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![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
Haven't we usually done well against the Reds? I seem to recall celebrating more wins in Brisbane than losses.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
I guess the customary response to that would be to point out exactly how much the Reds have sucked in their history and how short lived their few periods of success have been.
Think how quickly they turned to shit after 2011
I guess we can be heartened by the fact that the team really haven't had much rugby together yet and they'll start to find their groove soon, but Alison is correct that there is a danger of that killing any chance of success this year and a whole bunch of them move on next year causing the same issues.
I hope desperately that there's something going on at training to bring the young guys up to speed by learning off the legends so that next year we'll see a much more Australian squad with a lot more cohesion than currently.
I do remember Hodgo making the point that they were trying not to decimate the other Aussie teams in their recruiting drive (I think it was after the Argies signed) so there could be a fair dose of wanting to maintain the integrity of the competition in there as well. Shame we're the only team that seems to give a shit about that!
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QUEENSLAND REDS (1-15):
Dane Zander, Alex Mafi, Taniela Tupou, Angus Blyth, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Angus Scott-Young, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott, James O’Connor (c), Ilaisa Droasese, Hunter Paisami, Jordan Petaia, Suliasi Vunivalu, Jock Campbell
Reserves:
Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Harry Hoopert, Zane Nonggorr, Ryan Smith, Seru Uru, Kalani Thomas, Hamish Stewart, Bryce Hegarty
INs:
OUTs:
WESTERN FORCE (1-15):
Tom Robertson, Feleti Kaitu’u, Greg Holmes, Jeremy Thrush, Sitaleki Timani, Fergus Lee-Warner, Kane Koteka, Brynard Stander (c), Tomas Cubelli, Jake McIntyre, Richard Kahui, Henry Taefu, Tevita Kuridrani, Byron Ralston, Robert Kearney
Reserves:
Jack Winchester, Angus Wagner, Santiago Medrano, Ryan McCauley, Tim Anstee, Ian Prior, Jack McGregor, Marcel Brache
A bit disappointed in that line-up for the Force. Surely Anstee deserves a start if he's back to full fitness and we need his ability to break the line and create chances. Would've gone Thrush, Timani or even Stander (with FLW to 8) to the bench instead.
McIntyre has been pedestrian when starting - not engaging the defense, running sideways and shovelling the ball on. Our attack looked far better with Macgregor at 10 last week, as he was at least engaging the defense. Macgregor, Lance or Miotti surely have to be given a go as McIntyre has been found wanting. Happy for him to find form off the bench.
Kahui on the wing is a worry - surely doesn't have enough pace for that. Would've much preferred Placid or Olowofela there (or Kearney to allow Macgregor to start at 15 and give us a 2nd playmaker option). Happy to see Taefu given a go at 12, but think Kuridrani should've made way with Kahui shifting to 13.
Anyway, hope running out largely the same team results in things finally clicking and the Force putting in a good showing. Not receiving a drubbing would be a decent result given the current form of the 2 teams.
More pick and drives, Cubelli sniping, a functioning line out and McIntyre running straight to engage the defense would go a long way to helping. Would also like to see Taefu taking the shots at goal.
I am very happy with the team selected.
Not sure why you are dissapointed:
Stander is being touted as a Wallaby squad bolter for the first training camp and is the heart and soul of the team not sure why you would even consider having him benched.
Anstee took a very heavy knock to the shoulder and I beleive the right call is to bring him on off the bench, still relatively new to the fifteen man game at this level and needs to be nurtured, he is better on the side of the scrum than in it so Timani and Thrush the correct call as the starting locks. Timani will also be better for the run last week.
Agree Kuhui is not a winger, however our options are limited here with Pulu injured. Placid I assume is still geting back to full fitness, Olowofela is only recently out of quarantine and new to super rugby and will proably have to be blooded in slowly.
Kearney is a class act at fullback, you cannot even consider playing him anywhere else or anyone in his place.
Great to see Holmes getting a start for his 150 and at the ground he has played most of his rugby at.
If you want to know why Kunidrani is picked watch his defence while one or two may slip past every now and again on the whole he is really good at 13 in defence and a good solid body to hit up and get over the advantage line.
Simon Cron: “People talk about winning and losing all the time and they are critical, but there’s a process to get into and it’s the ability to stay present, do your job and execute skills under pressure.”
Didn't we sign an England under 20 rep is to add some depth in the wing department?
Kahui will get murdered by whichever Qld winger lines up on him.
Agree - The combinations need to click and swapping every week is disrupting. Thought McIntyre did well last week apart from his off day kicking. He set up some good phases, and made a few good defence tackles, so he’s coming good. There must a be a plan in having Kahui out on the wing, so long as he doesn’t get smoked. I believe he tops the fitness beep tests quite often, so he’s as fit as ever.
I'm as anti-mcintyre as anybody, but that feeling must be tempered by the part he played in the try last week.
He must be running out of chances though.
I hope kahui has been training wing all week. The first try last week came as a direct result of having 3 centres playing centre and nobody playing wing. I didn't apportion blame, because you can't expect kahui to change years of instinct and muscle memory in 5 seconds.
