Wallaby selection game/exercise

[fatprop]

Team Gold

Front Row – Concern over starting a young kid against the poms had us at loggerheads with the final decision to start Baxter at THP and then give Daley 30 minutes at LHP with Alexander moving to THP to give him some time there as well

Valentine was chosen to give the best possible service to Cooper.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is the best runner in the side, counter attack is the best try scoring option, so let him kick return a do as much grief as possible, With AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 15 we picked Chambers, who has done enough to warrant a chance and is solid defensive, durable, hard and unselfish. We all agreed we expect to see Horne there by the end of the season, but give him plenty of game time in the A’s to start.

1 Alexander
2 TPN
3 Baxter
4 Mumm
5 Sharpe
6 Hodgson
7 Pocock
8 Elsom
9 Valentine
10 Cooper
11 Ioane
12 Giteau
13 Chambers
14 Mitchell
15 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)

16 S Fainga'a
17 Daley
18 Douglas
19 Houston
20 Burgess
21 JOC (James O'Connor)
22 Hynes

 

[MrTimms]

Team Dingo

1. Daley 2. Polota-Nau 3. Alexander
4. Sharpe 5. Mumm
6. Elsom (c) 7. Pocock
8. Mowen

9. Burgess
10. Cooper
12. Giteau 13. Horne
11. Mitchell 14. Ioane
15. Ashley-Cooper

16. S. Fainga'a
17. Baxter
18. Douglas
19. Hodgson
20. Valentine
21. O'Connor
22. Beale

Daley to be blooded while Fat Cat is out, with Alexander to re-aquaint himself with THP.
TPN needs no introduction.
Sharpe and Mumm in as locks, we think they are the best options.
Backrow of Elsom, Pocock and Mowen, Giving young Ben a chance to show what he can do, another good year shows he deserves at least that.
Burgo in 'till Genia returns, best of the rest.
Quade gets 10 to reward S14 form and show that attack is good. We (as dingo) have fixed his defence in the lead up anyway)
Gits and Horne to team up in the centres, Robbie to tear it up on debut.
Mitchell and Ioane on the wings with AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) making up a pretty potent back 3.

Bench
The finger to debut, rewarding a much improved year. The fuse to hold up the scrum in an emergency, with Ben to move to 1, should it be needed. Douglas deserves a shot after a meteoric rise this year. Hodgeson rewarded for a top season, with the added burden of fixing whatever is needed in the backrow, besides, he deserves a test cap.
Valentine won rock, paper, scissors to back up the half back with J'oC and beale rounding out the princesses, both able to cover a few spots should they be needed.

 

[Scarfman]

THE GREEN MACHINE

1 Ben Alexander
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
3 Al Baxter
4 Nathan Sharpe
5 Dean Mumm
6 Matt Hodgson
7 David Pocock
8 Rocky Elsom (capt)
9 Luke Burgess
10 Quade Cooper
11 Drew Mitchell
12 Matt Giteau
13 Rob Horne
14 Digby Ioane
15 Adam Ashley-Cooper

16 Saia Fainga'a
17 Salesi Ma'afu
18 Kane Douglas
19 Ben Mowen
20 Josh Valentine
21 Peter Hynes
22 Kurtley Beale

No prop blooding for us - this is the team to win games.

Sharpe, Mumm picks itself.
Our loosies reflect our lack of confidence in Houston at this level.
Cooper, Giteau picks itself.
Ioane, Mitchell picks itself.

Lots of discussion around 12, 13, 15 but thi is the best combination we could think of. Don't tell us we have two FBs on the bench. With injuries, our backs tend to move inwards towards 10, needing replacements in the back 3. This also gives the chance to work one or two other combinations.

And fucktard Valentine is the last upright halfback in the country Josh Valentine has been working hard on his game and this is his chance to move up a level.

 

[Scarfman]

Team Wallaby not here yet?

