Five Force players in Wallabies squad!

[blutackey]

For my first post why not post an exclusive!
There are five force players in the preliminary squad for the Wallabies and they are:

Tai McIssac
Nathan Sharpe
Scott Fava
Lachlan MacKay
Scott Staniforth

I guess we all thought Sharpey, Spanner and Faves would make it, but MacKay and McIssac were quite the turn-ups. As much as I thought Tai had a great season and wanted him to be selected, I never thought they would dump Paul and select Frier and Tai. And MacKay hardly played any games! Only Reds, Brumbies and Force have been selected so far because the selectors are waiting on the Warratahs finals to finish before selecting them.

Jeremy Paul, Matt Dunning, Bill Young, Drew Mitchell, LLoyd Johannson, Al Campbell and Adam Wallace-Harrison have all been excluded.

What a great result for the Force this will be!

Heres the Foxsports article if you would like to read the full story:
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0...-23217,00.html

The squad so far is as follows:
Tai McIssac
Nic Henderson, Guy Shepherdson, Rodney Blake, Greg Holmes
Mark Chisholm, Nathan Sharpe
George Smith, Daniel Heenan, John Roe, Scott Fava
George Gregan, Luke Burgess
Lachlan McKay, Scott Staniforth, Ben Tune, Gene Fairbanks

[RugbyFan]

But I assume there will be more Force players called up for the Australia A squad.
Some names that pop into my mind are:
Graham, Hardy, Henjak, Hilgendorf, Ioane (eligible for Aus u/21 if not in Aus A), Pelesasa, Pusey, Scott (I think might be having an operation?), Shepherd.
They are the guys who are not going to South Africa, not on the Wallabies list and not in the Australia u/21 side.

[Burgs]

I'd love to know where Bret Harris (Fox journo) has sourced this from because it seems a little unlikely to me that Knuckles would announce his first squad in his new role in such a haphazard way for the sake of waiting a few more days? He does not quote any source in any way, even as one un-named to qualify this "announcement".
If he is right then all power to him for getting the exclusive, but I think I might wait for the official word.
The chances for Force players in the Australia "A" squad will revolve around the balance of how much future development and how much current form is taken into the equation I would have thought?
For example, it would be hard to pick Pelesasa because he hasn't played much but as a future Wallaby then perhaps that should be ignored and the exposure starts now. Where as say Graham has had a great year however, I can't see him as a long term Wallaby so, does he get picked because he deserves the reward for '06 or do you overlook him for someone who may be more likely to feature in the future? A tough one.
By my reckoning these are the Force Players who would be elligable (in decreasing age order) for the Under 21's this year; Pat O'Connor, Digby Ioane, Vitori Buatava, Tajhon Mailata, Scott Daruda, Alexander Peden, Pek Cowan, Brett Stapleton, David Pocock.
Welcome aboard bluetacky, shame you missed the season but now a great build up all the way to S14 '07!

[Sagerian]

Sounds like a hoax to me. I've never seen an extended squad named while an Aus team still has games to play. Go Frisey if true though!

[blutackey]

I didnt miss one game of the season
I can't see Australia's only national daily printing an article that didnt get its facts 100 per cent straight. The list wasnt released, it was leaked, that's why it seems odd.

[RugbyFan]

By my reckoning these are the Force Players who would be elligable (in decreasing age order) for the Under 21's this year; Pat O'Connor, Digby Ioane, Vitori Buatava, Tajhon Mailata, Scott Daruda, Alexander Peden, Pek Cowan, Brett Stapleton, David Pocock.

O'Connor, Ioane, Mailata, Daruda and Cowan have made the u/21's. Pocock would have but you have to be atleast 19, which is stupid (he can play Super 14, but not in an u/21 rep side.)

[Darren]

O'Connor, Ioane, Mailata, Daruda and Cowan have made the u/21's. Pocock would have but you have to be atleast 19, which is stupid (he can play Super 14, but not in an u/21 rep side.)

What tha?

That's just stoopid!

[RugbyFan]

oh well, he is probably going to get more experience starting for the Western Force Gold. He's still got 3 years of Australian u/21 and 1 more year of Australian u/19.

[shasta]

For my first post why not post an exclusive!

The squad so far is as follows:
Tai McIssac
Nic Henderson, Guy Shepherdson, Rodney Blake, Greg Holmes
Mark Chisholm, Nathan Sharpe
George Smith, Daniel Heenan, John Roe, Scott Fava
George Gregan, Luke Burgess
Lachlan McKay, Scott Staniforth, Ben Tune, Gene Fairbanks

Well let's hope it's not exclusive bullshit

You wouldn't think the journo would go out on a limb like that without solid info. But it's happened before. Plenty of times.

Like everyone else I'm surprised at Lachlan McKay. But we probably shouldn't be. He has shown flashes of what he's capable in the short game time he's had. He's only been injured, not out of form.

Not surprised at McIsaac, if it's true . He's been getting a few mentions in the media. He's probably not just there for his ability to play prop as well as hooker, but he's shown that he is fit enough to play out the whole 80 mins if need be. I had him in as my "bolter".

Staniforth & Tune. Now isn't that bloody good to see.

[Dramoth]

There is nothing else out on the net about this list...

if anyone else can verify it, I am going to call it a fake

[Burgs]

I didnt miss one game of the season
I can't see Australia's only national daily printing an article that didnt get its facts 100 per cent straight. The list wasnt released, it was leaked, that's why it seems odd.

Sorry mate, was reffering to the season on this site, not at Subiaco
As to facts being 100%, it happens all the time mate, they just brush it under the carpet when the truth is announced

[RugbyFan]

In terms of the Western Force's involvement in the Wallabies squad, i think it would be about right. There must be some sort of an idea about who would be in the squad, or else they wouldn't be able to announce the Western Force Gold side.

[Burgs]

A bit of clarification online now with it being a preliminary train on squad for a week long camp, not Knuckles' first squad, so obviously it is the players he wants to have a closer look at before settling on his Bundy Series Squad.
At least both Paul and Mitchell deserve to be in the Test Squad on form so I think it is far from final.

[Shaun]

yeah definetly burgs paul n mitchell r both deserving of selection

[blutackey]

Paul was unlucky, thats for sure. Mitchell didnt get selected because while his attack is good, his defence is not world class standard yet. Only 68 per cent tackle success rate, that isn't good enough. We can have that in defence this season, too many linebreaks will rip us apart.