Wallabies Watch

[Braveheart81]

The ARU could bring 'em all down to watch the show.
They could pay out his contract (yeah right).
Isn't the problem with all of this the fact that Deans showed Smith the door? Or have I remembered that incorrectly?

He dropped him to the bench and started Pocock ahead of him at the end of 2009.

I'd hardly say it was showing him the door.

Smith then left Australian rugby at the end of the 2010 Super Rugby season so he could move overseas with his family, live in one place and spend more time with them.

I personally think the whole line of argument that Deans pushed Smith out of Australian rugby is a complete load of crap.

 

[qwerty51]

I must be the only one who thinks Deans got the Smith Pocock transition absolutely right.

 

[cyclopath]

He dropped him to the bench and started Pocock ahead of him at the end of 2009.

I'd hardly say it was showing him the door.

Smith then left Australian rugby at the end of the 2010 Super Rugby season so he could move overseas with his family, live in one place and spend more time with them.

I personally think the whole line of argument that Deans pushed Smith out of Australian rugby is a complete load of crap.

I tend to agree. It's not as if selecting Pocock to start ahead of Smith is so out there, considering how Pocock was playing at the time. Maybe Smith felt a bit miffed, and fair enough, but he was hardly tossed aside and told to bugger off.

 

[Braveheart81]

I tend to agree. It's not as if selecting Pocock to start ahead of Smith is so out there, considering how Pocock was playing at the time. Maybe Smith felt a bit miffed, and fair enough, but he was hardly tossed aside and told to bugger off.

Let's also remember that after Smith got dropped to the bench for the Bledisloe test in Tokyo, he still played 26 minutes in that match, 80 Minutes against Scotland and England and 40 minutes against Wales.

Claiming that he was cast out by Deans is revisionist.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

He dropped him to the bench and started Pocock ahead of him at the end of 2009.

I'd hardly say it was showing him the door.

Smith then left Australian rugby at the end of the 2010 Super Rugby season so he could move overseas with his family, live in one place and spend more time with them.

I personally think the whole line of argument that Deans pushed Smith out of Australian rugby is a complete load of crap.

I must be the only one who thinks Deans got the Smith Pocock transition absolutely right.

I tend to agree. It's not as if selecting Pocock to start ahead of Smith is so out there, considering how Pocock was playing at the time. Maybe Smith felt a bit miffed, and fair enough, but he was hardly tossed aside and told to bugger off.

My recollection was that Smith as good as said he'd been told his Wallabies career was over.
In the brief time this season when Smith and Pocock were on on the field Smith showed, all these years and tests later, that he has more rugby nous and ability than Pocock and is a more influential force on the field.
Yet another example of our obsession with the next big thing at the expense of the current big thing.

 

[Bowside]

He dropped him to the bench and started Pocock ahead of him at the end of 2009.

I'd hardly say it was showing him the door.

Smith then left Australian rugby at the end of the 2010 Super Rugby season so he could move overseas with his family, live in one place and spend more time with them.

I personally think the whole line of argument that Deans pushed Smith out of Australian rugby is a complete load of crap.

I don't think getting dropped pushed smith out of Australian Rugby.

I think he saw a wallaby team, coach and organisation that was not convincing enough for him to turn down a very lucrative toulon offer for. It's not a line of thinking I can really comprehend but if I had played over 100 tests than maybe I would see things differently.

The fact that he left australian rugby, when he did, was criminal. And it came back to bite the ARU a year later when the wallabies were made a mockery of in a pool game by a average irish side due in part to not having a competent flanker on the field.

 

[Slim 293]

He dropped him to the bench and started Pocock ahead of him at the end of 2009.

I'd hardly say it was showing him the door.

Smith then left Australian rugby at the end of the 2010 Super Rugby season so he could move overseas with his family, live in one place and spend more time with them.

I personally think the whole line of argument that Deans pushed Smith out of Australian rugby is a complete load of crap.

Also, Smith wasn't permanently dropped to the bench........

Smith and Pocock were rotated every week.........

They were actually both in the starting side for the last couple of matches before the EOYT when Rocky and Palu were both absent, and then they were rotated every week on the EOYT culminating in the duel ownership of Wales in the last match of 2009.........

And Smith captained the Wallabies under Deans for much of that year.........

People have short memories, and I don't think Deans would be that dumb as to push someone of Smith's calibre out of the Wallaby setup........

 

[cyclopath]

Inside Shoulder I'm sure plenty of people stated as much here, but that does not necessarily make it fact. It seems highly unlikely that a coach would tell a player who is either best, or second best in his position in the country, that their career is done, at the age of 29-30. I have my doubts.

 

[Train Without a Station]

I must be the only one who thinks Deans got the Smith Pocock transition absolutely right.

Could not disagree more.

 

[Bowside]

Pocock was a level above on that tour, he was rightly promoted. But Smith still had enormous value for the wallabies, off the bench or playing at 8.

