Wallabies 2024

[Linerunner2023]

Petaia is no where near the ability of Wright at this point in time. He has had so many opportunities and can not nail a position. Do we really know what his best position is? Wright can be rocks and diamonds but a strong coach with a quality fullback and he has the x-factor the Wallabies have not had for a while.

Petaia is a tackle breaker and has a boot, only young and injuries have cruelled him getting a consistent crack
Yes wright has X factor but the rocks he produces gets found out in test level as it did last season and brumbies finals! Only a matter of time to a shocker of a game. And in test level there won’t be anywhere to hide and expect SA and NZ to target him.
I like wright but think kellaway is a better 15 and Wright wing

 

[LeCheese]

Petaia is no where near the ability of Wright at this point in time.

Probs because he has a busted shoulder

 

[griffins]

Petaia was still good for a pretty cheap turnover before doing his shoulder this year. Not as glaring as Wright but it's ridiculous to paint him as a safe pair of hands

 

[Linerunner2023]

Probs because he has a busted shoulder

Exactly hard to compare when not playing
Wright is 27 this year and had plenty of chances and been dropped many times
Petaia 24 and injury has hurt his campaign as has his positional changes

 

[whitefalcon]

Yes wright has X factor but the rocks he produces gets found out in test level as it did last season and brumbies finals! Only a matter of time to a shocker of a game.

People have been saying that all year.

He hasn't been perfect but he has largely rid his game of those questionable decisions

That being said, we haven't really seen the brumbies have to chase a game so far this year, which is where the poor decision making tends to come in

 

[LevitatingSocks]

Petaia is a tackle breaker and has a boot, only young and injuries have cruelled him getting a consistent crack
Yes wright has X factor but the rocks he produces gets found out in test level as it did last season and brumbies finals! Only a matter of time to a shocker of a game. And in test level there won’t be anywhere to hide and expect SA and NZ to target him.
I like wright but think kellaway is a better 15 and Wright wing

You're not wrong, Petaia has all the clubs in his bag. The problem with him is that he doesn't employ them consistently or effectively. All the respect in the world to Jock Campbell but he isn't the athlete Petaia is, and yet the Reds feel more settled with Jock at 15.

I think you get the best out of Petaia by giving him a roving role on the wing and allowing him to dip his toe into the responsibilities of 13 or 15 without putting the burden entirely on him.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Jordy's big problem is that he's made of glass. If we could get a couple of good injury free seasons out of him he could be a superstar.

 

[rugbyAU]

He's also too quiet on the rugby field docent get involved that much

 

[stillmissit]

I think Petaia is shy and not very confident unlike many talented players who are strongly confident. If I am right then that explains why as RugbyAU states he is quiet.
Not sure how you fix his injury run which I assumed he would grow out of nor his shyness which a lot of Islander boys have.

 

[stillmissit]

Regarding injuries, I think we make a mistake by building too much muscle/weight in young guys when their ligaments are not strong enough to hold it. When I was coaching we had a young talented Islander boy who went to the Tahs academy about 2010 and he suffered knee and muscle issues almost non-stop and he gave the game away.

 

[PhilClinton]

Regarding injuries, I think we make a mistake by building too much muscle/weight in young guys when their ligaments are not strong enough to hold it. When I was coaching we had a young talented Islander boy who went to the Tahs academy about 2010 and he suffered knee and muscle issues almost non-stop and he gave the game away.

Training techniques, particularly at a young age have evolved a lot since 2010.

I know a number of young men and women currently involved in professional squads and there is definitely a strong focus on mobility and functional strength.

I actually think in general here in Australia that is becoming the more accepted way to train and keep fit.

Back when I was still playing everyone pretty much did gym workouts like we were going to be powerlifters and it's pretty clear now that it wasn't ideal.

 

[Raytah]

Geez, watching the Brumbies pack on ice skates at scrumtime vs Crusaders on Sat was ominous...

Does that change the Wallabies front row hierarchy? Mine would still be:

LHP: Slipper, Hodgeman, Schoupp
HK: Faessler, BPA, Pollard
THP: Ala'alatoa, Tupou, Talakai

 

[LevitatingSocks]

Training techniques, particularly at a young age have evolved a lot since 2010.

