Wallaby Outside Centre

[Ash]

Paradox, I think Mitchell was dropped due to his stupid red card, not due to his playing performances.

Nope, I too am pretty sure it was his performances. Mitchell was, quite literally, brilliant one game and absolute crap the next for the Wallabies, until he was dropped. The red card was just in one of the several absolute shite games. Mitchell basically even admitted that he was deservedly dropped and it was a wake up call.

Mitchell was absolutely brilliant afterwards, though.

 

[Gnostic]

Have a look at the Cheetahs game against the Tahs. Mitchell was one of the Laziest players out there. he jogged in kick chase, walked back after a Cheetah's player made a break and did little work off the ball for most of the game. Regardless of how good he is in spurts of games he has to get the laziness out of his efforts. I dub him the Leroy Houston of the backline.

 

[Brumbieman]

Have a look at the Cheetahs game against the Tahs. Mitchell was one of the Laziest players out there. he jogged in kick chase, walked back after a Cheetah's player made a break and did little work off the ball for most of the game. Regardless of how good he is in spurts of games he has to get the laziness out of his efforts. I dub him the Leroy Houston of the backline.

Christ you're a cynical, negaative minded man.

Toutai Kefu was even more famous for wandering around in the backline with his hands on his head.

 

[johnjoel04]

Beale at Outside Center

A. He can handle Sonny Bill.
B. He can off load as well as SBW. Watch him against Wales and Fiji
C. He's great @intercepts & can accelerate well from 0-Max speed(Outpaced DC)
D. He can tackle well...We watched him manhandle Nonu at the tryline during 3N.
E. Watch his try vs Force. He can link well with a 10/11/12/14/15.
F. Generous - Inside Mitchell, he will feed and distribute well. Hong Kong 3N......
G. Great grubber kicks for fullbacks and wingers....3N
H. He has a strong ball retention rate...Least wallaby turnovers on the ground.
I. His maturity and creativity is awesome. Watch him dance past 8 SA during 3N:
J. He is a falcon. Uses his head well.......Kurtley:
K. He recovers well from bad plays.
L. Cut to his inside, he will tackle you. Mitchell ran 2 inside tries on JOC (James O'Connor). Watch it
M. Best long range kicker we have. Broke the drought in Bloomberg. Right?

If shit happens during first half, we have a better chance of recovering/countering if we had 10.Cooper, 11. Mitchell 12. Gits, 13. Beale 14. Ioane/JOC (James O'Connor) 15. McCabe

If shit happens when we have Giteau and JOC (James O'Connor) as centers, they both blame each other and become selfish. They don't distribute well. It's time to Bench AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper). I don't even know if Ioane deserves a spot or feeds of his past. He still posseses burst power. But it's not the same since his knee operation. Watch him run and if u've ever played with a knee niggle, you will see it in him.

 

[ACT Crusader]

mmmm... Moving your best fullback to centre in a world cup year, now where have I seen that before? Sounds like a formula for success

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Beale at 13 means we forego any midfield muscle we previously had. Not a good idea. It's not just skill and pace that breaks the line, sometimes you need old fashioned brawn. If we are going to play the two 5/8's at 10/12, we need some size at 13.

 

[Slim 293]

Maybe we should have...

9. Giteau
10. Cooper
11. O'Connor
12. Barnes
13. Beale
14. To'omua
15. Lealiifano

*cough*

 

[cyclopath]

Maybe we should have...

9. Giteau
10. Cooper
11. O'Connor
12. Barnes
13. Beale
14. To'omua
15. Lealiifano

*cough*

That's why I like maybe. There is an implied "maybe not".

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Maybe we should have...

9. Giteau
10. Cooper
11. O'Connor
12. Barnes
13. Beale
14. To'omua
15. Lealiifano

*cough*

That's the best suggestion yet! Off to the Wallaby selection panel with you Slim

 

[Gnostic]

mmmm... Moving your best fullback to centre in a world cup year, now where have I seen that before? Sounds like a formula for success

Isn't the coach who did that involved here somewhere also? Oh Shit........

