The 20 metre cutout pass was decidedly more difficult with a leather ball in Ella's day.
I was pretty young at the time but from memory and footage I have seen Ella wasn't a chuck it wide kind of player. He played flat and followed the ball to secure multiple touches. I think Barnes has all of the skills required to do this. Not wanting to start a Reds v Tahs argument but the Reds used this style of play to great success against the Bulls earlier this year. All it takes is a slight adjustment to the team tactics.
Also it would be impossible to argue that the Tah's haven't been the most successful team from the last 5 years. I would much rather be finishing in the finals every year than starting to plan for the follow season in early May. Yes they missed out on the title but they came bloody close and a bit of luck and things can change.
Being the best Australian team is a mute point.
I know he's not part of the Tahs team for 2012 but Ryan Cross will now move from Perpignan (where he was a RWC joker) to play for the Racing Metro 92 where he will be the injury cover for Mirco Bergamasco.
Don't know yet the length of the contract.
Very constructive, champ.
i dont think its worn as a badge of honour, not winning in a couple of years there was underachieving as far as im concerned. But consistantly giving yourself the opportunity to achieve is a form of success and the Tahs have been able to do that. they have been the best Aus team of recent years, if the reds had lost in the final would you have not called there season a success compared with that of other aussie teams?
The problem with this argument is that there's nothing the tahs actually do - the opportunity presents itself because of the sheer numbers of players in this state versus the others.
If you looked at it from the point of view that the Tahs are given a heads start with numbers then they have squandered that head start in every one of the Super seasons - for different reasons.
Based on potential over the long terms they are rank under achievers.
it was in response to the tahs being the best team in aus over the last five years, your response discounts the crusaders/bulls/stormers who have been the ones to win comps during this time. The Tahs have been beaten. but its not the resons to throw them away, there is no head start against international opposition when the actual numbers are given.
Do you mean that the playing numbers in this province are the same as in those provinces?
My argument requires consideration of every person playing in NSW from u6 to grade - thats the long term pool - including people who have moved interstate etc.
If they go somewhere else and taste success its no answer to say that there was no room for them at the Tahs because someone somewhere was charged with the decision(s) that sent them to another province: whether that was the correct decision can only be determined generally - do they get more right than wrong?
To take an obvious example: Waugh v Smith - both emerge from school one goes Brumbies one goes Tahs. Smith is part of Brumbies sides that win the comp. On balance Tahs got that choice wrong.
Mortlock is another.
Now i know you are going to get these wrong from time to time. And they're not necessarily the measure of success. But when you put bad calls with lack of championships i reckon you've got a reasonable case to say that the Tahs, from top to bottom for whatever reasons, do not produce.
its all hindsight though isnt it. Im pretty glad i dont have to make the calls. but i think as QLD has shown, you can build a team of youngsters and they can have great success, but it doesn happen right away, they have to build for a few years in the core decision making departments. In a few years the reds will have the same problem the tahs have as they choose to hold onto there premiership winners or invest in youth again. I honestly dont believe there is a right or wrong answer and you can argue it both ways.
that said, as a fan and a fan that would love success, i love being able to cheer a consistant team on. in this day and age of professionalism to many players move around and with the rebels (not a shot at them) its only going to get worse. the ability to identify and support players is dying out everytime someone jumps contract.
I'm not saying (for present purposes - if you want we can debate that one) that anyone could pick that Smith was going to be the dominant open side out of the two. Thats why i say you have to look at it generally.
Somewhere along the line NSW have passed on (as they say in the US) a lot of blokes who won championships. Beau Robinson is another good example.
If NSW had won one then it would be legitimate to say we cant keep them all. Not having won one they must be open to the criticism that either they're letting the wrong ones go or they're not getting the best out of the ones they keep.
Did Cross actually play? If so, how did he go?
I know what ur saying, I can't agree though, to me a team wins a championship so sighting individual players like that overstates there contribution. Funny though that link let beau go.
I was pretty young at the time but from memory and footage I have seen Ella wasn't a chuck it wide kind of player. He played flat and followed the ball to secure multiple touches.
I am pretty sure it was Hickey who decided not to re sign Beau (2009 was his last season with the Tahs and Hickey's first) after a season where he was struggling to get to the bench by the end of the season. I think from memory didn't even get in the squad sent to SA for the last games of that season.