Yeah - for all the talk of Cheika being stubbornly loyal there has been no continuity at all in the lock spot. I guess it is symptomatic of the fact that none of our locks are the full package. I've no doubt he's probably pulling his hair our (figuratively speaking) with the fact that none of them have been able to make the position theirs.
To be honest, he's not the only one pulling his hair out. Chieka's rein is full of paradoxes.
He decides to drop Simmons instead of Douglas after Bledisloe 1. Have a look at their stats, have a re-watch of the game! Then bang your head repeatedly when you realise Simmons only had half the game and Douglas had the full 80. (Similar stats, Simmons made more tackles)
Now after another 2 anonymous outings for the Wallabies, Cheika realises Douglas is part of the problem and is dropped.
Chieka obviously doesn't like Simmons. That much is pretty crystal clear. He's dropped him 4 or 5 times? only to reinstate him when our line out inevitably falls to shit.
Chieka has different standards for different players.
Foley, Douglas, Hooper are all protected species. Higgers gets dropped because he plays wide, Hooper is instructed to play wide.
Simmons get's dropped because he does more work than Douglas.
Does anyone remember Bernard & Quade @ 10&12 last year!? Can someone tell my why Quade & Bernard @ 10&12 is suddenly the solution that's worth persevering with after Foley makes 2 passes in an entire test, one which was a hospital pass.
There's zero consistency in selections and zero consistency in reasoning behind selections.