023

[Viking]

Disagree - the game plan against the boks was completely wrong so that game doesn't even count - should have tried him with McDermott but persisted with pairing him with White - we saw how that worked... In the 2nd ABs game he keeps the game alive with a clutch kick and then drops a shit pass from White, the scrum gets pushed backwards and that's on him?

It’s also clear he isn’t first choice. Gordon deserves that. Not many are arguing that.

So I’m okay with dropping your second string options for younger players.

I just don’t get why Donaldson is favoured.

 

[Dan54]

48 hours standdown is a thing for a replacement coming in, I've never heard of 48 hour period before you can initiate a replacement - that makes no sense to me.

You've surely made up the "can't replace for an injury brought into the tournament" though - what does that even mean? Let's say Hooper gets picked, we all know he currently has a calf strain, now he plays 1 game and completely tears the calf and you're saying we can't replace him? Nah.

Might well be wrong, but was another one I just heard somewhere, injuries have to be after the squad is named (was on the risk of naming Retallick who already injured?. As I said, don't tke my word for it, just things going through my mind, I have heard discussions on tv. Perhaps the 48hr stand down thing was more they have to wait to be assessed, and then get it signed off? Perhaps I should take more notice. Do know you can't just replace them off your own bat, without getting WR (World Rugby) or whoever to sign it off.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

the last 10 pages. I haven't read them all.

Tomikin called Brumby Runner an incredibly rude word back on about page 693.

Not dobbing but you should look into it.

Hope this PM finds you well.


Regards,

-DP

 

[Braveheart81]

I think the RWC has an independent doctor who has to assess them. I don't know if that's true...just something I read somewhere...

I don't think any squad wants to make tactical injury replacements. They however all know that injuries are likely and a bunch of players are going to be carrying injuries through the tournament that if there was a necessity for other reasons would be enough to get them ruled out.

There is an independent doctor but I also don't think it's an impossible bar to reach. If you complain you've tweaked your calf or hamstring and can't run at full pace I highly doubt any doctor is going to deny it.

Yep , but I don't think you can be replaced for injuries you already carry going into cup. I do actually think there is a lot of red tape, you have to wait at leats 48 hrs after a game to get assessed, and any replacement has to be there 48 hrs before a game? I think it's something like that, I do know they are fairly harsh on teams trying dodgy things to bring in players. I sure Eddie has no intention of doing that anyway, and has picked players he wants.

Players can be withdrawn at any point. The 48 hour rule is that a replacement can't play for 48 hours after they've been brought into the squad. This is to equalize things such that a team who has players nearby isn't at an advantage over a team that has to fly someone over from the other side of the world.

Naming Skelton captain makes me think Eddie has not decided whether he will start Tate or White in the big games, otherwise wouldn’t he have just made Tate captain after last week? Or he might be thinking each of them suits different oppositions better

My big concern is that Donaldson is basically guaranteed the #22 jersey which doesn’t fill me with confidence.

And kemeny picked because he can play wing better than Samu

Maybe he'd already decided Skelton was captain but wanted to start Arnold to give him more minutes so McDermott captained last week?

 

[Bullrush]

Jones is vindictive and reactive. We have seen it with Wright and now with Cooper, not to mention with multiple headsets already this year. Notwithstanding that White could easily have been blamed for QCs dropped ball and that there are others who have had average games or made a similar mistake and they are still there.
We don’t have the resources for the coach to drop a player out of the squad on a whim because he is pissed off. We have little depth across the board.
I hope they go well but have little confidence in the Jones’ selection process.

On The Breakdown after Bledisloe II, John Kirwan said this:

"What Eddie traditionally does, he very quickly gets rid of the players he doesn't like or trust - no opinion on whether he's right or not - and then very quickly he settles on his leadership group and he plays them and he plays them and he plays them."

It's not a stretch to think that Samu, QC (Quade Cooper) and Hooper were players that EJ (Eddie Jones) either didn't like or trust.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Sorry if someone else has corrected this over the last 10 pages. I haven't read them all.

