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Wallabies 2025

Dctarget

David Wilson (68)
I have a feeling we might be seeing a Corey Toole debut against Fiji. He's been one of the first players put up for media which is always a good sign, but more than that I think he's a pretty specific sort of winger and I kind of doubt Schmidt picked him to be the ~6th choice winger. I expect there might be a bit of a plan for him, and whether or not we'll see Joe go with that for the first Lions test I think he'll want to cap him first and take the opportunity to see how he goes.

Certainly Argentina got good return on their pace against the Lions, there's no one better placed to bring that for us than Toole.
I've learned that media appearances and features means one quarter of sweet fuck all in the past.

But yes, some Lions fans have been bemoaning their backs lack of out & out pace. Toole would provide a point of difference there (and also elsewhere as he gets steam rolled by Sione, Duhan, Bundee and Kinghorn.

To give him some credit, his little Lomu over McKenzie was very satisfying.
 

scrumhalf

Ward Prentice (10)
Watched the wallabies train yesterday, it was just their forwards and they didn't do much but their scrum work looked very crisp. It always suprises me the size of the pack, the boys look huge yersterday. Looking forward to what should be a great tour
 

Wilson

John Eales (66)
I've learned that media appearances and features means one quarter of sweet fuck all in the past.

But yes, some Lions fans have been bemoaning their backs lack of out & out pace. Toole would provide a point of difference there (and also elsewhere as he gets steam rolled by Sione, Duhan, Bundee and Kinghorn.

To give him some credit, his little Lomu over McKenzie was very satisfying.
From memory they're a lot more meaningful when the player is yet to debut, they don't tend to throw those guys out there unless there's a plan to use them. Established wallabies are a different story.
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
Read the comments this morning from the Lions camp demanding that Wallabies be released to the Super teams. Honestly I'd like to see as many blokes as possible released this week, particularly when we're still more than 2 weeks out from the first test. There's some guys I'd like to see put in cotton wool (mostly our tight five, Valetini, Ikitau, Mcreight). Otherwise I'd prefer to see everyone else playing for their respective Super teams this week.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Read the comments this morning from the Lions camp demanding that Wallabies be released to the Super teams. Honestly I'd like to see as many blokes as possible released this week, particularly when we're still more than 2 weeks out from the first test. There's some guys I'd like to see put in cotton wool (mostly our tight five, Valetini, Ikitau, Mcreight). Otherwise I'd prefer to see everyone else playing for their respective Super teams this week.

I think it's tricky though. If you take a player out of Wallabies camp for a week or more that is vying for a position in our best 23 then surely you're impacting their chance of winning that selection battle.

Likewise if you only release a player to their Super Rugby side a couple of days before the game are you really helping that side by parachuting in a player who hasn't been preparing with the team?

I'd be wary of some gamesmanship from the Lions here. Releasing everyone to play for their Super Rugby team will weaken the Wallabies for the matches that actually count.
 

Dctarget

David Wilson (68)
I think it's tricky though. If you take a player out of Wallabies camp for a week or more that is vying for a position in our best 23 then surely you're impacting their chance of winning that selection battle.

Likewise if you only release a player to their Super Rugby side a couple of days before the game are you really helping that side by parachuting in a player who hasn't been preparing with the team?

I'd be wary of some gamesmanship from the Lions here. Releasing everyone to play for their Super Rugby team will weaken the Wallabies for the matches that actually count.
Amen, our boys need as much time in camp together as possible. They're playing silly buggers.
 

Tomikin

Michael Lynagh (62)
I think the gist of their beef was that they expect every one of the Wallabies contingent to be released for their respective Super Rugby team matches against the Lions. No bloody chance in hell of that ever happening, and nor should it.
Lions are just trying to get am edge... There biggest issue right now is they don't have much playing time together. Now they are trying to disrupt the Test prep.. Joe's too smart to bite.
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
I can only say what I would like to see as a fan. I certainly don't advocate releasing every player to their Super Team, but I would like to see most. One of the best aspects of the tour is the games against provincial teams and i'd hate to think we kept good players on ice unnecessarily.
 

Slim 293

George Smith (75)
The last tour saw very few fringe Wallabies released for their teams, and so far the Force are pretty lucky by the way of the schedule that they're able to retain a few for their match this week...

But I wouldn't expect many Wallabies to be playing in the midweek matches, nor should they be to the detriment of the Wallabies.
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
But I wouldn't expect many Wallabies to be playing in the midweek matches, nor should they be to the detriment of the Wallabies.

I'm just not sure I agree with the proposition that it would hurt the wallabies for example, to release a player like Potter to play this weekend for the Force when the wallabies don't have any game this weekend.
 

Tomthumb

Ken Catchpole (46)
I'm just not sure I agree with the proposition that it would hurt the wallabies for example, to release a player like Potter to play this weekend for the Force when the wallabies don't have any game this weekend.
They are in camp preparing for a test match the following week. Will the English players not playing this weekend be released to play Argentina?
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
I'm just not sure I agree with the proposition that it would hurt the wallabies for example, to release a player like Potter to play this weekend for the Force when the wallabies don't have any game this weekend.

If it impacts a player's chances of being selected in the Wallabies team for the tests I'd argue it hurts the Wallabies.

If I'm trying to work out my starting XV and matchday 23 and for a close decision I've got one player present at training and the other released to play a different match then the player at training is going to be a strong frontrunner.
 

Sword of Justice

Nicholas Shehadie (39)
“We’ll see a competitive fixture at the weekend and that’s what we’re looking for,” Calveley said.

Calveley is the guy quoted as saying that the Wallabies need to release test players due to the contract terms earlier in the very same Guardian article so idk what the problem is?
 

Strewthcobber

Michael Lynagh (62)
The last tour saw very few fringe Wallabies released for their teams, and so far the Force are pretty lucky by the way of the schedule that they're able to retain a few for their match this week...

But I wouldn't expect many Wallabies to be playing in the midweek matches, nor should they be to the detriment of the Wallabies.
Force didn't just rest Wallabies last tour, but also a lot of their Super Rugby team. These articles are a reaction to the 2013 debacle

Former Western Force coach Phil Blake believes the Western Australian outfit should be stripped of future matches against touring sides after fielding a reserve team to take on the British and Irish Lions yesterday.

Force coach Michael Foley elected to rest key players for Sunday's meaningless Super Rugby clash with the NSW Waratahs, sending a bunch of untried and inexperienced players into battle and watching them take a 69-17 hiding.

Lions coach Warren Gatland was disappointed with the inferior opposition served up to his side, while former England boss Sir Clive Woodward accused the Australian province of treating the Lions with contempt.
 

Slim 293

George Smith (75)
I'm just not sure I agree with the proposition that it would hurt the wallabies for example, to release a player like Potter to play this weekend for the Force when the wallabies don't have any game this weekend.

They have limited preparation time for the test against Fiji next week, so anyone who is being considered for the 23 needs to remain in the squad...

And then the first Lions test is only a fortnight later, so it doesn't provide much flexibility for allowing players time to rejoin their teams in training to play in those mid week matches without disrupting the Wallabies' preparation.
 
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