O'Connor to become Force's young general

[shasta]

what?

I'm confused too. Everyone knows they all look like Yul Brynner.

[dobduff11]

Hi im i western force fan living in the uk, leaving JOC at fullback is so stupid. He is our best line breaker and with pretorious now at 10 we need a creative player.

Last year he played a fair few games at 12 his D was good and i don't know why Mitchell is playing him at 15. Oh noi do its cos deans is trying to convert him and wants him to play there regularly.

He is not a 15 never has been, at Nudgee he was a 10 and then a 12 when stefano came ,so play him in his proper position.

9 Sheehan 10 Pretorious 11 Cummins 12 JOC 13 Cross 14 Shep 15 Bartholomuwez

[palitu]

i have read a couple of comments on his defence, i didn't think he was a bad defender at 12 (similar to barnes, small but always took the bigger centres down). however at 15 i have seen him out of position a couple times and let through tries, not entirely his fault, but i think he would be a better defender at 12.

[Sheikh]

I agree - JO'C simply hasn't impressed at 15 either in the Tri-Nations or the NH tour. He isn't great at kicking, has seemed dodgy under the high ball and been caught out of position in defense. He may become better, but at the moment he isn't a 15. However, he was the starting 12 for the Force last season and played fantastically. I don't recall too many problems with his tackling (possibly helped by Crossy).

I can understand people being concerned when he goes up against big centres (eg, Mortlock) but he's going to have to learn how to take the bigger men down consistently. He's got another year's off-season weight programme in him, so should be stronger anyway. He's proved he's a Super 14 standard 12 and may be moved into 10 at some point, so why play him at 15 which he isn't suited for?

[AndyS]

To be fair, JO'C has been a mixed success at fullback at Test level. Personally I thought he was good in the several games he played last year at 12, against many of the same established players. But if they so decide, I am sure he'd be adequate at 15 for Super rugby and definitely a step up from Mitchell who was far more suited to the wing. My main preference would just be that, whatever they decide, they stick with it rather than chopping and changing on a weekly basis.

[Lee Grant]

Against the Tyrone Smith and Ma'a Nonu having JOC at 12 would be a touch suicidal. I'd really like to see him return to 12 when Nick Cummins comes back though.

I wouldn't worry too much about Rabbit on defence against those two. He had his 2nd starting game when he was 17 against Nonu IIRR and he did OK. But he has to go low.

And some one is worried about his being the last line of defence. That's no so much of a worry these days. Reading where the play is going and being in position to deal with where runners will run and where the ball will be kicked are more important to a fullback defensively than making the last tackle.

Fullback is his position on attack especially when things are unstructured and defences not set. This is happening more a more these days with the virus of aerial ping pong infecting our game and one can see JOC causing havoc at the S14 level this year returning kicks.

The trouble is: he will have to catch the ball first. Every coach in the S14 will know what happened in the Bledisloe match when he was Rabbit in the headlights. Skills coach Richard Graham will have players hoisting bombs to him morning, noon and night. If he gets that part of the fullback duties down pat, he will be a handful on counter attack.

Talking of Graham: he is listed as an Assistant Coach in the official EWF publication "Line Break" but he knows more about backline stuff than Mitch on his best day. He will be the defacto backs coach.

[James]

Assistant coach in this case equals backs coach. Mitch is the head coach/forwards coach. I think Geoff Townsend (the academy coach) is running skills and Matt Tink is going to continue with the scrums. I can't remember who the defense coach will be though.

[Burgs]

Hey Lee, you mentioned Line Break, is that on the shelves over there or did you get it sent over?
Is there an equivalent for the Tahs and other teams?
Certainly don't see them over here in any newsagent that I know of but that isn't saying much on either account.
Re Graham, I think it would be totally as you say and is purely a naming issue.
Assistant Coach has a more important ring to it than Backs Coach for mine, kind of "second in charge" v specialist role.

[Burgs]

Assistant coach in this case equals backs coach. Mitch is the head coach/forwards coach. I think Geoff Townsend (the academy coach) is running skills and Matt Tink is going to continue with the scrums. I can't remember who the defense coach will be though.

Full list with titles from Line Break:
(Presumably listed in "pecking order")

Head Coach- John Mitchell
Assistant Coach- Richard Graham
Skills & Academy Coach- Geoff Townsend
Scrum Coach- Matt Tink
Kicking Coach- Daryl Halligan (hopefully a few less grey hairs this year...)
Sports Science Manager- Haydn Masters
Team Doctor- Mark de Cruz
Head Physiotherapist- Rob Naish
Physiotherapist- Greg Mullings
Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach- Brendyn Appleby
Performance Analyst- Scott Anderson
General Manger, Rugby- Mitch Hardy

[Lee Grant]

Hey Lee, you mentioned Line Break, is that on the shelves over there or did you get it sent over?

Was on the newsagent shelves and is every year. Has some interesting stats on players year by year.

There's not any mags about the Tahs that I know of. They have a booklet for sale every year that is similar to Line Break in content. It's usually for sale at trials matches and they sell the unsold ones with the match programmes when the S14 starts. As I won't be going to any trials matches as they are all in Wop-Wop I'll have to pick up a copy at the 1st Super game.

I mentioned Graham being the likely backs coach because the article that started this thread mentioned him as the ex (sic) Wallaby Skills coach, and folks may have wanted to know who the backs coach was.

[welshrugbyfan]

Give it a whirl. Whats the worst that could happen? He may miss a tackle on the likes of Cory Jane and cost us the season. Oh no that was last year with the other pretty boy.

Fullback: Has to be the most gifted all rounder on the field. At this early stage in his career he just isn't ready yet. But I aint the coach and JM is so the kid gets the nod.

[Lee Grant]

Put it another way: I would like to see him have quite a few games at fullback for the Force before he ever gets the Wallaby 15 jersey again.

Sure we weren't whingeing about his performances at fullback in the games leading up to 3N last year, but we all knew that nothing much had been proved. 3N is a level up from playing Italy - or even playing France in Oz.

Let's have him learn the fullback trade in Super rugby. In any human endeavour natural skill is one thing, but learning tradecraft is another.

[brokendown gunfighter]

he would have to be better at fullback than Mitchell was,surely?

[jargan83]

A dead kangaroo on the side of the Eyre Highway would be a better fullback then Drew Mitchell

[GIGS20]

A dead kangaroo on the side of the Eyre Highway would be a better fullback then Drew Mitchell

Not really the stink would make you swerve around the roo