I know a number of young men and women currently involved in professional squads and there is definitely a strong focus on mobility and functional strength.

I actually think in general here in Australia that is becoming the more accepted way to train and keep fit.

Back when I was still playing everyone pretty much did gym workouts like we were going to be powerlifters and it's pretty clear now that it wasn't ideal.

Similarly I can anecdotally say that a lot of trainers and physios that work with rugby players incorporate a significant amount of not only mobility work, but also running mechanics drills borrowed from sprinters.

Load management is in widespread use with every professional set up using catapult trackers.

We're also being a bit naive if we don't acknowledge that some athletes at the top level are likely benefiting from PEDs that will almost certainly aid recovery like HGH.

 

[Dctarget]

Geez, watching the Brumbies pack on ice skates at scrumtime vs Crusaders on Sat was ominous...

Does that change the Wallabies front row hierarchy? Mine would still be:

LHP: Slipper, Hodgeman, Schoupp
HK: Faessler, BPA, Pollard
THP: Ala'alatoa, Tupou, Talakai

I think Uelese has had his best super season ever, on recent form he's there over Pollard.

 

[Sword of Justice]

Geez, watching the Brumbies pack on ice skates at scrumtime vs Crusaders on Sat was ominous...

Does that change the Wallabies front row hierarchy? Mine would still be:

LHP: Slipper, Hodgeman, Schoupp
HK: Faessler, BPA, Pollard
THP: Ala'alatoa, Tupou, Talakai

I think Ala’alatoa will improve more as he gets his match fitness back but it’s not ideal at THP given Tupou isn’t going great. I’d start Tupou with Allan off the bench but wouldn’t be surprised either way. Not much depth here. Fa’agase probably in with a shot given he can do both sides.

Slipper isn’t setting the world on fire either but good around the park and there’s no real alternatives currently playing.

Brumbies pack is on the lighter side so a bit of extra weight could help them.

 

[Wilson]

BPA could be a smokey to go straight into the starting jersey if Schmidt is worried about the scrum, he's been the best scrummaging hooker we've had since at least Polota-Nau, probably longer.

 

[stillmissit]

Similarly I can anecdotally say that a lot of trainers and physios that work with rugby players incorporate a significant amount of not only mobility work, but also running mechanics drills borrowed from sprinters.

Load management is in widespread use with every professional set up using catapult trackers.

We're also being a bit naive if we don't acknowledge that some athletes at the top level are likely benefiting from PEDs that will almost certainly aid recovery like HGH.

It's great to hear these endorsements by you and Phil but the question demands "What the hell is going on" with large numbers of injuries in both Super and last year's Wallabies?
BTW what is HGH?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

HGH = Human Growth Hormone

 

[Strewthcobber]

It's great to hear these endorsements by you and Phil but the question demands "What the hell is going on" with large numbers of injuries in both Super and last year's Wallabies?
BTW what is HGH?

It's the elephant in the room isn't it?

The number of Achilles injuries to our big players suggests something is systematically wrong with how they are training at the moment

 

[LevitatingSocks]

It's great to hear these endorsements by you and Phil but the question demands "What the hell is going on" with large numbers of injuries in both Super and last year's Wallabies?
BTW what is HGH?

Could be a zillion different things. But if I had to guess based on watching the documentary and listening to interviews players gave in the aftermath, Eddie's insistence on ramping up the workload during RWC prep and the event itself to a higher than typical degree contributed. Every single player mentioned that Eddie was running hard double sessions between games and how unusual it was.

If players aren't fit enough or gradually eased into that load, you'll have a higher injury rate.

Would require more expertise and knowledge I don't have to answer if whether Eddie was asking for too much or if Super Rugby teams ask for too little in terms of fitness. But either way I think that discrepancy contributed.

I think all the proposed high performance alignment would do wonders for negating this sort of issue.

HGH is human growth hormone and provides anabolic benefits to muscle growth through increased protein production, increases the body's ability to use fat for energy, and boosts recovery capacity.