Wallabies 2024

[Dctarget]

Do Victorians seriously call rashies ‘scratchies’, @Dctarget ? Next you’ll be telling me they don’t fall into the category of togs or something ridiculous.

I actually had a brain fade and we call them rashies too, not that we ever need them sadly. I was trying to remember my Queensland youth!

 

[Wilson]

Unfortunately Lolesio reminds me of the fat kid who put on his scratchie at the pool because the girls arrived.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I'd love to see Samu take his rightful spot at 12 back and tear it up on this tour

 

[Slim 293]

Quiet achiever Tauakipulu earns maiden rep honour with Australia XV call-up​

Western Force tighthead prop Tiaan Tauakipulu has been rewarded for a strong 2024 Super Rugby Pacific campaign with a call-up to the Australia XV squad.

Quiet achiever Tauakipulu earns maiden rep honour with Australia XV call-up

www.rugby.com.au

Quiet achiever indeed... he apparently played every game with the Force this year.

 

[chasmac]

Question without notice;
What are the strengths and weaknesses of our second rowers;
Also, once we know these attributes, what is the best way to utilize them on game day.
Also, what pairings create the most synergy and create the best fit for the gameplan.
I will start with;

	Lineout	Scrum	Kickoff receive	Attack	Defense	General
Frost	Great target. Great defensive jump. Not the best rolling maul destroyer.	Good (?)	Good hands. Great jump. Timing can go missing. Team results here have been poor.	Not a line bender. Fast in loose play. Good support player.	Willing. Tackle technique pretty good. Yellow card potential due to height. Tackle % is down	Needs to combine with a tight lock that will bend the line for him. Likely starter due to lineout skills. Potentially goes to 6 after 50 mins. (?)
Skelton	Good lifter. Destroys mauls. Needs a jumping backrower to cover for his lack of jump.	Good - If he is super fit. Difficult to partner with due to his size	Unsure	Line Bender. Good soft hands with good offload. A bit slow in support.	A bit slow. Good if the game comes within his reach. Destroys rucks and mauls when he gets to them	Needs a backrower to cover his lineout jumping and his defense mobility. 50 minute Max. Potentially the best fit with Frost (?)
LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto)	Good #2 in Lineout. Good maul defense.	Good	All of the current wallabies delivered poor team results in this area.	Hard carry. Good hands	Hard defender	Difficult to leave out.
Williams	improving	Good start	Part of an underperforming unit.	Seemed Good	Seemed Good	Not certain of his credentials, so it is hard to comment.

 

[Dctarget]

Question without notice;
What are the strengths and weaknesses of our second rowers;
Also, once we know these attributes, what is the best way to utilize them on game day.
Also, what pairings create the most synergy and create the best fit for the gameplan.
I will start with;

	Lineout	Scrum	Kickoff receive	Attack	Defense	General
Frost	Great target. Great defensive jump. Not the best rolling maul destroyer.	Good (?)	Good hands. Great jump. Timing can go missing. Team results here have been poor.	Not a line bender. Fast in loose play. Good support player.	Willing. Tackle technique pretty good. Yellow card potential due to height. Tackle % is down	Needs to combine with a tight lock that will bend the line for him. Likely starter due to lineout skills. Potentially goes to 6 after 50 mins. (?)
Skelton	Good lifter. Destroys mauls. Needs a jumping backrower to cover for his lack of jump.	Good - If he is super fit. Difficult to partner with due to his size	Unsure	Line Bender. Good soft hands with good offload. A bit slow in support.	A bit slow. Good if the game comes within his reach. Destroys rucks and mauls when he gets to them	Needs a backrower to cover his lineout jumping and his defense mobility. 50 minute Max. Potentially the best fit with Frost (?)
LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto)	Good #2 in Lineout. Good maul defense.	Good	All of the current wallabies delivered poor team results in this area.	Hard carry. Good hands	Hard defender	Difficult to leave out.
Williams	improving	Good start	Part of an underperforming unit.	Seemed Good	Seemed Good	Not certain of his credentials, so it is hard to comment.

