Thanks for the well wishes.

A lot of those structures they’re trying to put in place have been successful for other sides and it seems to me that the Waratahs have been trying to emulate the better sides.

I think they should study how the Bulls scored from a set play in the 22. Counter attacking — as pretty as it may be — is opportunitistic. TIme spent in the opposition 22 is an overriding statistic in the modern game. In the past the ball moved quickly from one 22 to the other, but these days a lot of the game is spent in the midfield. You’ve got to make the most of your opportunities in the opposition 22 and while the Tahs are one of the better sides at barrelling over from the pick and go, it leaves their outside backs cold.

It’s amazing how often Super 14 teams blow their opportunity deep in the opposition 22.

You may be right about them not being sure about their game ‘identity’ but after about 4 years of the same thing, I think they know what they want to play and that is:

1. Commit the minimum to the breakdown to ensure we have a solid defence.

2. Ensure our set pieces are adequate to get basic ball.

3. Never attack their line from anywhere but inside their half but preferably only in their 22.

4. Kick the ball up-field and keep our defencive line, that will take care of any counter attack and maybe we can win a T/O.

5. Your first reaction should be to maintain structure not take on the defence yourself.

6. Stay calm even if there is only 2 mins left and the opposition have the ball don’t over commit to the breakdown.

7. We live off their mistakes.

I don’t know what you guys think but as tactics I prefer players to play structured rugby up to a point and then break out using their god given skills and speed.

We watch all Australian games and have done for years. My partner and I were suddenly impressed with the development in the Reds attitude about this time last season. We loved Horwill and thought Barnes was playing very good football, although we didnt like it when he was moved to 12 to give him a chance of playing outside Giteau in the Wallabies. We REALLY liked the guts and determination of Peter Hynes but thought he would never get picked for the Wallabies. Ionane has great speed and McMeniman looked the goods, but how could you tell from about 30mins on the park all season. The main thing about them was that they were putting in a total effort considering their skill set every week and Mooney is doing a great job and should be the next Wallaby coach after Deans takes over the AB’s.

My prediction is that they will make the semi’s this year so hang in there. I think the Reds are in a better place as a team than the Waratahs at this time.

Watch out for more Reds in the Wallabies before the World Cup comes around.

Being a long time Reds supporter I have two things to say – firsly good on you for coming to your senses and supporting the Reds, secondly – ARE YOU MAD!?!?

Here are a few tips I picked up over the past few seasons for coping with begin a Reds supporter:

1 Set expectations low, very low, so low that you even expected them to lose the ‘bye’ fixture mid season.
2. Stare at the sun through your binoculars – when you can handle that pain – you might cope with watching the full eighty of a Reds game.
3. The Reds only have one good game a year in them – this years was the Sharks.
4 If a Reds player starts to perform – he’ll either suffer a season ending injury – or move to Force, Brumbies, Waratahs the very next game.

But by standing deeper than the Tahs the Reds can switch/run different angles. When Tahs do so on a flat line at/near the gain line they inevitably trip over themselves. Think about the tries the Reds scored against the Sharks by switching lines. Brilliant!

Such sideways drifting is exacerbated by having such a flat line attack. Everyone becomes cramped and it is much easier to defend. Crusaders – indeed all NZ teams – stand much deeper with only the “illegal blockers” anywhere near the gain line when they are on attack. We should learn from their deeper structures. It sure works for them.

On Saturday the Tahs had enough ball/breaks to win the game comfortably. They could not finish their many opportunities. My belief is – and I’ve expressed this here many times – our backline is far too flat. Beale threw a great pass to put Horne into space but he put it down. It was virtually on the gain line. Had he been slightly deeper his sight would not have been impaired by defenders and possibly caught the ball with line wide open. Who’s the backs coach? Far too influenced by Randwick’s [Cyril Towers' ] flat line attack/keep ball in hand under ALL circumstances mantra. Until they can think otherwise the Tahs will struggle.

I also remember the current situation, and the Roarers reaction, being very similar to last season, just with even more ineptitude on the field from the players. Same poor effort, same negative body language, same frustration from the fans, same kick, kick, kick tactic. Then it changed against the Blues, I believe. Burgess started. He ran the ball, spiced up the attack, was supported by Palu and others and the boys started enjoying themselves again. Carter was everywhere.

But last year was let degenerate much further than so far this year. So, can they lance the boyle now or will it continue to fester?

Why can’t any of the backs cut back inside or run even a slightly different angle. SNK is the only one a few times a game. Tiquiri and especially turner just wait on the wing.

Things are going well in Japan. My family are coming over for my wedding at the end of the week, which reminds me — I should be preparing!!

One last comment — The ‘Tahs seem to be in two minds at the moment. They won a few games and people criticised them for boring, negative rugby. They tried to move the ball a bit against the Crusaders and they were criticised for lacking the basic skills to do so. It makes you wonder how they’ll approach the next game.

Halfway through the competition is not a good time to be searching for your identity as a rugby team.

Im not too sure about Lote being a disruptive influence at the Tahs, Im fairly certain playing with Lote was one of the reasons Beale decided to stick with rugby and he also got his cousin in the Tahs squad as well, even if Big Ratu has yet to have a game.

Having said that, those bloody fluoro green boots have to go Lote.

I think most of us believe that the forwards can front up if they feel like, it but the disorganisation in the backs is almost a criminal waste of what good ball we have.

Note: we dont seem to get much in terms of good ball to attack with.

Ben – I would be surprised if they were. It just seems, looking from the outside, that they dislike one another very much. Maybe its one of the reasons SNK is leaving at the end of the season.

I am also of the opinion that Lote is a disruptive influence in the Waratahs and wouldnt make it past the ‘no dickheads’ test for the aerial ping pong boys in Sydney.