We've got four foreign players in the RWC squad. Skelton, Kerevi, Koroibete and Arnold. We've just dropped from 5 in the previous squad down to 4.

And having a vacant overseas spot could open an opportunity to bring Scott Sio in if there's an injury in the front row.

 

[KevinO]

There is an independent doctor but I also don't think it's an impossible bar to reach. If you complain you've tweaked your calf or hamstring and can't run at full pace I highly doubt any doctor is going to deny it.

My question regarding this, say it's a minor tweak after the first game and you will be fit for games 3 and 4. Is this person allowed to be dropped all together for someone who was left out while recovering but is now fit?

 

[barbarian]

So I'm now wondering if people have slightly overreacted to the squad announcement.

When it all boils down, the four guys who should feel the most aggrieved are Hooper, Cooper, Ikitau and Holloway. All in our best XV at the start of the season (arguably).

Two of them are carrying injury, and that seems to be the reason they have been overlooked. Which is hard to dispute from the outside.

And the other two are good players, but have been clearly usurped in the past few weeks.

So there's a couple of left field changes, but our full strength XV remains unchanged. So is this squad really as wacky as some are making out? Will it really cruel our chances that we've picked a backup 10 who's slightly worse than the other one we had?

I'm not arguing that I agree with every decision. But from the reaction online you'd think Eddie brought John Eales out of retirement, added in Joe Sua'ali'i, and dragged David Pocock out of the senate. There are left field choices, sure, but not *that* left field.

 

[Bullrush]

My question regarding this, say it's a minor tweak after the first game and you will be fit for games 3 and 4. Is this person allowed to be dropped all together for someone who was left out while recovering but is now fit?

I think you can. There is the 48-hr stand down period and the replaced player cannot come back into the squad but otherwise, I think this is allowed.

 

[Braveheart81]

My take on Cooper being omitted is that Jones has decided he's no longer in the best 23 and he's going to run the gauntlet of not having him in the squad.

I'm not expecting Donaldson to be in the 23 every game. I'm expecting Gordon to play 80 minutes.

For the record I reckon the unluckiest player is Ryan Lonergan. Third player in the squad all season, doesn't get a game and then gets omitted for another uncapped player who was good for a half in the Aus A game vs Tonga.

Holloway is pretty unlucky but likewise didn't sufficiently grasp his chances. I don't think Rob Leota was a lot better though.

I don't think Tom Wright is unlucky. He's had plenty of chances and failed to take them. I can see why Jones has decided to move on. Whether or not Jorgensen deserves to be there or not is largely irrelevant.

Donaldson is incredibly lucky to be there. Potentially it's the fact that he can cover 10 and 15 that has got him over the line. I don't expect we'll see him outside of the Portugal game unless he's also on the bench for one of the other pool games to take a few minutes off Gordon.

 

[Braveheart81]

My question regarding this, say it's a minor tweak after the first game and you will be fit for games 3 and 4. Is this person allowed to be dropped all together for someone who was left out while recovering but is now fit?

Yes. There's no threshold for how long the player needs to be out for to be replaced. That's entirely on the team to decide that.

 

[Tex]

I'm on board. Siege mentality from here on in, let Eddie bait and enrage the Kiwi and English fans and media, build a deep squad that can hopefully push for a semi berth in France and a highly competitive 2027 cycle.

 

[qwerty51]

If you guys who think WR (World Rugby) are going to curtail any sneaky replacement stuff can provide previous examples where they have before that would be great.

 

[emuarse]

So far his captains have been Slipper, Hooper, Ala'alatoa & McDermott. Only one of those was ever going to play 80 minutes so I don’t think it’s a real factor. Interestingly thought with Skelton & McDermott C & VC it’s likely neither will be on at the end.