I think the RC saw Williams jump Frost for that starting position and Salakaia-Loto brings the positives that Frost does without most of his negatives. Williams can bend the line early on in the game, not so much of a hole runner like Lukhan. I want Williams/Skelton with Salakaia-Loto on the bench for the final 30.

 

[chasmac]

I think the RC saw Williams jump Frost for that starting position and Salakaia-Loto brings the positives that Frost does without most of his negatives. Williams can bend the line early on in the game, not so much of a hole runner like Lukhan. I want Williams/Skelton with Salakaia-Loto on the bench for the final 30.

Who are your lineout jumpers for these pairings?

 

[stillmissit]

Who are your lineout jumpers for these pairings?

I want Swain/Skelton to start with Frost on the bench. Don't care who goes the 80 but would prefer Skelton.
Jumpers Swain, Wilson, Valitini (occasionally) and McReight fast lift at the front or from the back over the top with Samu either taking it and McW support or the other way round.

 

[TSR]

Question without notice;
What are the strengths and weaknesses of our second rowers;
Also, once we know these attributes, what is the best way to utilize them on game day.
Also, what pairings create the most synergy and create the best fit for the gameplan.
I will start with;

	Lineout	Scrum	Kickoff receive	Attack	Defense	General
Frost	Great target. Great defensive jump. Not the best rolling maul destroyer.	Good (?)	Good hands. Great jump. Timing can go missing. Team results here have been poor.	Not a line bender. Fast in loose play. Good support player.	Willing. Tackle technique pretty good. Yellow card potential due to height. Tackle % is down	Needs to combine with a tight lock that will bend the line for him. Likely starter due to lineout skills. Potentially goes to 6 after 50 mins. (?)
Skelton	Good lifter. Destroys mauls. Needs a jumping backrower to cover for his lack of jump.	Good - If he is super fit. Difficult to partner with due to his size	Unsure	Line Bender. Good soft hands with good offload. A bit slow in support.	A bit slow. Good if the game comes within his reach. Destroys rucks and mauls when he gets to them	Needs a backrower to cover his lineout jumping and his defense mobility. 50 minute Max. Potentially the best fit with Frost (?)
LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto)	Good #2 in Lineout. Good maul defense.	Good	All of the current wallabies delivered poor team results in this area.	Hard carry. Good hands	Hard defender	Difficult to leave out.
Williams	improving	Good start	Part of an underperforming unit.	Seemed Good	Seemed Good	Not certain of his credentials, so it is hard to comment.

I’m a big fan of Salakai-Loto and very glad to see him back at the Reds.

But I do think he is inconsistent and it has always frustrated me. And I think he has been particularly inconsistent at test level. He has some really good moments but I think we should expect much more from him.

Also has had issues with discipline in his tackles at times.

 

[Bullrush]

Is this actually true though? In this professional age it seems there's a real art to knowing how much to exert yourself in training. Some guys need to bust a gut, while others need to save as much petrol as possible for game time. Not to mention managing injury risks.

Obviously Wright needed to better find that balance, and it's great he's found it.

I don't attend training clearly but I know of the stories of legendary under-trainers like George Smith. Didn't seem to impact his play on Saturday.

I reckon guys like George Smith are not common.

When people talk about the greats in sports - guys like Jordan, Kobe, Messi, Tiger etc - you often hear about their work ethic and how hard they pushed themselves (and often their teammates) in training.

A friend of mine once met Michael Hooper and he asked him if had any advice for a young player wanting to pursue a rugby career and Hooper told him that exact line - train the way you want to play.

 

[chasmac]

I want Swain/Skelton to start with Frost on the bench. Don't care who goes the 80 but would prefer Skelton.
Jumpers Swain, Wilson, Valitini (occasionally) and McReight fast lift at the front or from the back over the top with Samu either taking it and McW support or the other way round.

Without Swain, who would you have?
I still have a soft spot for Rodda and Arnold but they are not in the squad.