I’ve also seen each Tahs game this year, and not too motivated to get back again. i think they’ve had a couple of lucky wins with stu dickinson as ref, and have played dead-boring footy. I hate to admit it, but the rabbitohs v roosters the week before was an awesome game of league – end to end and loads of attacking and points, chris hickey could learn a lot from rugby league attack.

as for beale – maybe he does need a couple of years in the NRL to hone his attacking flair. at the moment i cant see the boy wonder we all thought he’d be when playing for joeys.

You’d think with the pros each week the scrum would practise against a team trying to mimic the opponents they will have that week. If they train 4 times a week, they should have two good solid scrum sessions each week.

What’s up with NSW? I’m favouring the attitude angle. Maybe these blokes who let’s face it were not even around when things were amateur need a trip through the Rugby museum of life. Maybe they need to meet and understand what it meant for past generations to don the Blue jersey. Maybe they need to understand what it meant for scores of us like Moi here who was never good enough but ‘would have if he could have’………… well you know what I mean. It’s about passion, backing your mates, commitment and it goes way beyond the pay cheque.

We love our team and we want, expect and demand our players to honour those who went before. To me that’s what tradition is all about.

I just hope that Chris Hickey is reading some of the comments on various Rugby sites. IMHO the 09 season for the Tahs is on a very slippery slope and unless he gets things right and I mean right now…………it’ll be all over red rover. Tough decisions need to be made.

If the story I heard about Burges (ie his not getting any passing training) is true and your story about Baxter is obviously true, something is wrong with coaching in general at the elite level.

I went to a meeting where Tim Sheens, the great league coach spoke. He said that the first thing he does when he takes over a team is teaches them how to pass and catch. One of his players said to him “Why are we doing this shit, we are not kids” he said “When you can catch and pass both ways better than kids, we will move on to something more challenging”

I was thinking, whilst on the mower last night, that maybe we can trace the start of the NSW Waratahs problems down to the demise of the Qld team. Over the last 10 years Qld hasn’t been too flash and I think this has caused the Waratahs to mentally check out. You can imagine the thinking ‘Well as NSW is so dominate, I should be in the Wallabies squad regardless’ of course the Brumbies have had a solid hand in there as well, so may be my thinking isn’t so wonderful.

I am genuinely interested to know the answer to this problem. I used to think it was just professionalism IE chasing the maximum dollar for minimum input, but I don’t believe that anymore.

Same goes for the half back’s passing game of the Tahs. For the cameras it’s quick service and slick passing that gets to the wing quick smart. Come game time and the wingers are twiddling their thumbs. What gives?

I really agree about the support play, or lack thereof for the Tahs – for mine, it was the reason they lost. Look at the second Crusaders try, there were any number of blokes who could have scored that try. Contract that with Tom Carter’s burst, where I think it was Horne? who ran too soon and missed the offload – if Horne had been running a better line, he would have scored no doubt.

It just seems that when the Tahs make a break like Lote or Turner did, they are hoping the player making the break scores the try so they dont have to catch up with play? Are that unfit? Has Palu put on weight because right now he seems to be slacking off a bit and is a shadow of the wrecking ball we saw last season.

Now wouldn’t you think scrumming for a prop and passing for a half back are pretty core skills?

Maybe someone down at Easts is especially good at teaching half-back passing, but you’ve got to wonder what these pros do with their time. I have an hour a week with my U10s but each week we practise tackling, passing, rucking etc – the core skills. How can the pros not fit this into their 16-20 hours a week they practise?

It’s not the article that shocked me. It was fine in fact it’s better than fine, it’s tremendous. It’s the name attributed to the headline that really made me sit-up and take note. T’was by the pen of the most noble of Waratah gentlemen the right honorable stillmissit.

If ever there was someone who was going to be buried wearing a Waratah jersey under the Wallaby jersey I thought it was him. So what happened I asked myself to change that.

One possible answer is that he really has had enough. Who could blame him and other Tahs fans? But I suspect there’s more to this than meets the eye. Another possibility is that he’s penned the article, whizzed it off for consideration and someone at Roar HQ has seen the opportunity to ‘Sex it up’ and added the title to give it more…..well spice. Worked for me.

So what is the truth SMI? Will you dump the Tahs after all this time and become a Red’s supporter? I for one would never hold that against you mate.

Let’s be honest there are thousands of fans who must feel as you do but unlike many of them you are anything but a ‘fair weather’ fan. You have been there through thick & thin. You’ve played the game at a pretty decent level (so I recall) and you have a good of what’s wrong and when to say ‘enough is enough’.

So let’s have the truth. Was that your headline? Are you defecting? And as the song goes ……….”if you leave me can I come too”?

You have said somewhat more subtly what Melon is saying and that is the attitude has fallen away again. This is after the boost that shooting Ewan had on the team mid season last year. Maybe Hickey is too soft and they perceive that it is back on the gravy (No) train again?

BTW – I heard at the Deans function in Penrith last week that Burgess has approached his club coach for passing practice and advice as he hasn’t had a session this season yet. Unbelievable!

More support.

Support the ball carrier so he has options. Support the tackler so you can contest for the ball. Support the ball carrier when he’s tackled so you can win quick ruck ball.

Support the kick retriever so he has counter-attack options. And support the kicker by chasing the kicks.

Carter is one mentioned, but Staniforth is another tireless support player. The Crusaders have 15 of them and always have.

I do feel support is an attitude thing, but then so it tackling and NSW’s defence is usually strong.

I was out and taped the game on Sat night and haven’t been able to bring myself to watch it yet, based on the reports. But the lack of support has been a problem with the Tahs for a while – and the wallabies for that matter. I had hoped Deans would make a difference.

Having said that, can we get Deans down to help out for a couple of weeks?