Ala'alatoa to captain, he'll be 33 at the next world cup which is prime age for a prop. But I'd have either McReight or McDermott as VC for the rest of this world cup period with an eye for one of them taking over from 2028 onwards (similar to the Moore as captain and Hooper as VC structure we had in 2014-15).
Wallabies 2024
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Adam84
Rod McCall (65)
Issue with the THP as captain, is he won’t/shouldn’t be playing 80 of test rugby, ideally with decent depth we would be rotating props at 40-50min mark
Also, whilst AAA is a good scrummager there are plenty better at test level, you don’t want your captain being penalised regularly throughout a match, it undermines their ability to communicate with the ref effectively
Also, whilst AAA is a good scrummager there are plenty better at test level, you don’t want your captain being penalised regularly throughout a match, it undermines their ability to communicate with the ref effectively
Froggy
Nicholas Shehadie (39)
Picking a squad on the same basis as Horan and Shepherd the other day (no OS players, no currently injured players), here's my go:
Slipper, Faessler, AAA, Frost, Holloway, Valetini, McReight, Cale, McDermott, Lolesio, Toole, Paisami, Ikatou, Kellaway, T Wright; Res: Pollard, Gibbon, TT, Hanigan, L Wright, Lonergan, Gordon, Foketi.
Importantly, Lolesio kicks goals, when he is replaced Lonergan replaces mcDermott and kicks goals.
Slipper, Faessler, AAA, Frost, Holloway, Valetini, McReight, Cale, McDermott, Lolesio, Toole, Paisami, Ikatou, Kellaway, T Wright; Res: Pollard, Gibbon, TT, Hanigan, L Wright, Lonergan, Gordon, Foketi.
Importantly, Lolesio kicks goals, when he is replaced Lonergan replaces mcDermott and kicks goals.
Wilson
Phil Kearns (64)
Holloway, Toole, Pollard and Hanigan are injured
Wilson
Phil Kearns (64)
Toole 3 weeks, Pollard and Hanigan unclear at this stage. But if the idea was to not pick currently injured players then Holloway is probably the only one of those that still qualifies.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
Very close to what I'd go with too Froggy. The one change to the starting side I'd make would be Gordon in place of Lolesio. I know that would compromise the goal kicking, but I reckon Gordon's kicking has shown good improvement as he's taken the job on at the Rebels and wouldn't be the risk that it was last year.
Otherwise, I think on recent efforts, I would not have Gibbon on the bench. He is more than fair in open play but his scrummaging now has huge question marks about it. I'd probably go with Fa'agase or the other Rebels LHP unless Schoupp makes it back from injury.
wamberal99
Jim Clark (26)
Wow. I did not think I would live to see the day when you dropped Lolesio.!!!!
On a serious note, I wonder he will decide to go with a bigger 7? That seems to be the fashion these days.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
Wamb, it's no secret. All year I've favoured Carter Gordon as the starting 10 with Noah next best. I am looking forward to seeing the Wallabies backline running off Gordon's superior passing game.
Derpus
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Fuck all that. Just play McReight.
The Marketing Pigeon
Herbert Moran (7)
Early take but Nick Frost might not make the wallabies squad for mine if LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto), Holloway, Rodda are locked in and Ryan smith, Hanigan (bench lock and 6) and swain are all in much better form and have greater size. Frosts lack of physicality and passiveness in contact is glaring in the game tonight
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
Not the Hooper of the last couple of years D.
Tomikin
David Codey (61)
Fros
Not really a hot take , his probably 4th lock at the Brumbies at the moment, and I've said a number of times he can't be picked when his not playing. Swain will get his spot probably.. I'm still not sold on Rodda and LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) is injured...
Not really a hot take , his probably 4th lock at the Brumbies at the moment, and I've said a number of times he can't be picked when his not playing. Swain will get his spot probably.. I'm still not sold on Rodda and LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) is injured...
Derpus
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Yeah maybe. But also maybe if we had a 7 who was a genuine stand out he woulda been more naturally edged outta the side.
Joe Blow
John Hipwell (52)
I reckon McReight is pretty close to being as good as Hooper. Better in some ways. His linking game is superior as are his ball skills. He looks bigger than Hooper and has a similar sized motor. He should start at 7.
Gordons game yesterday did not help his cause. His passing game was off, as was the handling for the Rebels pretty much across the board. Not sure why people are still calling for him to start at 10. Lolesio is a much better bet.
Gordons game yesterday did not help his cause. His passing game was off, as was the handling for the Rebels pretty much across the board. Not sure why people are still calling for him to start at 10. Lolesio is a much better bet.
Froggy
Nicholas Shehadie (39)
McReight would be my pick for Wallaby 7, but calling him as good as Hooper is looking through very deeply red tinged glasses. While for some reason BR never rated him, most supporters of all sides would rate him one of the best two or three players the Wallabies have produced over the last fifteen years
Strewthcobber
Simon Poidevin (60)
Where McReight needs to improve to be world class like Hooper is his dominant tackling. Good teams in the past run at McReight to take him out of the breakdown contest.
When they tried this with Hooper, his dominant tackles meant this didn't work