Seven rookies named in Qantas Wallabies squad

[force addict]

oh dear. do we want him? if he didn't make it to the squad who would have replaced him? how about mcisaac? or takiari?

[robyn <3]

boof???

[pieter blackie]

oh dear. do we want him? if he didn't make it to the squad who would have replaced him? how about mcisaac? or takiari?

John Ulugia (brumbies)

[.X.]

Perhaps calling Al Baxter "The Gambler" is being a touch unkind.

Can we call him Trestle Table instead? After all he does fold in the middle

[jargan83]

some of us have been calling him "the trestle" for ages X

"The Gambler" sounds like he is daring and exciting to watch

[number9]

personally im pretty shitty about the squad for both Australia and Australia A..
NO idea why sheehan made it in the top side along with cordingly both havent seen any game time. and the reason the matt carraro made australia when he is the worst player at nsw.. Chris O'young should of been there for sure in either side.. he is better that sheehan and younger that cordingly..

[Woody]

With many injuries and a number of major retirements a new broom sweeping completely clean would be a disaster. Cordingly will only be there for his international experince (Baxter is probably in the same situation, gap filler). Personally I think this year could be a little lean for Aussie but next year (after blooding a few more and establishing a Deans culture) should be a ripper. Aussie has a huge number of very good young players in S14 (many more than NZ or SA).
It will be interesting to see what Deans does with Cross and Brown (earned selections).

[TOCC]

im glad Peter Hynes made the squad, he deserved it after the season he had, he was the highest try scoring back in australia at the end of the 14 rounds

[Punkpapa]

I have been wearing a wallabies jersey all day. Do you think I am a bit excited??

[laura]

In all this discussion over who does and doesn't deserve to be in the squad etc. I forgot to say...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

To all those who made the squad, its a great honour and responsibility and I hope you make us prouder than ever!!

[pieter blackie]

I second that Laura

[Swee_82]

Was sort of expecting to see trestle and donut's name to appear in that list, so i've made my peace with that already. Biggest surprise for me was to see Digby's name there. Was a bit razzled that there were more reds/brumbies players named than but with Drew and Spanners out maybe it was to be expected.
I'm undecided about the squad- great to see Brownie and Crossie get call-ups though. They deserve it and can't wait to see them get a run in the Wallaby Gold.

[GIGS20]

Well after wading through the comment, both moderate and extreme, I think I'd be saying that Aussie Rob probably didn't have much of a say in this squad anyway. If I were him, I'd not do very much at all in the first instance, preferring to get the first game behind me and see the work ethic and the attitude of the players close up. Given that Jim Williams is nearly as new, he would rely pretty heavily on Mick Foley for selections, where there's no clear change I'd be going for the incumbent. That'd explain the Front Row, Foley's proven to be in bed with the Wallabies props despite their consistent lack of form for years......Robbie will fix it in time!

[NTT]

I struggle to see why Ioane got selected ahead of Gerrard. Other than that it looks a quality squad.
Bring it on ....

[Scotty]

The Australia A squad seems a bit underwhelming to me. Last year, I was quite excited about watching the Pacific Nations Cup games, due to the quality of the (mostly young) team we were fielding. This year, it seems most of the exciting players are heading to the Under 20's World Cup (Pek excluded, of course).

And I feel for Mark Gerard and Sam Two-dads. Australia A is supposed to be for 'breaking into' the Wallabies... in Gerard's case the writing is on the wall and in Sam's case is seems he will never never get in on his own abilities (only injuries to others).

P.S. AJ must be seriously injured, it's the only logical explanation.