 

[qwerty51]

Pocock was a level above on that tour, he was rightly promoted. But Smith still had enormous value for the wallabies, off the bench or playing at 8.

He was on the bench, I too believe Pocock was the better player at that stage, his game against Ireland got him the starting spot for Wales..

And it came back to bite the ARU a year later when the wallabies were made a mockery of in a pool game by a average irish side due in part to not having a competent flanker on the field.

So how was it the ARU's fault? Smith chose to leave, some people really like to forget that.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Inside Shoulder I'm sure plenty of people stated as much here, but that does not necessarily make it fact. It seems highly unlikely that a coach would tell a player who is either best, or second best in his position in the country, that their career is done, at the age of 29-30. I have my doubts.

No - I think youre right.
I've just googled it and pinned down his retirement to early 2010 and its all praise from Deans and as Braveheart81 says the family loom large in the articles.
I think a very one eyed Brumbies supporter mate of mine must have sown the conspiracy theory seed

 

[Inside Shoulder]

he's quoted here pretty much supporting @Bowside's theory:
“Under Robbie Deans the Wallabies player group has committed itself and worked incredibly hard and I believe that the fruits of this hard work will be seen in the months and years ahead, most importantly at the 2011 World Cup.''
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/george-smiths-wallaby-career-over/story-e6frg7mf-1225827042941

 

[Braveheart81]

Why do people discount the fact that in 2010 when he announced he was going overseas, Smith had played 110 tests for the Wallabies, had spent a decade playing Super Rugby which involves significant overseas travel, had been to two RWCs which last about two months (one overseas), every EOYT which involves over a month away from Australia and then played Tri Nations involving an annual trip to South Africa and at least one to New Zealand.

I don't know how old his kids were in 2010 but I'm pretty sure they were really young.

Going to play in France meant he could a) get paid a lot more and b) spend a lot more time at home and enjoy a proper off season.

Why is it so hard to believe that he didn't make this choice for his own benefit?

 

[Bowside]

I don't think they offered him a good enough contract. I realise the ARU don't have unlimited funds, but when you look back at the people who where getting ARU contracts around that point in time (Mumm, Chisolm, McCalman, Chapman, Brown, Cross, Ma'afu etc.) it makes you wonder if they were spending their money wisely. None of these blokes bought half as much to the team as Smith - even if he was only playing 25 minutes off the bench and starting when Pocock was injured.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I don't think they offered him a good enough contract. I realise the ARU don't have unlimited funds, but when you look back at the people who where getting ARU contracts around that point in time (Mumm, Chisolm, McCalman, Chapman, Brown, Cross, Ma'afu etc.) it makes you wonder if they were spending their money wisely. None of these blokes bought half as much to the team as Smith - even if he was only playing 25 minutes off the bench and starting when Pocock was injured.

He said he'd lost his desire.
Maybe he's got it back.
Its a long way from s15 to test - but he knows more about that than me.

 

[Slim 293]

I don't think they offered him a good enough contract. I realise the ARU don't have unlimited funds, but when you look back at the people who where getting ARU contracts around that point in time (Mumm, Chisolm, McCalman, Chapman, Brown, Cross, Ma'afu etc.) it makes you wonder if they were spending their money wisely. None of these blokes bought half as much to the team as Smith - even if he was only playing 25 minutes off the bench and starting when Pocock was injured.

Nah, Smith was already signed on through until the 2011 RWC before he chose to leave early........

 

[Brumby Runner]

1. Ben Alexander
2. Stephen Moore
3. Paddy Ryan
4. Hugh McMeniman
5. Kane Douglas
6. Peter Kimlin
7. Liam Gill
8. Ben Mowen
9. Nic White
10. Matt To'omua
11. Drew Mitchell
12. Ben Tapuai
13. Mitch Inman
14. Henry Speight
15. Jesse Mogg

Very close imo. I don't think MMM has yet displaced Pyle, but I fully expect Horwill tp partner Douglas in the Wallabies. I cannot accept Inman at 13 either. There is not much competition on form yet, but I am hopeful someone better will step up. In the meantime, I would probably stick with AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper).

 

[qwerty51]

when you look back at the people who where getting ARU contracts around that point in time (Mumm, Chisolm, McCalman, Chapman, Brown, Cross, Ma'afu etc.)

Easy to criticise these players because none of them were really any good but it's not as if we had other options. Also none of them are 7s. It's not like we replaced Smith with Hodgson or Waugh is it. He got replaced by Pocock who from 2010-11 was the hottest thing in rugby.

 

[Brumby Runner]

he's quoted here pretty much supporting @Bowside's theory:
“Under Robbie Deans the Wallabies player group has committed itself and worked incredibly hard and I believe that the fruits of this hard work will be seen in the months and years ahead, most importantly at the 2011 World Cup.''
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/george-smiths-wallaby-career-over/story-e6frg7mf-1225827042941

Such prescience. The fruit went bad and fell off the tree.