Skelton as skipper you'd think would lead the team out so he'd play first half plus some.
McDermott as VC would play the 2nd half after White.
If Skelton has an injury, then White (or McReight )would be the interim leader through the remainder of the 1st half.
If McDermott is injured in 2nd half while on field captain, then probably Slipper takes over.

 

[Bullrush]

If you guys who think WR (World Rugby) (World Rugby) are going to curtail any sneaky replacement stuff can provide previous examples where they have before that would be great.

I can’t think of any team who has gone to a RWC with the intent of using injury replacements as a strategy for winning. Neither can I think of any injury replacements at a RWC that haven’t been considered genuine.

If you can provide previous examples of ‘sneaky replacement stuff’ happening that would be great.

 

[qwerty51]

I can’t think of any team who has gone to a RWC with the intent of using injury replacements as a strategy for winning. Neither can I think of any injury replacements at a RWC that haven’t been considered genuine.

If you can provide previous examples of ‘sneaky replacement stuff’ happening that would be great.

On 22 October 2019 Josh Navidi withdrew from the squad having failed to recover from injury and he was replaced by Owen Lane.[54]
1 On 29 September, Sam Carter and James Hanson were called up to the squad to replace Will Skelton and Wycliff Palu, injured during Australia's game with Uruguay.[2]
2 On 28 September, Gareth Anscombe and James Hook were called up to the squad to replace Hallam Amos and Scott Williams who were injured in Wales's win against England.[13]
On 14 September, Eli Walker was released from the squad following injury and was replaced with Ross Moriarty.[11]
On 29 September, Blair Cowan replaced Grant Gilchrist in the squad following injury.[21]
2 On 17 October, Rory Sutherland replaced Ryan Grant in the squad following injury.[22]

There's a million of these. Backs replacing forwards and vice-versa.

It says injury of course but how do we know if they were injured? There's proof right there that teams replace players with not an actual like-for-like replacement but someone more suited to the squad.

The onus shouldn't be on me to show WR (World Rugby) don't do fuck all due diligence (because they can't really) in evaluating the merit of an injury replacement.

 

[John S]

I can’t think of any team who has gone to a RWC with the intent of using injury replacements as a strategy for winning. Neither can I think of any injury replacements at a RWC that haven’t been considered genuine.

If you can provide previous examples of ‘sneaky replacement stuff’ happening that would be great.

If you guys who think WR (World Rugby) (World Rugby) are going to curtail any sneaky replacement stuff can provide previous examples where they have before that would be great.

So basically - this is a non-argument?

 

[cyclopath]

Tomikin called Brumby Runner an incredibly rude word back on about page 693.

Not dobbing but you should look into it.

Hope this PM finds you well.


Regards,

-DP

You made me fucking look. You're on my shit list now.
***SHIT LIST NOW****

 

[BDA]

My take on Cooper being omitted is that Jones has decided he's no longer in the best 23 and he's going to run the gauntlet of not having him in the squad.

I'm not expecting Donaldson to be in the 23 every game. I'm expecting Gordon to play 80 minutes.

For the record I reckon the unluckiest player is Ryan Lonergan. Third player in the squad all season, doesn't get a game and then gets omitted for another uncapped player who was good for a half in the Aus A game vs Tonga.

Holloway is pretty unlucky but likewise didn't sufficiently grasp his chances. I don't think Rob Leota was a lot better though.

I don't think Tom Wright is unlucky. He's had plenty of chances and failed to take them. I can see why Jones has decided to move on. Whether or not Jorgensen deserves to be there or not is largely irrelevant.

Donaldson is incredibly lucky to be there. Potentially it's the fact that he can cover 10 and 15 that has got him over the line. I don't expect we'll see him outside of the Portugal game unless he's also on the bench for one of the other pool games to take a few minutes off Gordon.

Just curious, if donalson isnt in the 23, who plays 10 if gordan goes down injured?

 

[fatprop]

Great reflection on super rugby results at least this team should start well and end up getting beat in the second half... Oz rugby's finest

more a reflection of wallaby results