1. Lock is the most pressing selection issue
Run your finger down the list of potential Wallaby locks. There’s a fair few options these days, but not many that feel particularly safe.
Simmons – Very good lineout operator, good scrummager, decent around the park
Horwill – Good set-piece work, physical, flaky, wildly undisciplined
Jones – Excellent work-rate, little ruck presence, lacks physicality
Timani – Massive unit, dominant tackler, top scrummager, very short, poor lineout work
Will Skelton – damaging around the park
Skelton – Huge physicality, damaging around the park, badly compromises the lineout.
Carter – Solid all-round game. High work-rate, low physicality.
Arnold – Big boy, good all around the park, probably too green for Test footy.
Coleman – Like Arnold, very green. Offers size and physicality. The Force scrum improved when he went off however.
Rob Simmons – the safe selection
Of those eight, Simmons is probably the safe selection. The rest all come with a serious of question marks that will have a flow on effect for the rest of the pack.
It seems likely that four locks will be taken to the World Cup. Three pure ones and, I suspect, a lock/6 hybrid that offers some positional flexibility and injury cover.
Personally I’d like to see Simmons, Skelton, Coleman and Jones. Who are your picks?
.
