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July 2nd 2009 @ 10:31am
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Wallabies’ Tri Nations squad
The return of NSW Waratahs No.8 Wycliff Palu and the selection of the 21-year-old Queensland Reds halfback Will Genia highlight the 30-man Wallabies squad named on Thursday for the upcoming Tri Nations tournament.
Palu and Genia effectively replace troubled winger Lote Tuqiri and halfback Josh Valentine from the squad which contested the June internationals.
The selectors have [...]
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Jason said | July 2nd 2009 @ 11:32am | Report comment
Good to see Genia given a chance. He showed some great glimpses in S14 in a rag-tag Reds side. He dropped a number of high balls while acting as a sweeper though. Valentine is ordinairy and Burgess is also erratic and makes a lot of errors so Genia may be a future starter.
Bay35Pablo said | July 2nd 2009 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
Need some more depth at half back. Although we seem to have a lot of decent half backs floating around (Burgess, Holmes, Sheehan, Phobbs, etc), none of them seem the complete package. Even Burgess. I am all for perservering at times, but many a great player has grabbed their chance when offered and never looked back. Perhaps genia could.
Who Needs Melon said | July 2nd 2009 @ 1:40pm | Report comment
Jeez only 2 responses to this article. You can see where our attention is!
I’m a fan of Burgess but I too am really happy to see Genia there. He’s played really well with his limited opportunities in a pretty ordinary side. He is young and has a lot of development left in him. I can easily see him becoming the regular Wallaby 9.
I think both Genia and Palu should be introduced via the bench though. After injuries like this it takes time to get your game feel/fitness back. And neither Brown nor Burgess have done anything to deserve instant demotion.
In contrast I wouldn’t be too worried to put Elsom straight back into the starting side when he is fit.
Who Needs Melon said | July 2nd 2009 @ 1:41pm | Report comment
Bay35Pablo: “Phobbs”?
Campbell Watts said | July 2nd 2009 @ 1:44pm | Report comment
Yeah Phobbs – he plays for the Brombies!!!
Bay35Pablo said | July 2nd 2009 @ 1:47pm | Report comment
Smortorses!!
That’s what I get for being used to auto Spellcheck on my outgoing emails, and typing that in a rush while trying to work …
Mike said | July 2nd 2009 @ 1:48pm | Report comment
Not a bad squad. Deans will be concentrating on building a champion team rather than team of champions, so there probably could have been some variation without concerning him.
retired rucker said | July 2nd 2009 @ 2:45pm | Report comment
Good to see Genia get a run, I think hell excell behind a structured pack. I’m looking forward to seeing what Deans can motivate Palu to do this season. He has plenty of potential if Deans can get him into 80min mode
deepinthought said | July 2nd 2009 @ 3:49pm | Report comment
Genia is a class player. One thing we saw with the Reds this year was that he was at his most effective when he came on second. Given his size he seems to be very adept at getting around forwards who have been going hard for 50 mins. His attacking runs close to the ruck were really impressive and certainly forced defensive changes on all of his opponents early in the second half each time he came on for Lucas.
He also has a very clear weak side when it comes to his passing, I can’t remember which side it is but he very clearly prefers one side over the other.
Paul? Not at all being a Waratah’s fan I have only seen him play a handful of games and have never seen him play a blinder. I understand the talent is there but I have certainly never seen it consistently for the Wallabies.
I guess to me he was never more than maybe half a Willie-o??
Who Needs Melon said | July 2nd 2009 @ 4:11pm | Report comment
Ohhh… THAT Phobbs. Yeah he’s pretty shot in my opinion. Which is why the Brombies have now nabbed Valentone.
young gun said | July 3rd 2009 @ 10:48am | Report comment
how close do u think rob horne was from making the squad?
Who Needs Melon said | July 3rd 2009 @ 11:21am | Report comment
young gun,
A long way off imho.
His form very early in the Super 14 (and on the back of last years effort) was great and I think I’d said at the time that if a Wallabies squad was picked then and there that he’d probably make the reserves. But he had an awful 2nd half of the season – although his defense was still good but he just didn’t seem able to find the same lines in attack. Perhaps this was the fault of the distributor rather than the runner. In any case he certainly hasn’t done enough to oust Mortlock, Cross has been more consistent and there seem to be more versatile (and more in-form) reserves than Horne.
Having said that, one guy who DID make the squad who also appeared to be out of form was Quade Cooper. I guess the selectors deemed they needed a cover for 10 more than they needed cover for 13. Which is fair enough in that you have at least 4 players – Mortlock, Cross, AAC and Tahu – covering 13 and really only 3 – Giteau, Barnes and Cooper – covering 10.
I hope Horne and the whole Waratahs squad rediscovers their form in 2010.