But surely you agree that we've had 15+ players leave Australian shores, well in their prime, who were Wallaby squad members? This isn't just people cashing in on their retirement, the situation has changed. This is whole team of players who are at their fittest, and when they left Australia, were wearing Gold.
Yes, it’s the reality of our selection pool. Even if the best XV is currently playing in Australia it would still be of benefit to open selections for depth and competitiveness reasons.
Why they comparing locks against two backrowers..
So they want us to pick a couple of locks and back rowers from overseas? Genius level stuff.
There’s Matt Philip, Richie Arnold, Rory Arnold. I wouldn’t say they’re better than [Carlo] Tizzano and [Harry] Wilson, but the competition there, you’ve got four strong options to pick from.
I agree it's different to what it was 20 years ago (especially this last season) but names being thrown about aren't the ones who left this year. It was Gill, McMahon, Sio, Phillip, Arnolds (one who is shit and one who hasn't played for 18mths). The attention Kerr-Barlow got on these pages (a 34yr old halfback) again what a load of rubbish. People call for these players and nobody really calls them out because they aren't watching the leagues either.
Outside the locks these are kind of nonsense inclusions.
Backrowers and centres all playing league. Props we have been alright (the all blacks are using 2 of ours). 10s is the tragedy.
Do you need stars to make the test team better or do you just need players better than 16-23 that we put on the field last week?
The 150 odd professional Australian rugby players that could form the basis of a 3rd tier competition and create some actual depth from which to pluck Wallabies.
I could probably name a whole team but it's just entirely beside the point.