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Wallaby 31 players for 2015 RWC

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barbarian

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
The squad is fine. The few blokes unlucky to miss out (Timani, Inman, Stirzacker etc) weren't close to the top 30 anyway, so really it's irrelevant in the long run.

The biggest victim of the Force's shocking year has been Nathan Charles. Went from being a clear 3rd stringer and Bledisloe starter to not even making a wider training squad.
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qwerty51

qwerty51

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Not much chat about Faulkner, I think he's the worst selection - more so than Hunt. Definitely the worst of the 5 starting THs and a couple reverses could be better too.
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
Yeah definitely a poor selection. Why over even Weeks? Weeks has been better than PAE this year generally.
 
Ash

Ash

Michael Lynagh (62)
Both Charles in Godwin have been pretty disappointing this year. Bit unfair they miss out when Hunt makes it, but really that's the same as saying Hunt makes it while others who also don't deserve to be there don't make it.

Timani is an interesting prospect and unlucky to make it for experience, same with Stirzacker.

Inman has too many players in front of him, solid Super Rugby player but I can't see him being worth of the squad either.

(Same thing with Hunt, unfair blah blah, Hunt really shouldn't be there.)

There's too many Reds there, but half of them will get cut anyway. You can add guys like Faulkner and Hodgson too, they are making up numbers like some of those Reds.

Glad to see Toby Smith and PAE there.
 
barbarian

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
Train Without a Station said:
Barbarian I think Stirzacker is unlucky. He'd be close to the 3rd halfback at the expense of either Genia or White.
Click to expand...

Really? His form has been good but not excellent, where White and Genia have a tonne of experience, which is what you need in a squaddie halfback. I'm more surprised he wasn't brought in with an eye on 2016, considering the two ahead of him are going offshore.
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T

Train Without a Station

Guest
Genia has a tonne of experience but having suffered through every reds game he's been stifling and woeful for most of them.
 
The_Brown_Hornet

The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
I've been impressed with the form of both Timani and Dennis at lock this year and they've both made excellent cases for inclusion. However, I worry that they aren't big enough to play lock at test level. Both tough hombres and willingly do the dirty yards, smash blokes at the breakdown and in general play, but do we deep down think that their inclusion would worry the likes of England and Wales? The Orcs in particular have a production line of big gnarly tight forwards who would relish the difference in size. I think Cheika can get our pack playing the kind of aggressive go forward game he's become famous for, but I want plenty of bulk to help deliver on that.

I'd say they're competing with Fardy and Jones for a blindside spot realistically.
 
HighPlainsDrifter

HighPlainsDrifter

Jimmy Flynn (14)
Timani has been strong in attack and has made some great hits , the problem has been he has gone missing in the defensive line at times ...meaning on occasion he doesn't miss the tackle ...just doesn't attempt the tackle ....I think he is still a work in progress , if he can get his work rate up to a more consistent level he will become a Wallaby fixture but probably not yet . reminded me of the Hoopla when Neville became a try magnet but overall workrate did not seem apparent . The Wallabies need some hard grind in the lock dept otherwise the leading teams in the RWC will eat us up . Having said that Lopeti has the chance to impress in the NRC and continue to work on his game ...you never know ..... I've watched the back five at the Rebels over the past few years with Pyle , Neville , Timani , Higgers and McMahon all getting accolades for try scoring efforts (and deservedly so) ....but the one common denominator appears to have been Luke Jones doing the hard yards for his team , not unlike what Kane Douglas did at the Waratahs ....given that I think Chieka is looking for high workrate in the second row to help set a platform for others to work off that means IMO Simmons, Skelton, Jones and maybe Dennis/Horwill . I thought Laurie Weekes was unlucky but could yet still figure ...he had come back from crutches and was looking effective until Tony yelled "Box kick Laurie" to wit Laurie replied ..yeah boss I can Box !
ps. Has anyone got an idea on what the other countries are looking at re selections re picking players in different positions from their non test rugby competitions?
 
Marcelo

Marcelo

Ken Catchpole (46)
I think the inclusion of players like Hunt or McMahon is for the future. They will never be on the WC squad (Only if an injury crisis appears).

It's just so they know the Wallaby environment and to motivate them for the future.

Not to be unfair to Hunt. He had a bad start, was suspended and didn't have a good coach in his first Super Rugby season. He has great potential
 
ChargerWA

ChargerWA

Mark Loane (55)
barbarian said:
The biggest victim of the Force's shocking year has been Nathan Charles. Went from being a clear 3rd stringer and Bledisloe starter to not even making a wider training squad.
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Click to expand...
To be fair, Charles has been next to invisible this year. You only notice him at line out. I'd be interested to see his stats, but I fear they would be fairly dire.

I really hope it's not the case, but I fear he may be starting to be hampered by the effects of his CF.
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
His stats show 5 tackles per 80 minutes and around 2 runs per 80 minutes. Per game that would be very low as he has played less than 80 in games.
 
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