Wallabies v All Blacks @ Suncorp - 18/10/14

[Jagman]

When does Latu come back? Broke his arm in the SS semi which must have been 9 weeks ago now.

 

[I like to watch]

Too early for Cooper, even on bench - for a variety of reasons.

However, I have Genia on the bench, and push White out altogether.

How?
There are literally a dozen better performed 9's in the NRC.
I am struggling to think when he was playing consistently well.
He should have to play his way back in,and he is not close to having done that.
Start playing favourites and you will lose the dressing room.
It's not like he is the incumbent coming back from injury.

 

[Train Without a Station]

I don't think there's literally a dozen better performers in the NRC. There's only 9 teams!

But I agree regarding his form.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

If I was link I'd be toying with the idea of giving Skelton a start and letting him cut loose. Again, the Baa Baas game might be best suited for that. We need Skelton to continue to develop as a test player and I tend to think that players like Skelton (big physical players) are best used early in a test match to allow us to gain parity in terms of the forward battle. Robbie Deans used to use this approach with the likes of Timani, TPN and Palu all playing short stints in the first half and then being subbed off (one of the good things that Deans did imo).

Definitely worth a shot. Will doesn't have as big a motor as we need him to yet, but using him in bursts and building up that test match fitness/readiness can't hurt. We'll need his kind of involvement during the RWC when we'll be playing against some big and physical packs.

 

[I like to watch]

I don't think there's literally a dozen better performers in the NRC. There's only 9 teams!

But I agree regarding his form.

The Rays and Rams have 2 9's playing better,even the 2 Uni 9's are playing better.
It might actually be more than a dozen!

 

[Wilson]

How?
There are literally a dozen better performed 9's in the NRC.
I am literally struggling to think when he was playing consistently well.
He should have to play his way back in,and he is not close to having done that.
Start playing favourites and you will lose the dressing room.
It's not like he is the incumbent coming back from injury.

He was excellent against nsw country and his last super rugby game against the highlanders was about as good a game as any Australian 9 has played this year. He's been training with the squad for a few weeks now so it won't be off the back of nothing if he gets picked, it'll be because he showed he offered more than they were otherwise getting out of the guys they've been using.

 

[KOB1987]

There are 7 or 8 top line players that need to be worked back in to the team within the next 12 months..genia is one of them. Forget super rugby and NRC form from now on, once they are fit enough they play. If they aren't fit enough wait till they are..we are now in World Cup preparation.

 

[I like to watch]

One swallow doesn't make a Summer.
One good game,surrounded by average games should not get you fast tracked into the national squad.

 

[Train Without a Station]

There are 7 or 8 top line players that need to be worked back in to the team within the next 12 months..genia is one of them. Forget super rugby and NRC form from now on, once they are fit enough they play. If they aren't fit enough wait till they are..we are now in World Cup preparation.

Will Genia has not been a top line player in the last 12 months.

 

[Mr Doug]

From this morning's Gold Coast Bulletin:
"Quade Cooper says he's physically ready for a Wallabies return if called up for the third Bledisloe Cup Test against the All Blacks next week at Suncorp Stadium".
"But the Queenslander stressed yesterday while playing Test Rugby is always a goal, he'll be solely focusing on performing in a different shade of yellow tonight for Brisbane City against the North Harbour Rays at Brookvale Oval".

 

[Train Without a Station]

If he has an absolute blinder I'd be happy for him to play. If he looks like he needs a little more time I'd hang off until the Barbarians game.

 

[KOB1987]

He had a form slump yes but before that he was a world class halfback..you are only as good as the guys next to you and he needs to be tested at international level to properly assess his true form.

 

[Braveheart81]

He had a form slump yes but before that he was a world class halfback..you are only as good as the guys next to you and he needs to be tested at international level to properly assess his true form.

It's a catch-22 though. If you bring those players back because their form was great a couple of years ago and they don't deliver, we've put ourself in a worse position heading towards the RWC.

One of the biggest things we need to see from Genia is greater urgency and speed of service. He doesn't need to be playing test rugby to start showing more of that.

 

[Parse]

One swallow doesn't make a Summer.
One good game,surrounded by average games should not get you fast tracked into the national squad.

"One good game,surrounded by average games"

Actually, that pretty much describes most of the current Wallabies squad....

 

[KOB1987]

I don't dispute any of that..15 mins or so at the end of the bled and then work him into the picture on the EOYT.

 

[Scrubber2050]

The discussion about Genia is accurate because of his poor 2014 form. I think he had 1 good game - the last one.

BUT the problem is that whilst Phipps has gone OK, White has, by most posters, not played well at all. He was the first selected over Phipps (rightfully so) but left the door open.

Phipps walked through and the spot is now his (ATM). He will know the pressure is one because Genia's potential is better than that of Phipps.

My predictionis: Phipps to have a blinder

 

[BDA]

Re Genia, people have been ultra critical of his 2014 form. To be fair, the Reds were shit in 2014. James Slipper was basically the only player that stood out as worthy of a test spot, but that is part and parcel of a team that is performing badly, i.e. individual performances were suffering. Genia like most halfbacks struggle behind a struggling pack. He did have a few quality performances over the season, probably his best game of the season was in the final round against the highlanders.

Phipps has done a good job at halfback imo and has earned the starting spot for now. White hasn't been impressive enough IMO to warrant keeping Genia out of the team.

 

[I like to watch]

"One good game,surrounded by average games"

Actually, that pretty much describes most of the current Wallabies squad..

And the squad before this,and the squad before that, etc etc back to McQueens days.

 

[Wilson]

Beale is out

 

[Chronicle]

"Re Genia, people have been ultra critical of his 2014 form. To be fair, the Reds were shit in 2014. James Slipper was basically the only player that stood out as worthy of a test spot, but that is part and parcel of a team that is performing badly, i.e. individual performances were suffering. Genia like most halfbacks struggle behind a struggling pack. He did have a few quality performances over the season, probably his best game of the season was in the final round against the highlanders.

Phipps has done a good job at halfback imo and has earned the starting spot for now. White hasn't been impressive enough IMO to warrant keeping Genia out of the team."

So White gets dropped after Eden Park where our forwards never fired a shot after a Super rugby season where he was the top in the competition for try assists, not bad for a player who kicks the ball every time he gets it.
But we excuse a season of ordinary performances minus one on the basis that he was playing behind a beaten pack. Are there double standards at work here. Phipps has made a couple of howlers in the last 2 tests and even in the 2 victories he was not above making some elementary mistakes both in attack and defence.
White has had minimal time since being dropped but still managed a game saving tackle on the Gold Coast that apparently only Jim Tucker saw as it certainly didn't make the SMH under the GR by-line.
White was impressive during the Super season and during the 3 tests against France winning MOM for Ten in Melbourne and providing quick and accurate service in big wins in Brisbane and Sydney. He played well in the rain at Sydney given that he was smashed by friendly fire in a desperate dive on the ball by Folau but gamely played on till replaced still managing to put in kick for the corner chased by McCabe and Cooper which so nearly ended in a try to the Wallabies.
One game behind a beaten pack at Auckland must constitute a lack of impressive form and if that is how we judge then it applies to a number of others who still remain in the fifteen.