Wallaby wingers 2014

[TOCC]

Im also surprised no one has mentioned Davies. Will he be forever on the outer after Samoa? Regardless, the large amount of names being bandied about indicates that there are more than two obvious wingers who could be up to it. Which has to be a good thing.

Davies needs to add to his skillset if he wants to be considered, he is obviously fast, but his defence, highball work and kicking are need to improve.

 

[BDA]

yes i agree. no test footy for davies.

 

[BPC]

I think a lot depends on the gameplan (big assumption there with the Mad Dingo at the helm). Do you want:

1. Fullbacks as wingers - Mogg, Folau etc to cover the high ball
2. Finishers - Speight (ineligible), Tomane, Mafi, Shipperly etc - pin the ears back and go for the corner
3. Crashball wingers - Ioane, Mitchell (when uninjured) to use in close as a decoy or alternative for a forward runner near the ruck

Of course, some have more than one skillset. Mitchell (at his prime) was both a finisher and a crashball winger.

If you play wide, then you want finishers, if you play a tighter game you want crashballers and if you are playing defensively and for the counter-attack (I suspect this is where Dingo is heading as the most conservative option) then fullbacks on the wing. I think a mix is best unless you have a one-dimensional gameplan (Dingo*).

And of course, it depends on what fullback you use - a defensive fullback (Burke, Morahan maybe), a counter-attacker (Mogg) or a playmaker fullback (JOC (James O'Connor) or Barnes). Again these categories are fluid and will depend on the other backs. Playmakers at 10, 12 and 15 is probably overkill.

I am still ambivalent about Cooper, but he seems the best option if he handles the pressure better than at the RWC. I like a crash-ball winger and a finisher or fullback on the wings and Mogg has some defensive weakness but I can't go past a long kicker at fullback, plus his counter-attack ability:

9 Genia
10 Cooper
11 Ioane
12 Lealiifano or Tapuai
13 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
14 Folau
15 Mogg

20 White (please not Phipps or McKibben)
21 Tapuai or Lealiifano
22 JOC (James O'Connor)

I know Ioane and possibly Folau are leaving but lets thrash the Lions then worry about future development prospects on the end of year tour.

* Does a vague "play what is in front of you" count as a gameplan?

 

[Slim 293]

BPC, this is about 2014 so Speight will be eligible, and Digby gooooone..........

 

[qwerty51]

Tomane and Speight would be the top 2 wingers.

 

[No4918]

Joe Roff is one of the great Wallaby wingers but played a lot of Super Rugby at 15.

Mogg's electrifying speed is a big reason to consider him on the wing. He is the fastest player in Australian Super Rugby and possibly the whole comp.

Roff also had an exceptional 15 keeping him out of that position. I see Mogg as the best 15 by some way for his kick and ability under the high ball, his defence is at least equal to Beales. Playing him on the wing would work if there was a better option, the quality wingers would make it hard to play him there without some Super Rugby time there first. Guess it will come down to who the coach wants to wear 10.

 

[TOCC]

Hopefully with Luke Morahan getting consistent gametime in 2014 he will come into contention as well

 

[BDA]

Tomane, Speight, and O'Connor look like top quality choices going forward. Morahan, Cummins and Shipperley give us some decent back up.

Hopefully we can add Folau to the mix but if he's around next season I expect to see him shift to outside centre.

I think Beale and Mogg should be our 15s heading into the next WC.

 

[Richo]

I sometimes think with Folau that he doesn't know what to do with huge amounts of space in front of him. He often seems to look for one of the wingers when he looks up the field and finds 20m before the opposition. This suggests he'd be great at 13. On the other hand, he is amazing under the high ball and that is an incredibly valuable skill at the back. Certainly it would be interesting to see him at 13, but it won't happen next year with the Tahs. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is unmovable at the moment.

Internationally, I see him taking that Digby-esque "roving, attacking, ball-in-hand winger" commission and Speight / Tomane fighting it out for the other spot.

That's if it he stays in rugby and who bloody knows on that front.

 

[Groucho]

Im also surprised no one has mentioned Davies. Will he be forever on the outer after Samoa? Regardless, the large amount of names being bandied about indicates that there are more than two obvious wingers who could be up to it. Which has to be a good thing.

Davies has every chance to come back.

 

[USARugger]

Beale and Digby are really going to make this a headache if both are ineligible or not selected for whatever reasons. Beale also needs to return to some kind of form in my eyes if he even wants a sniff. Also if Speight was eligible I wouldn't be opposed to just starting the Brumbies back 3. With Genia, Quade, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) in the starting mix and JOC (James O'Connor) either potentially starting or definitely at least on the bench that is already quite a few caps in the backs. The Brumbies back three have been playing excellent rugby all season both as individuals and as a unit, or I would never feel even remotely comfortable making this selection. They really are perfectly balanced and just play amazingly well together.

 

[Paradox]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Brumbies back 3 running off Cooper's long wide passes. I reckon they'd carve up big time. Folau as well.

 

[fatprop]

The thing we will really miss losing Digby is his work in traffic.

The other options all lack the ability to cause grief on the inside.

 

[USARugger]

Tomane is more than capable of crashing the ball up and running decoy lines in the midfield. Digby's impact in traffic has been markedly diminished over the past few years anyway. Some of that has to do with our team composition but it isn't entirely off Digby's shoulders either. Teams have figured out of if they cut him low you nullify his low COG and he either goes right down or trips up then gets stuck by the support tackler.

 

[DPK]

How about Cummins?

 

[Sully]

Tomane is more than capable of crashing the ball up and running decoy lines in the midfield. Digby's impact in traffic has been markedly diminished over the past few years anyway. Some of that has to do with our team composition but it isn't entirely off Digby's shoulders either. Teams have figured out of if they cut him low you nullify his low COG and he either goes right down or trips up then gets stuck by the support tackler.

I disagree about his impact diminishing. he is still regularly on top of the metres run category and making lots of metres in traffic. I think we get used to someone doing the extraordinary and start to expect it.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

 

[USARugger]

I disagree about his impact diminishing. he is still regularly on top of the metres run category and making lots of metres in traffic. I think we get used to someone doing the extraordinary and start to expect it.

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Sorry should have been more specific, his relative production has dropped. Mainly in terms of clean line breaks. He just wasn't getting them these past 12-18 months like he was before. I know his meters gained stat is still consistently strong. I actually defended Digby using that stat as my primary evidence a few weeks back.

I think his knees have really started to impact his play a bit this year as well. He isn't nearly as explosive out of the step as he used to be and when was the last time you saw Diggers hit that full gallop he likes to do?

Compared to wingers as a whole he's still very productive but just simply not the same Digby we had in 2011. I don't want to see him go but I don't think it will cripple the Reds either.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Nobody breaks tackles in tight the way Digby does. He 99% of the time breaks the first tackle, even off one or two steps.

 

[Paradox]

Nobody breaks tackles in tight the way Digby does. He 99% of the time breaks the first tackle, even off one or two steps.

he's probably number one in that area in Oz. He does get to run off cooper and genia though.

 

[USARugger]

He's top at the Reds for linebreaks and second in the comp for tackle busts right now, I stand corrected.

I still don't think losing him will be the end of the world though.