You’re kidding! Go and watch his club game yesterday.
Wallabies 2025
- Thread starter rugbyAU
- Start date
Have Brumbies picked up James Martens. A big oversight by the Reds if that has happened.
Dctarget
David Wilson (68)
is this stuff about Skelton not getting paid by La Rochelle whilst playing for Wallabies true?
It sounds a little iffy to me. Sure not getting his game bonus for T14 but I can't imagine much of his salary is tied up in game appearances. And surely there can't be punitive clauses built in his contract for missing training weeks etc. That wouldn't be very regulation 9 of them.
It sounds a little iffy to me. Sure not getting his game bonus for T14 but I can't imagine much of his salary is tied up in game appearances. And surely there can't be punitive clauses built in his contract for missing training weeks etc. That wouldn't be very regulation 9 of them.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
I might be mistaken Ignoto, but my understanding is that the international window doesn't cover periods when there is a break, eg, the two weeks between Lions and SA, again between SA and Argentina here, and finally between Argentina and NZ. If this is correct I would think neither Skelton nor RA would be interested in the amount of travel required to have him available during TRC.
Hopefully I'm wrong and he can stay for the duration.
Major Tom
Nicholas Shehadie (39)
Was he shithouse? Playing for wests now right.
Well we’re talking between meridith and HMP. There isn’t anyone else really. And they’ve both played basically the same number of super games
Strewthcobber
Nick Farr-Jones (63)
Strewthcobber
Nick Farr-Jones (63)
I can't remember where I saw the reporting on Skelton specifically, but they have form.
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Adam84
John Eales (66)
In terms of the next halfback in line now that Gordon and potentially White are out, it might annoy some but there’s always the new Force recruit; Nathan Hastie as an option. He played pretty well in 2025, and in terms of experience and game time through 2025 he is ahead of the other options, which are reserve players.
The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
Of course we should pick him, he's a Perth boy!
rugbyAU
Peter Fenwicke (45)
Not sure but know he only gets half when playing for Aus
BDA
Jim Lenehan (48)
Id say most of the top tier countries would struggle without their top 1 or 2 THPs available. We've never had any depth at TH but id say we're not too badly placed for the world cup. AAA is pretty world class when fit, as is Tupou. Both are young enough to be in contention in 2027. Nongorr is developing ok. Robertson is servicable and i thought was hardly done by last week. De Luttis looks like a great prospect... that said we could struggle in that position during the RC this year without AAA.
Re tupou. Hopefully the sea change benefits him
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
Ieli, not Leli.
rugbyAU
Peter Fenwicke (45)
It’s criminal that he’s only played 34 tests
TSR
Steve Williams (59)
I questioned whether Skelton really was a must pick. Especially as a starter.
Very happy to have enormous servings of humble pie. Not only did he dispel my concerns about how our lineout would operate (with big thumbs up to the others there - particularly Frost) but he was awesome generally.
Most pleasingly was him just bullying the Lions players and constantly laughing at them and taunting them. I know sometimes that sort of shit is just annoying but, in this case I felt like the Lions felt like the could just push us around and from the time he was just holding off two opposition forwards like they were schoolkids in the second test (Itoje being one of them) it just feel like the other Wallaby forwards would have got enormous confidence about how he stood up and could back it up. First time in a long, long time where I thought our pack had some genuine swagger and the muscle to back it up. Hopefully they keep it up (and I do think Salakai-Loto would be an excellent replacement in that sense).
Also, Nic White’s antics normally annoy the shit out of me but I really felt like this game suited him to the tee. Was clearly into all of the Lions players and I feel like it gave us a lot of momentum to be the ones constantly getting into them. Loved seeing guys like Farrell and Curry constantly riled up and indignant.
Sua’ali’i may still have some way to go with his defensive positioning but I’m happy to give him some time if he keeps whacking blokes too.
Very happy to have enormous servings of humble pie. Not only did he dispel my concerns about how our lineout would operate (with big thumbs up to the others there - particularly Frost) but he was awesome generally.
Most pleasingly was him just bullying the Lions players and constantly laughing at them and taunting them. I know sometimes that sort of shit is just annoying but, in this case I felt like the Lions felt like the could just push us around and from the time he was just holding off two opposition forwards like they were schoolkids in the second test (Itoje being one of them) it just feel like the other Wallaby forwards would have got enormous confidence about how he stood up and could back it up. First time in a long, long time where I thought our pack had some genuine swagger and the muscle to back it up. Hopefully they keep it up (and I do think Salakai-Loto would be an excellent replacement in that sense).
Also, Nic White’s antics normally annoy the shit out of me but I really felt like this game suited him to the tee. Was clearly into all of the Lions players and I feel like it gave us a lot of momentum to be the ones constantly getting into them. Loved seeing guys like Farrell and Curry constantly riled up and indignant.
Sua’ali’i may still have some way to go with his defensive positioning but I’m happy to give him some time if he keeps whacking blokes too.
Skelton's physicality and willingness to really be abrasive without being a dirty player was so essential for us to really compete.
We have to make it a hallmark of our game going forward with or without Skelton.
Blame for that is certainly shared. Skelton hasn't exactly been banging down the door to play every test he possibly could have. It's pretty clear though that his contributions for the Wallabies have consistently improved over the last three or four years with each game played. You have to wonder where we'd be at now if we'd just selected him every time we possibly could have over the last 6 or 7 years (noting we clearly weren't going to select him in the first year or two after he left until he was really established as a star).
We have to make it a hallmark of our game going forward with or without Skelton.
Blame for that is certainly shared. Skelton hasn't exactly been banging down the door to play every test he possibly could have. It's pretty clear though that his contributions for the Wallabies have consistently improved over the last three or four years with each game played. You have to wonder where we'd be at now if we'd just selected him every time we possibly could have over the last 6 or 7 years (noting we clearly weren't going to select him in the first year or two after he left until he was really established as a star).