Wallaby Squad Predictions 2010!

[TOCC]

9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Turner
12. Giteau
13. Ioane
14. Ashley Cooper
15. Hynes

I know Giteaus form has been criticised of late, but im actually very excited to see what Giteau will be able to do if he has someone like Cooper and Genia inside of him taking a lot of the pressure off him. Giteau has been suffocated in the past couple of years by opposition teams focusing on him been the lynchpin in the backline and shutting him down, however i think come the June internationals this year we will see a revitalised Giteau playing outside of Cooper.

Also, im still not entirely sold on Ioane at 13, Link is a tad reluctant to play him there for whatever reason, but unless he gets some serious game time there at S14 level then he probably wont be up to playing there at test level.

 

[RugbyReg]

the more I watch the Reds the more I think Diggers should be on the wing. I think he's better when he is away from the constraints of the 13 'position'. On the wing he tends to roam more.

Plus the kick return is such an opportunity to attack these days, and he's one of the best in the game.

 

[cyclopath]

the more I watch the Reds the more I think Diggers should be on the wing. I think he's better when he is away from the constraints of the 13 'position'. On the wing he tends to roam more.

Plus the kick return is such an opportunity to attack these days, and he's one of the best in the game.

With you all the way, Noddy. I have said as much before - far more dangerous there; 13 is very demanding positionally / defensively whereas Diggers with "license to roam" in attack is very hard to defend against.

 

[TOCC]

the more I watch the Reds the more I think Diggers should be on the wing. I think he's better when he is away from the constraints of the 13 'position'. On the wing he tends to roam more.

Plus the kick return is such an opportunity to attack these days, and he's one of the best in the game.

notice how Digby didnt wear his infamous '13' red headgear this week?

 

[en_force_er]

the more I watch the Reds the more I think Diggers should be on the wing. I think he's better when he is away from the constraints of the 13 'position'. On the wing he tends to roam more.

Plus the kick return is such an opportunity to attack these days, and he's one of the best in the game.

notice how Digby didnt wear his infamous '13' red headgear this week?

he would look like a whining dil wearing 13 with an 11 or 14 on his back. i think when he has worn it it has gone a long way in stating where exactly he wants to play.

it's served his purpose.

 

[Lee Grant]

With you all the way, Noddy. I have said as much before - far more dangerous there; 13 is very demanding positionally / defensively whereas Diggers with "license to roam" in attack is very hard to defend against.

This is a virtual rugby truism. It is one of the reasons why Tahu didn't do too well when he played the position and was parked on the wing early so the touchline could help him. In league it is more man on man, but in union it's man on men and picking which one to defend against is half the battle. Matt Burke was good playing there near the end of his career because he could read the situation like a comic book.

Also, the outside centre in union on defence is like the middle linebacker in the NFL: he has to organise the people next to him. We all enjoy watching Robbie Horne on attack but he is a canny young player and has the potential to be a top defensive outside centre also. You can see the signs already.

Maybe this year is still a year too early but I'd like to see him starting as 13 against Fiji and England - or at least against the Poms for the Oz Barbarians. This assumes that he doesn't get crocked meantime - or is so "as we speak".

I don't see the above defensive attributes in Diggers, as good a tackler as he is.

 

[Spook]

THe concern about AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) playing 13 is that he never plays there. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) could be playing 13 with Hux back but the Brumbies are down a winger unfortunately.

 

[Spook]

I think the best player under a high ball is actually Genia, I dont know how he does it but he seems to get the ball a hell of a lot against taller oponents, I realise this is not about halves so it is not relevent.

I'd put Genia and Burgess equal as Australia's best under the high ball. Two halfbacks FFS :angryfire:

Genia is v good and Burgess is good but taking the ball at fullback is somewhat harder than playing the sweeper role.

 

[TOCC]

the more I watch the Reds the more I think Diggers should be on the wing. I think he's better when he is away from the constraints of the 13 'position'. On the wing he tends to roam more.

Plus the kick return is such an opportunity to attack these days, and he's one of the best in the game.

notice how Digby didnt wear his infamous '13' red headgear this week?

he would look like a whining dil wearing 13 with an 11 or 14 on his back. i think when he has worn it it has gone a long way in stating where exactly he wants to play.

it's served his purpose.

yeah that was the point

 

[en_force_er]

yeah that was the point

Fair enough.

 

[liquor box]

Am I the only one who hopes that Burgess is kept well away from the Wallabies. The Tahs would have scored about 100 more points this season if he wasn't running across field making sure they didn't make easy metres. O'Young was good on the weekend and Valentine has been better than normal. Anyone but Burgess.

Beofre Genia became prominent I thought O'young deserved a chance, he is quite good

 

[fatprop]

Burgess's running across field is part of the game plan and it is working.