But can you expect him to overcome it in a week?
Is it me being out of the loop or are the Reds taking us lightly?
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Pretty happy with those selections, allowing for a question mark over Kahui on the wing. I think Timani starting is a positive. been to training enpugh to get the line out down pat, so expecting a better showing there. Ditto Holmes back at scrum time. Is K-Bomb injured? Our biggest arse ache so far is not settling the 10 shirt. And that is a pretty crucial arse ache. I haven't the slightest clue about the reasoning there.
Chiraag; your posts mostly make sense to me. But, with respect.....dropping Stander to the benchThe bloke's a dead set machine.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Yeah, fair points all round. But I don't think we've seen any improvement with this personnel over the 3 games. Our attack in particular has really struggled and looked more dangerous last year. I think the main problem is the selection at 10 and would prefer one of the other options is given a shot now that McIntyre has been given 2 starts against the weakest teams in the comp and not been able to spark our attack at all. Which is also why I'd consider Macgregor at fullback as it seems we need that second playmaker. Kearney is a legend and has been solid at the back, with good positional play and decent kicking, but we need to find some penetration.
The other main concern is Kahui on the wing. His smarts and playmaking abilities are wasted there, while his age/lack of pace can be exploited. I don't think we're short of options there with Olowofela, Placid, Brache and Kearney
I'm a big Stander fan, but I think he's been pretty quiet this year (bar 2 big turnovers last week), without any big runs or tackle busts, which is what you need from your 8. Anstee, Koteka and FLW have all been outstanding on the other hand.
Likewise Kuridrani hasn't really broken tackles or busted the line, which is what we really need. Sure his defense is decent, but the other options in that position are no slouches in defense and we need more than that.
Also disappointing that Macdonald is injured as would've like to see him given a go. Prior, while an excellent servant of the Force and a solid player, almost cost us the Tahs game by kicking away possession at the end, and I feel did cost us the Rebels game by not taking the 3 last week and opting for a scrum.
The reds and the brumbies look well ahead of the other 3 teams in the comp at the moment, so I would've liked to see a few more different options tried and/or younger personnel exposed so that we know our best team when we return back home to play the Tahs.
For the record, I would've liked something like this (line-out calling may be an issue):
Angus Wagner, Feleti Kaitu’u, Greg Holmes, Fergus Lee-Warner, Sitaleki Timani, Tim Anstee, Kane Koteka, Brynard Stander (c), Tomas Cubelli, Domingo Miotti, Robert Kearney, Henry Taefu, Richard Kahui, Byron Ralston, Jack Macgregor
Reserves: Jack Winchester, Tom Robertson, Santiago Medrano, Jeremy Thrush, Tomas Lezana, Ian Prior, Jordan Olofowela, Jake McIntyre / Jono Lance
But at the end of the day, it's certainly not the worst team and should go OK. Here's hoping it all comes together and I'm proven wrong!
Last edited by chiraag; 17-03-21 at 23:05.
I agree it would be nice to see younger players given a crack and I would love to see McGregor starting or someone like Grayson Makara given a go off the bench but it does take time to build from the ground up.
We got to the stage where we were developing a lot of our own local talent and then we got the chop so a lot of them obviously left and many still haven't come back. So now we need to start again. I think you will find that the local WA first grade comp will be a lot stronger again this year with the Force back in and that will help.
But having said that Twiggy seems like the type of guy who would want instant success and not in 3 years time, plus the only way we are going to get those fringe supporters coming back is winning games and playing exciting rugby which we still aren't doing.
Hopefully this will be a case of the same old Force, we play badly last week and lose when we all had our hopes up and then this week pull off the win when we are expecting to lose!
With the NRC gone, player development is likely to go backward rather than forward. It is too big a gap, and academies are only part of the solution rather than the whole answer. I expect that, just as for much of the Force's history, players will go back to struggling to make the jump and will go overseas to get their development.
A big problem for RA, a bigger problem for the Force, and IMO the single biggest difference between Australia and the other rugby countries.
IMHO The simple fact of the matter is that our boys don’t play enough top class rugby!
Even when SR was at full strength if you didn’t make the finals you were only playing rugby for 3 months of the year. The toughest competition in the world came from travel not the game! You only have to look at Europe where players ar playing for nearly 9 months a year to see that something is not right.
There have been many articles written about player burn out (in Australia) but again that come down to travel not games played.
I haven’t got time atm to search the figures out on games played but will try to over the weekend.
May the FORCE be with you!
I believe that last week was an anomaly.
Dave Wessels has the voodoo magic that makes Force players do dumb shit. I don't know how, but the Force seems to lose their mind when it comes to the Rebels.
ANyway, that was last week.
The Force in previous iterations was always capable of beating any team on the paddock when they put their mind to it. This is one of the reasons why we love them - and why they drive us completely BATSHIT crazy.
I think that the Force can win against the Reds. I thnk that they will beat the Reds.
It will be close and we will probably all need medication afterward.
Force by 5(ish).
Exile
Port Macquarie
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" - Rocky Balboa