Extremely thorough and well constructed analysis. Remember me for a managerial role[I don't do tee shirt change stuff] when you are made coach Rex.
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Extremely thorough and well constructed analysis. Remember me for a managerial role[I don't do tee shirt change stuff] when you are made coach Rex.
I agree with everything rex said, except for skelton.He has been soft into contact in almost every game he has come off of the bench for.
Needs much more aggression! but he's young, so we just need to start twisting his knackers just before he runs on.
How can you bring Shatz on before Hodgo. The guy is not half the player Hodgo is, what a joke.
Maybe Link brought Schatz on before Hodgo because he's planning for the World Cup and thinks Hodgo won't be part of the Wallaby team next year. However, I see a number of problems with this:
1) Barring injury, I reckon the only reason Hodgo won't be the standout Australian Super Rugby player again next year is if Stander is.
2) If Hodgo isn't in Link's plans, why include him in the team anyway?
3) If Link doesn't think Hodgo is a great pilferer, why include him on the bench?
4) Even if Link doesn't think Hodgo can do the job, and isn't in his plans for next year, in a game where the Wallabies were crying out for fresh legs, why leave a player on the bench?
Link's abilities as a coach are going down in my estimation
Do you think it's all just down to Link though Sheikh?
Maybe, maybe not. There are undoubtedly politics going on in the background, but that should only extend as far as selection of the matchday 23 at most. Once the match starts the coaches have to be completely free to use the selected squad to the best of their (the coaches) ability+ and leaving a player on the bench when fresh legs might have made the difference is inexcusable.
The only reason Hodgson wasn't brought on should be if the players on the pitch were the best suited to the situation, and being a try down with a flanker in the sin-bin and a flanker on the bench, Link should have pulled Tomane off (he didn't do much and what good's a winger if you don't have the ball) for Hodgson.
The only thought I had is that Hodgson was injured, but why was he in the 23 then?
[+ If the ARU ever micro-managed a coach to the extent of telling him not only which players can be in the 23, but also which players can be on the field during the match, I think we'd hear about it with the coach grabbing the nearest microphone and telling the world.]
If you build yourself up too quickly on unfounded belief the quicker and harder you will fall.
Never has the above statement been more true, just a few months ago the media were hyping up the Wallabies who were on a winning streak, however the truth was that the beat mostly northern hemisphere and we were yet to play NZ and SA.
Link I believe based his presentation on getting this gig on the presumption that he had a plan to beat the All Blacks!!!
Now it is unfolding like the proverbial house of cards.
Jargan - I agree with you that individual franchises should be responsible for the marketing, advertising, admin etc for their own franchise/product. But what I'm talking about is the bigger picture i.e. the strategic direction of the code as a whole in Australia. Responsibility for that clearly lies within the jurisdiction of the ARU. Likewise the financial position of the code as a whole in Australia.
Which brings me back to my original point - it is (to my mind) a shameful indictment on the way the ARU has managed the code as a whole that we are having to rely on UK TV viewers to help keep the game financially viable in Australia.
To my mind, Pulver and his cohorts have a long way to go to achieve the vision and goals they set themselves in last year's ARU Annual Report, namely that they would grow the game in Australia and engage new fans (in Australia!) to allow the ARU to invest in the future (see page 5 of the Annual Report).
Incidentally, note the final sentence of his "CEO's Report" in which he says "We head into 2014 full of confidence that we have laid the foundations to ensure rugby is in a strong position on and off the field." I think he needs to eat those words insofar as the Wallabies are concerned.
That's really all I have to say on the topic. Over to others to have their say should they wish!
This is the link to the Annual Report if anyone's interested.
http://www.rugby.com.au/annualreport...e/index.html#1
Surely it doesn't matter a cracker during the game how he uses the bench. If he's so much of a puppet that he has to seek permission to substitute a player then my estimatin of him as a coach would end up lower than if he'd decided for reasons of his own not to use Hodgeo.
Who knows, maybe he wanted him to be fresh for the ABs once the in effectiveness of Hooper has finally sunk in.
For example, at least three times on Sunday Morning, hopper arrives first to the breakdown with nobody from either side in contact and doesn't walk away with the ball or a penalty....the man is NOT an openside flanker
OK - so were beaten by Argentina and it's pretty bad but...
We drew with the all blacks and we beat the boks at home. They are the top two teams in the world at the moment. The argentine side is on the rise and don't be surprised if they do well at world cup time. They have a world class scrum that made us look silly. Our undermanned front row was always going to be outplayed - we picked our what sixth and seventh best hookers due to injuries.
I can't excuse leaving hodgo on the bench. That is flat out ridiculous.
I also don't agree with picking both Hooper and Higgingotham in the same run on side. They are both outside running seagullers when we needed hard nosed, hard working men.
It's yesterday's fish and chip paper
The allblacks are on the menu. There is blood in the water. Time to beat these fark heads
Beat the Blicks and go to the 2015 RWC as undefeated Rugby Championship winners in 2015
No point crying over spilt milk.
Bring back the biff
I want to agree with you Rex, but the gulf that has opened between the two sides in the last month is now wide enough for me to say that we (on our best day) wouldn't match them (on their worst day)
yeah,what are we going to hit them with-handbags?
True, but there is not a Kaino tree where you can pick a rampaging running forward when they ripen on the vine, at least not here in AUS, climate is obviously too mild to grow the Kaino tree.
I guess we should bring this to its logical conclusion and ask (at least with the RWC around the corner) - do we have the cattle? Possibly not. Our scrum, particularly the front row has been unable to compete with the best teams for over a decade now.
The solution? No idea. Better training, better coaching, better talent identification and pathways to the wallaby jersey, more miners and less effeminate private school boys, more pay for the piggies (MPFTP), praying to the (wo)man in the sky, Vita Ray?? Whatever the solution the length of time that this problem has been in existence would suggest that the coaching may not be the crucial issue.
Fix the scrum and the rest will sort itself.