 

[Viking]

Beale at 13, He can handle SBW? I very much doubt that. Beale is a gap running, looks for space. We need a hard runner at 13 especially when we have such good distributers at 10 (cooper) and 12 (lets assume O'Connor). And why would you move beale from 15 when he is probably the best fullback in the world.

After the Reds game against the Stormers A. Fainga may be in consideration? Otherwise OC centre is pretty much either AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) or Horne if fit.

If you want to throw out a name that hasnt been tried before Id say move Mitchell to 13. He's a decent crash baller and distributor of the ball, and his tackling is a lot better then it once was. Id say that is a more plausible idea then Beale. It would also allow us to have Digby and O'connor on the wings (assuming Barnes has 12 for his defence).

 

[Gnostic]

I wouldn't discount Mortlock just yet. Eve though he has been playing at 12, he has come back much better than most expected him to.

 

[Reddy!]

I think Anthony Fainga'a is playing himself into a squad position in the centres somewhere in my opinion. The lad is doing well.

 

[TOCC]

displaying versatility across the backline(especially in the centres) will no doubt help A.Fainga'a's selection chances, but his still only a outside chance to make the squad.

 

[Joe Blow]

Deans will be keeping a close eye on JOC (James O'Connor) after his recent form. He has to be at 12 with either AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) or Morty at 13.
If Morty can regain some decent pace and stay fit I'd love to see

9. Genia
10.Cooper
11.Mitchell
12.JOC (James O'Connor)
13.Morty
14.Ioane/AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
15. Beale

Diggers still has handling issues and although devastating with ball in hand he seems to have trouble keeping it there.

 

[Skippy]

Deans isn't going to try anyone in any new position in a World Cup year. He will stick with what he knows and what he's been building towards. That means, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) will get first dibs on 13, Beale with be fullback, JOC (James O'Connor) and Mitchell first shout at wings with Digby next shout and Cooper at 10. The only position up for grabs is 12 with Mortlock the only player from out of the 2010 squad coming into contention to challenge Gits and Barnes. Genia will be the 9. WC year is not the time to move people about, try new things... hey, we might not win the WC and some boys may not be in form right now in Super rugby, but Deans has a plan and he's been developing that plan for several seasons. He won't change now. Maybe it's a case of 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'... but JOC (James O'Connor) in 10/12 will happen etc eventually, but not at this WC.

 

[Groucho]

Deans isn't going to try anyone in any new position in a World Cup year. He will stick with what he knows and what he's been building towards. That means, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) will get first dibs on 13, Beale with be fullback, JOC (James O'Connor) and Mitchell first shout at wings with Digby next shout and Cooper at 10. The only position up for grabs is 12 with Mortlock the only player from out of the 2010 squad coming into contention to challenge Gits and Barnes. Genia will be the 9. WC year is not the time to move people about, try new things... hey, we might not win the WC and some boys may not be in form right now in Super rugby, but Deans has a plan and he's been developing that plan for several seasons. He won't change now. Maybe it's a case of 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'... but JOC (James O'Connor) in 10/12 will happen etc eventually, but not at this WC.

I think JOC (James O'Connor) at 12 could certainly happen. It's hardly a gamble, given our weakness there and the way JOC (James O'Connor) has been playing. There's nothing he can't step around, especially the lumbering tanks playing 12 nowadays. Players like Nonu and Sunni Bill are powerful but hardly nimble.

 

[Gnostic]

IMHO I don't think the Wallabies will make it past the 1/4 finals with the squad from last year. Too many weaknesses, front row, second row and backrow who may be OK to good at Super level just have consistently failed at international level or have been found out technique wise last year. Also playing people out of position in the backline lost us a couple of games last year and I can see one of those losses repeating this year in the crunch games in the RWC if they go in with such an unblanced team.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

You don't reckon we'd beat Wales?

 

[Gnostic]

Mate I would have thought we couldn't lose to Scotland a few years ago. The Welsh have a pretty good base to build on and I don't rate them that badly. It would be unlikely but as I said there are ,assive flaws in last year's squad, which I pointed out at the time of selection and got bagged for it, and those weaknesses were shown up big time against England. It would be silly to do the same thing and expect a different result.