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Why is Tom Carter unpickable?

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daz

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Train Without a Station said:
He doesn't have the skills or speed of a Tim Horan, nor the hard running, line breaking, imposing nature of a Stirling Mortlock or Nathan Grey. .
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To be fair though TWAS, not many players have what Horan and Stirling had. My gut feel is that we are marking Carter too high if we compare him to those two.

I think a simplified expalnation is that TC is just simply invisible, which means he just doesn't do anything special when his team needs it. Having said that, he has put himself on my radar over the last 2 weeks for sure. I'd be quite happy to chuck him on the EOYT or a side show game such as Oz2 or even a second tier test to see how he responds.
 
Ruggo

Ruggo

Mark Ella (57)
Tom has some good quallities as a player. What I would like to see him do is work on obtaining a wider skill set. It will help him be more applicable in various scenarios throughout the course of a game. In reality, it is the only thing holding him back.

EDIT - Sorry, Daz has basically said the same thing above though worded different.
 
DPK

DPK

Peter Sullivan (51)
Without going too deeply into the jurisprudence of the G&GR Rules, does Rule 6 expressly prohibit personal comments against other posters in any way, or does it merely pertain to the pejorative nature of such comments?
 
barbarian

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
We basically want to avoid spiteful and unjustified comments of a personal nature. There is still scope to call someone a clown if they are clearly being a clown. If I called him a brainless fuckwit I would have crossed the line though I think. It is all about the spirit and context of the comment.
 
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Skippy

Guest
I agree completely... his fringe doesn't suit him and looks ridiculous. For that reason alone, he should not wear a Wallaby or Australia A jersey.
If he can increase his speed off the mark, improve his off loading and distribtion skills, cut out the silly penalties and a clippers his hair... I can see him getting a look into the A team.... of all these areas of improvement, clippering his fringe is the most likely to happen.
 
Viking

Viking

Mark Ella (57)
looking at those stats... its says he has had the MOST minutes out of all the centres but he has very low Try assists, tackle busts, offloads and line breaks. He's playing more then everyone else but his stat's are lower in these categories? That signals to me he is only good at one thing, defence.
 
ACT Crusader

ACT Crusader

Jim Lenehan (48)
Agree with an earlier comment that there are plenty of good, even very good Super players that never play test footy or may only get a cap when the plague hits. Peter Hewat was a decent performer but obviously lacked in areas that the national selectors were looking for.

From my observations, he seems to run upright and with the less time and space in top flight test footy he will get driven back more often than not. What he does do well is run a decent angle on the cut back play and this could work well with Quade running things. But will he be more effective than an AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) or a Diggers or Giteau who have test experience and won't need blooding in a WC year. Which raises another point, sometimes test selection heavily hangs on timing.

He has skills and has had some good games this year and like Kafer (I think) said, he is a better 13 than 12
 
G

GC

Guest
Carter really had a great game on the weekend. If we're going for a straight hard running inside centre he is up there. Fainga'a has the advantage of a combination with Cooper + is a better passer and short kicker (like grubbers and stuff). McCabe has shown great promise - will likely be better then Carter and Fainga'a if he sticks at the role. I'd rate the ICs in this order on current form amd how they'd fit in the Wobs back line:

1. JOC (James O'Connor)
2. Fainga'a
3. McCabe
4. Carter
5. The rest

Giteau not included as he's more suitable for the bench for coverage of multiple spots.
 
G

GC

Guest
Brumbies Guy said:
Carter higher on an IC pecking list than Barnes and Giteau.. I thought I'd never see the day
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Barnes is unfortunatley finished. I didn't include gits as the original post is about selection for the Wobs back line. Individually Gitaeu is a far better player. By the rest I meant Tapaui, Sidey, Huxley etc.
 
ChargerWA

ChargerWA

Mark Loane (55)
I can't help but think Tom is partly paying the price for his reputation.

Last year he was widely derided for his constant hand bagging which pointed to a lack of maturity. To be fair he has fixed it this year and is now also showing good form, but in a RWC year he just isn't going to get an opportunity to break in past the established players.

He also seems to be quite an excitable chap, I wonder if his over excitable nature doesn't endear him to his team mates, making selectors wary of throwing him in the mix with an established group of players.

But I will say poor Tom has copped the rough end of the pineapple on this forum in respect to rule 6 more than anyone else (myself guilty also). I actually really enjoyed his aftergame interview on Saturday night, his self depreciating sense of humour and genuine love for the game really shone through. Seems like a good bloke and I hope he continues to rise in peoples estimation.
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
daz said:
To be fair though TWAS, not many players have what Horan and Stirling had. My gut feel is that we are marking Carter too high if we compare him to those two.

I think a simplified expalnation is that TC is just simply invisible, which means he just doesn't do anything special when his team needs it. Having said that, he has put himself on my radar over the last 2 weeks for sure. I'd be quite happy to chuck him on the EOYT or a side show game such as Oz2 or even a second tier test to see how he responds.
Click to expand...

Daz, I think Carter's biggest fault unfortunately is that he probably a shade inferior to Fainga'a, and Fainga'a has a combination with Cooper that works in his favour. In defense they would probably be equal, however in attack Fainga'a is probably slightly more penetrative, and probably also slightly more skillful and quicker. While Carter is physically larger, they both play the same size, if you catch my drift. Considering neither play wing, there is really only one spot to fit them into within the squad due to their lack of versatility.
 
I like to watch

I like to watch

David Codey (61)
The stats regarding try assists, line breaks & offloads illustrate the weakness in TC's game.He compares very poorly with his peers in these areas.
I have long been critical of his inability to ever make room for supporting players.
He is a trier, but his skill level is not at Test level standard.
 
rugbysmartarse

rugbysmartarse

Alan Cameron (40)
Offloading was a big part of the tahs game last year. This year, it seems they have been told to reel that in, and (with a few notable exceptions) they tend to play for the recycle. Is he incapable, or is he being instructed?
 
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