 

[Slim 293]

Paisami won’t be available for the first test against England as he’s returned home for his child’s birth…

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/10/31/exclusive-paisami-absence-set-to-pave-the-way-for-kerevis-return-as-wallabies-set-sights-on-40-year-first/

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I reckon guys like George Smith are not common.

When people talk about the greats in sports - guys like Jordan, Kobe, Messi, Tiger etc - you often hear about their work ethic and how hard they pushed themselves (and often their teammates) in training.

A friend of mine once met Michael Hooper and he asked him if had any advice for a young player wanting to pursue a rugby career and Hooper told him that exact line - train the way you want to play.

Spot on. Especially these days. Professionalism won't tolerate it.

Teams don't have the time or scope to just pick a guy because he'll get it done. Especially if your'e coming up. They might let it slide with a veteran.

There's a chance a guy like Smith these days would be labelled a shit trainer and be on the outside of some squads and not get to the same levels.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

So I see Tauakipulu called up to the XV side with Props dropping like flies.

I know he played every game this year which surprised me and what surprised me more was he's only 23 but gee cupboard is getting bare. Always thought he was barely a FT Super Squad player.

I would have guessed he was 27 since he seems to have floated around for ages.

 

[LeCheese]

There's a chance a guy like Smith these days would be labelled a shit trainer and be on the outside of some squads and not get to the same levels.

There's also a bit of a 'what-if' about it - imagine what Smith could've been if he had actually trained the house down

 

[Adam84]

So I see Tauakipulu called up to the XV side with Props dropping like flies.

I know he played every game this year which surprised me and what surprised me more was he's only 23 but gee cupboard is getting bare. Always thought he was barely a FT Super Squad player.

I would have guessed he was 27 since he seems to have floated around for ages.

For a THP this career trajectory doesn’t bother me at all. For him to make a Super Rugby debut as a THP as a 19 year old is impressive, albeit premature.

 

[Dctarget]

Any news on Gibbon? Injured? I'm surprised by his absence.

Pone should be called up, surely we can call on him from MP (Moana Pasifika).

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

For a THP this career trajectory doesn’t bother me at all. For him to make a Super Rugby debut as a THP as a 19 year old is impressive, albeit premature.

I think that's whats skewing my mind. Mentally he's almost 30 for me so I thought this sucks but when I see he's 23 it changes it all.

 

[barbarian]

I reckon guys like George Smith are not common.

When people talk about the greats in sports - guys like Jordan, Kobe, Messi, Tiger etc - you often hear about their work ethic and how hard they pushed themselves (and often their teammates) in training.

A friend of mine once met Michael Hooper and he asked him if had any advice for a young player wanting to pursue a rugby career and Hooper told him that exact line - train the way you want to play.

That's true, though it's worth pointing out none of those guys play a physical contact sport like rugby.

With various changes to player safety rules, player union demands and high performance data professional rugby teams do way less contact training than they might have in the past.

Again it doesn't dispute the overall point, but the 'train like you play' applies perhaps in a different way to an ultra-physical forward like Tupou or LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) than it might to a Tom Wright or Corey Toole.

 

[Bullrush]

That's true, though it's worth pointing out none of those guys play a physical contact sport like rugby.

With various changes to player safety rules, player union demands and high performance data professional rugby teams do way less contact training than they might have in the past.

Again it doesn't dispute the overall point, but the 'train like you play' applies perhaps in a different way to an ultra-physical forward like Tupou or LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) than it might to a Tom Wright or Corey Toole.

I coached an U16s team this year for the first time so I talked to a few guys I know who are either coaching themselves or have been involved in fairly high-level environments and the advice I got was that a training session should have max 12-20mins of high intensity contact work.

For me, it seems so strange that a guy like Wright wouldn't have been training with this kind of 'train the way you play' mind-set. But it also speaks to what I see as a problem in Australian Rugby. Hopefully it is changing and we can see Super Rugby teams (and then the Wallabies) return to Top 5 status.