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Wallabies 2025

Beattie

Herbert Moran (7)
James Martens has a big future. Wouldn't mind seeing him on the EOYT even at the expense of either Wilson or Thomas. The other prospect who never gets a mention here, but who performs whenever he gets an opportunity is Klayton Thorn. Pretty much same age bracket as Thomas and Wilson and imo equally on par as far as talent is concerned.
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.
 

Brumby Runner

Jason Little (69)
Has there been any announcement for Skelton? I thought TRC was an approved international window so the French can't recall him back?

I can't remember the last time we had two excellent back to back games. It makes winning back the Bledisloe possible if we can get two good games.
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.
 

Strewthcobber

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
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.
Regulation 9
Subject to the provisions of Regulation 9.32 during the Southern Hemisphere Release Period Unions may only exercise the Right to Release pursuant to this Regulation 9 for six weeks out of the nine week period.
 

Strewthcobber

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
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.
I can't remember where I saw the reporting on Skelton specifically, but they have form.

"The situation is pretty clear from [Toulon's] end, if [Giteau] is not there he is not getting paid," Cheika said last week.

It cost Giteau hundreds of thousands of dollars to play in the WC in 2015 and for Wallabies through 2016
 
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rugbyAU

Chilla Wilson (44)
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.
Not sure but know he only gets half when playing for Aus
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
So what's the deal with Tupou? Buggering off is he? Does he remain in the 4N squad? Seems to have got himself off the couch. TH prop is a real problem. Nongorr was not much better than Robinson.
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
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
Btw, TH might not be overly deep but the LHP options may be our best ever.. Slipper and Bell and now Ross joining the ranks. Hodgman and schoupp when fit
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
1754269353008.jpeg
 

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.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
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.

It’s criminal that he’s only played 34 tests

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).
 
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