I'll give them a minute before looking at what we've done here.

 

[Geeves]

Baxter! Baxter! Which part of international penalty magnet did team Gold and Green miss over the last 5 years.

I know he's good but hell if the wallabies ever get Alan Lewis or other ref of the same opinion there goes the game.

Without Robinson its a tough choice but I can already hear the whistle go after the face plant.

 

[Scotty]

That is 4 teams so far and no sight of B Barnes aka sookface.

 

[Scotty]

Baxter! Baxter! Which part of international penalty magnet did team Gold and Green miss over the last 5 years.

I know he's good but hell if the wallabies ever get Alan Lewis or other ref of the same opinion there goes the game.

Without Robinson its a tough choice but I can already hear the whistle go after the face plant.

Yeah, the fools are making the mistake that we have criticised several previous coaches for.

 

[TheRiddler]

Apols gents, that thing called work is getting in the way at the moment and therefore Team Wallaby hasnt really had the opportunity to reach a general consensus. Therefore what's pasted below doesnt have total and unanimous approval but we'll have to go with it for now.

1 Salesi Ma'afu
2 S Fainga'a (what part of injured did the rest of you not see with TPN)
3 Ben Alexander
4 Dean Mumm
5 Nathan Sharpe
6 Matt Hodgson
7 David Pocock
8 Rocky Elsom
9 Luke Burgess
10 Quade Cooper
11 Digby Ioane
12 Matt Giteau
13 Rob Horne
14 Drew Mitchell
15 Adam Ashely Cooper

16 Ben Whittaker
17 Pek Cowan
18 Kane Douglas
19 Ben Mowen
20 McKibbin (our bolter - was also a vote for Valentine but no team I'm involved in will include him!!)
21 Berrick Barnes
22 James O'Conner

 

[fatprop]

Baxter! Baxter! Which part of international penalty magnet did team Gold and Green miss over the last 5 years.

I know he's good but hell if the wallabies ever get Alan Lewis or other ref of the same opinion there goes the game.

Without Robinson its a tough choice but I can already hear the whistle go after the face plant.

If you noticed anything over the last 3 years you would have seen Baxter has only had real problems with the Kiwis, as they have the technical ability to pack low enough to cause him grief.

So against England and Ireland and SA, no problem. Against the Kiwis, well hopefully Robinson will be ready so Alexander can play THP.

 

[Scarfman]

Riddler - your heinous comments are stricken from the record. Get Team Wallaby together and finish the job!

Anyway - among the 4 consensus teams, there is a lot of consensus.

Interesting that the locks are so easy to pick. I'm willing to bet that Robbie finds a way not to pick this combination, though. I get the feeling that he doesn't rate Mumm as a starting lock. Kane Douglas got everyone's vote for the bench.

The loosies were almost universal, with Mowen getting 3 votes to Houston's 1.

The halves was 100% consistent, as were the wings, although we might have to figure out who is going to play 11 and 14.

It's probably the props and the 13-15 positions that show the differences.

We reckon with so many guys out of action, you've got to pick Baxter, but plenty of votes for Daley and Ma'afu.

As Noddy points out, the fullback position is a very tricky one because it partly determines what kind of game you're going to play. We went with a conservative selection, but left ourselves some options to switch it around. If there's a consensus, it's probabaly 13. Horne 15. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) with people like JOC (James O'Connor) and Beale on the bench.

Finally - Team Gold are starting Valentine because they want to lose. Call the stewards.

 

[cyclopath]

I think Baxter has done enough to justify being picked at THP. Alexander has been good - no mistake, but he has been playing LHP, and without Fatcat we thought it was better to keep him there and use Baxter.
Basically it comes down to Baxter being better at THP than some others were at LHP, if you get my drift. Ma'afu was close.
We went for Hynes and Beale as they can really cover most backline positions - both at 15, Hynes at wing or even 13 at a pinch, Beale at 10 or 12 if needed. JOC (James O'Connor) offered nothing that those two didn't, plus he is vertically compromised.
We debated over 13 and 15 but Horne is the future, and I think his time is now, and he has the advantage over AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 13 in that he CAN or WILL pass the ball.
Honourable mentions - Houston at 8 - Robbie might well be the one to get the most out of him; Sook-face was a maybe but just not quite there, although I would rather him going to 10 if Cooper goes off than Giteau.