 

[RugbyReg]

how is it working fp? I mean, how does it work better than, say, just passing it out (he did that at times and the Tahs looked a lot better).

He constantly has negative metres on the stats sheets from games, because he literally runs backwards. I can't see how that is a better game plan than a more direct approach.

Just because the Tahs are winning doesn't mean its the best approach.

 

[DPK]

I thought his service speed was quicker against the Cheetahs but he sacrificed accuracy to achieve this.

 

[Scotty]

how is it working fp? I mean, how does it work better than, say, just passing it out (he did that at times and the Tahs looked a lot better).

He constantly has negative metres on the stats sheets from games, because he literally runs backwards. I can't see how that is a better game plan than a more direct approach.

Just because the Tahs are winning doesn't mean its the best approach.

It is used excessively, but I think it does work at times. It give the runners a time to get on the front foot, and gives him multiple options to hit going forward. It will not work well off an aggressive defensive line though, and therefore wouldn't work well at international level against a team such as South Africa.

 

[fatprop]

how is it working fp? I mean, how does it work better than, say, just passing it out (he did that at times and the Tahs looked a lot better).

He constantly has negative metres on the stats sheets from games, because he literally runs backwards. I can't see how that is a better game plan than a more direct approach.

Just because the Tahs are winning doesn't mean its the best approach.

It has it's moments, the Tahs are trying to use Burgess as a ball distributer where he runs laterally looking for runners inside and out, or a half break with a pop pass or a line break. So far we have had inside and outside runners making breaks, Burgess setting up tries and Burgess making breaks

It hasn't worked for a full game yet. But to me, that is more about the runners than Burgess, they need guys in motion to put the defenders on the back foot (like against the Bulls) ie the pigs working hard.

The rest of the teams are doing exactly the same thing, with pigs burrowing one off a pop pass from the half- best approach dunno, but I think it is worth trying.

 

[Ishmael]

Yup, it gives Burgess more options. As he runs a couple of steps across field he can either pick up a forward runner on his outside, pop a pass back inside to a forward hitting the line, throw it wide to the 10 or have a dart himself. Having all those options puts the defense on the back foot an gives the outside backs more space. It's great so long as; a) he doesn't get scragged by defenders rushing up on him or b) he runs out of options and pops it to a forward standing still. As fatprop said, as long as there are forwards working hard and giving him options it can work very well.

 

[RugbyReg]

Yup, it gives Burgess more options. As he runs a couple of steps across field he can either pick up a forward runner on his outside, pop a pass back inside to a forward hitting the line, throw it wide to the 10 or have a dart himself. Having all those options puts the defense on the back foot an gives the outside backs more space. It's great so long as; a) he doesn't get scragged by defenders rushing up on him or b) he runs out of options and pops it to a forward standing still. As fatprop said, as long as there are forwards working hard and giving him options it can work very well.

see I 100% disagree with that. What it means is he is now having all those options about 2m behind the advantage line thus putting the defense on the front foot and gives his outside backs less space.

 

[fatprop]

Yup, it gives Burgess more options. As he runs a couple of steps across field he can either pick up a forward runner on his outside, pop a pass back inside to a forward hitting the line, throw it wide to the 10 or have a dart himself. Having all those options puts the defense on the back foot an gives the outside backs more space. It's great so long as; a) he doesn't get scragged by defenders rushing up on him or b) he runs out of options and pops it to a forward standing still. As fatprop said, as long as there are forwards working hard and giving him options it can work very well.

see I 100% disagree with that. What it means is he is now having all those options about 2m behind the advantage line thus putting the defense on the front foot and gives his outside backs less space.

Burgess uses a dive pass when he wants to get the ball wide quick, he rarely moves side ways when it is backs ball.

 

[Ishmael]

Yup, it gives Burgess more options. As he runs a couple of steps across field he can either pick up a forward runner on his outside, pop a pass back inside to a forward hitting the line, throw it wide to the 10 or have a dart himself. Having all those options puts the defense on the back foot an gives the outside backs more space. It's great so long as; a) he doesn't get scragged by defenders rushing up on him or b) he runs out of options and pops it to a forward standing still. As fatprop said, as long as there are forwards working hard and giving him options it can work very well.

see I 100% disagree with that. What it means is he is now having all those options about 2m behind the advantage line thus putting the defense on the front foot and gives his outside backs less space.

Only if he does it from static ball, which he rarely does form what I've seen. If the team already has a bit of momentum and the defense is moving back then it creates more options without giving the defense the chance to press up.

If it's from static ball, however, then you're absolutely right. But from what I've seen, when there's static ball he rarely does the dance across field but rather pops the ball straight up to one of the pigs or straight out to the 10.

Maybe we need a special clips package to analyse?