Western Force 2011 squad

[jjk]

I was thinking about the players that officially are no longer with the Western Force next season, O'Young at 9, Hill at 10, Harris at 12, Cross at 13, Tatupu on one wing and Sare on the other with Haylett Pety at fullback as well as Stanford, Jones and Henderson no longer with the Force. That is alot of players leaving.
Who is coming - Stannard, Ripia, Fairbanks and Jenkins...
The Force have retained an aging Bartholomeuz and Staniforth and resigned an injure prone Shepherd and have kept Rapana and Hunt who are not up to Super 14 standards as well as having 4 half backs in the roster. Its going to be interesting next season.

[Burgs]

"4 half backs in the roster"

One of which is out for the season

[PerthGirl]

Turner, stannard can play 10 as well at a pinch

[zimeric]

pfft. all baloney.. we have heaps of quality there..

=========
as you can see i have some names in a number of spots
so heres how i see it playing out: (backups in brackets)

9) Sheehan - (Stannard, Swanepoel & Turner once back from injury)
10) Ripia - (Barto or Stannard or if Andre is resigned then he'll fight it out with Ripia )
11) Cummins - (Rapana, Sheps)
12) JOC - (Fairbanks or Stanners)
13) Inman (Neilson if signed, maybe even Cummins)
14) Stanners (Sheps)
15) Sheps (Barto, JOC)

to get more depth we possibly need only 1 more back line player preferrably at 13 to back up Inman (or supplant him -for those haters)

[James]

We might be a little short of depth from the departures but I'm not convinced we've lost a lot talent. Probably the two big losses were DHP and Lukes Jones. Fingers crossed we've exorcised all our injury demons though.

[Sheikh]

Still think we need a young speedster as back-up for 14, as both Zim's names above provide cover for other positions, but they would only be as a back-up.

[James]

Yeah we still need to recruit a couple of players and you have to wonder where they will come from. I am still pretty keen for the Force to make a play for either Adam D'Arcy or Ben Batger from the Shute Shield.

The worrying thing is that a look at the Australian U20s side sees pretty much all of the outside backs at the Queensland Reds (and a lot of those guys are only 20 next year). So much of the young talent is already taken. I wonder if the Force will also make an offer on Aidan Toua if he's been forced out of the Reds.

Also wonder if Greg Jeloudev/Robbie Coleman/Jono Lance are contracted. If the latter two were free we could contract one and get a marquee outside back.

[benny]

Personally I dont think DHP is a super Rugby player - too good for club rugby but not good enough to the big step up to Super Rugby. maybe the Hienken Cup / Euro Leagues may be better suited for his game play.

And Ryan Cross is a perfect lost, JOC into an ideal position in Centre and can attack the line with Inman & The sheep's sheperd in the back ready to join the line.

The 2011 Super 15 season is looking better each day.. Just hold off injuries till round 18 of the season.

[beige]

The 2011 Super 15 season is looking better each day.. Just hold off injuries till round 18 of the season.

Are you assuming we won't be there after that?

[benny]

Are you assuming we won't be there after that?

14 rounds to the season, and then 4 rounds of finals.. round 18 will = mad monday only.

[beige]

14 rounds to the season, and then 4 rounds of finals.. round 18 will = mad monday only.

You haven't been paying attention - 16 games with 2 byes = 18 rounds, with 3 weeks of finals.

[normie]

So close.

[jjk]

Congratulations to Nick Cummins for making the tour to SA, bad luck to Matt Hodgson and Cameron Shepherd for missing the tour.
Cameron Shepherd missing a tour because of injury - gotta to say I didn't see that coming. Whats the point in re signing a guy that gets injured as much as he does - seriously, as a said previously if he plays 7 or 8 games next year that would be good and the way the squad is shaping up it looks like we won't have much depth.

[farva]

So we have a pretty decent starting 22 of

Cowen
Whittaker / Charles
Fairbrother
McCalman
Sharpe
Hodgson
Pocock
Brown

Sheehan
Ripia
Cummins
OConnor
Inman
Spanner
Shepherd

Charles / Whittaker
Dunning
Hocking
Wykes
Stannard / Turner
Fairbanks
Bartholomeuz

But a few questions. If any of them get injured we currently dont have much on offer.
Sharpe, Bart and Spanner are all approaching the end of their careers. Who do we have to cover them? Sharpe is Hocking I guess but Hocking is hardly getting game time and McCalman has surpassed him as the second starting lock. But we need a lock who can lead the lineout. Hocking needs to lift his game. And if we lose both Bart and Spanner next year we really need to have a young outside back in the squad (S14 standard by the year after next, maybe a year or two in Europe will get DHP there?) and one in the academy that we are pretty confident will be able to step up. We dont have that at the moment.

[Lee Grant]

I am still pretty keen for the Force to make a play for either Adam D'Arcy or Ben Batger from the Shute Shield.

I wonder if the Force will also make an offer on Aidan Toua if he's been forced out of the Reds.

Also wonder if Greg Jeloudev/Robbie Coleman/Jono Lance are contracted. If the latter two were free we could contract one and get a marquee outside back.

I'm not sure if you get to see it over there but both D'Arcy and Batger have been in great form in the Shute Shield though D'Arcy, who the Force have had a good look at, seems to have lost his goal kicking mojo recently. Batger hasn't taken advantage of his previous chances in Super rugb but I've never seen him play better in clubland in big games.

It may be a bit early to think about"Jelly" as he hasn't played a lot of 1st Grade for Sydney Uni . As far as I know Coleman is not signed by the Brumbies but I doubt if they would let a good local like him disappear. I saw him when he was at school and also for the Brumbies Runners, but I never appreciated how fast he was until I saw him play in Argentina recently.

Jono Lace is a realistic acquisition. He is highly regarded by folks who watch Qld club rugby and can play 10 and 12. He's in the Qld Academy but he may think that he has a better pathway out west with Cooper, Lucas and A. Finger covering for each other for the Reds at 10 or 12, more or less. On the other hand he will probably stay if Quade Cooper crosses codes. The Reds stable doesn't have the depth at 10 and 12 that they have in the back three.

Aidan Toua has had a catalogue of injuries since he left school and IIRR wasn't able to get on the park when he had a S14 rookie contract. He is highly regarded north of the Tweed but his injury record may taint him.

By all accounts he smashed them in club rugby this year but Qld schools rugby has had so many star back 3 players in the last 3 years or so that they are spoilt for choice. One of the two best wingers in Schools rugby this year, Lindsay Crook, is reportedly signing with the Brumbies soon and it may be for that reason.

Young Aidan hails from PNG but there is a whiff of Fiji in his play. If he gets on the park in S15 for someone sometime he will be good to watch.