 

[ACT Crusader]

The Foxsports team

15. Peter Hynes
14. Digby Ioane
13. Ryan Cross
12. James O'Connor
11. Drew Mitchell
10. Quade Cooper
9. Luke Burgess (Will Genia injured)
8. Stephen Hoiles
7. David Pocock
6. Rocky Elsom
5. Nathan Sharpe
4. Dean Mumm
3. Al Baxter
2. Tatafu Polota-Nau
1. Ben Alexander

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27180134-5016959,00.html

No Giteau, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Turner or Barnes....

 

[cyclopath]

The Foxsports team

15. Peter Hynes
14. Digby Ioane
13. Ryan Cross
12. James O'Connor
11. Drew Mitchell
10. Quade Cooper
9. Luke Burgess (Will Genia injured)
8. Stephen Hoiles
7. David Pocock
6. Rocky Elsom
5. Nathan Sharpe
4. Dean Mumm
3. Al Baxter
2. Tatafu Polota-Nau
1. Ben Alexander

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27180134-5016959,00.html

No Giteau, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Turner or Barnes....

Was that chosen by the League guys on Fox? Ryan Cross??? Hoiles???

 

[cyclopath]

By the way, it seems we all like Hoiles as much as Robbie does!! :lmao:

 

[Geeves]

Baxter! Baxter! Which part of international penalty magnet did team Gold and Green miss over the last 5 years.

I know he's good but hell if the wallabies ever get Alan Lewis or other ref of the same opinion there goes the game.

Without Robinson its a tough choice but I can already hear the whistle go after the face plant.

If you noticed anything over the last 3 years you would have seen Baxter has only had real problems with the Kiwis, as they have the technical ability to pack low enough to cause him grief.

So against England and Ireland and SA, no problem. Against the Kiwis, well hopefully Robinson will be ready so Alexander can play THP.

I'll quote myself "I know he's good". It's not about his ability which once again I said was good its the perception the refs have about him. Hell he was dominating against the Welsh as well until Lewis blew him off the park. I just don't know if you can take the risk with him and dodgy penalities at key times

 

[Scotty]

Yep, Team Falcon decided to pick a team for the future, not a team for the past.

 

[RugbyReg]

Finally - Team Gold are starting Valentine because they want to lose. Call the stewards.

this was a like with like for us. No Genia, so we wanted the best passing scrummy available, to give Quade all the time he needs. Obviously this isn't Burgess, so we went with the biggest prick in Australian rugby.

 

[waratahjesus]

Yep, Team Falcon decided to pick a team for the future, not a team for the past.

i thought we were picking a team capable of winning now?

 

[TheRiddler]

So how come the rest of you have all picked TPN although he's injured?

And do you realise how much it pains me to have 'Not So' in my team?

And how come there's no real bolters in the sides (apart from Douglas who should be a shoe in).

Surely Dingo will use this "lesser" Fiji test to blood a couple of youngsters with a view to building a fantastic squad for next year. There's a lot of time between now then in which unfortunately a lot of injuries can, and probably will, happen to players. What's the point of recycling players that have been tried before and havent been up to it?

And some fantastic feral comments on that FoxSports page. Makes some of the more heated posts in this place appear more like an afternoon tea party.


Edit : Too many beers after a tough day at the place that shall not be mentioned and typing (and perhaps comments) affected as a result.

 

[Scarfman]

Team Wallaby need to read the rules. Mind you, not at the cost of letting a beer get warm.