Do Dingo's selections advance Australia fair?

Just a slight correction re Johanssen - he is NOT a league convert. He played all his junior rugby in Melbourne predominantly for Box Hill. I think he may have got a scholarship to the Southport School on the Gold Coast also from memory as did a number of other talented young Victorian kids.

Valentine is way down the 1/2 back pecking order. Sheehan outplays him every time. Burgess, Sheehan, Lucas .....Valentine can play 5/8 tho. Well, at least for the Wicks. Moore had a very good game, adds bulk and threw well at lineout time. Gav, you are clearly a wicks man so why arent you on your way to Rat Park.....?

Freier as an impact player is brought on too late, as all our reserves are, in my opinion. I also think Mortlock was effective at IC last night but he love to use his bulk and can be predictable. Cross has a good future I think. Richard Brown had a good debut. Well done to him. I hope Polota-Nau gets another chance. I think he has talent. Perhaps prop instead of hooker, unless throwing improves

Stillmissit, the NH tour will be under the NH ELVs - fewer short arms. The scrum stats in the GP are way down on the first 2 weeks of last year. I have to say, I like Moore. He's occasionally rash, but his throwing is good, he's a comparatively big unit and he's committed. In terms of hookers Australia and SA have the edge over NZ. If Du Plessis can curb his selfishness then he has the potential to be an all time great. A frightening physical specimen. I thought Cordingley was off to France?

Gavin there is a group of selectors but I dont know who they are but Deans is one of them obviously. Cant agree with you about either Josh Valentine or Frier. I really like Moore and think he is still improving and Frier was used well last night as an impact player he is very fast and committed. We need Burgess back but I have no real worry with Cordingly (makes me mad to think we missed out on Cordingly and Whittaker to give the job to Gregan time after time). Benjamin the NH will almost certainly take a scrum against Australia at every short arm and this could be good for us as we will get plenty of practice and maybe improve.

Stillmissit, I think a lot of people agree with the Giteau-Barnes scenario being a dillemma and unless it is permanently remedied then near misses like today will continue to always be near misses. With the lack of short arms in the NH ELVs there are fewer scrums - that could be either positive or negative for Australia depending on short or long-term aims.

thanks stillmissit" I thought any decent English dictionary would not contain the word. Still, Ben is correct in that I understood the context. The world is full of my bad typos and ruined English language sadly I think Freier should be on the run on side, maybe Josh Valentine of Randwick as HB. Is Deans responsible for selections, or is it a board of selectors ? I've always claimed selectors are enemies of the State

Benjamin - never thought I would say this but I am more concerned with Giteau's inability to settle into 5/8 than I am about the tight five. I just dont think he will make it and we need to have a reliable 5/8. I hope we haven't ruined a world class inside centre to get a sub standard 5/8. I would swap Barnes and Giteau back to there normal positions. I think that the experimentation will all occur on the NH tour away from SH media and I am really looking forward to it. The only down side is that this Wallabies team seems more emotionally driven and it will depend on whether they are 'up for the game on the day' assuming that they will accept the 'physicality' of the games, of course.

I looked it up on an online dictionary Stillmissit. Who knows? In any case I think Gavin understood the context. There aren't any scapegoats but the front five is still an ongoing concern, as is Giteau's ability to close out games. The NH tour will be the litmus test. I'm excited all ready.

Gavin and Benjamin - I use an Oxford Shorter V5 2001 and it's not in there. It certainly is an americanism. Have Dingo's selections adavanced Australia Fair after last night? I enjoyed the game and there were no players you could point the finger at for not putting in but still a dissapointing but understandable loss. 2 prize pieces of silverware gone for another 12 months.

excuse my typo re Freier It's U.S "newspeak" no doubt brought about by globalisation and the personal computer age. If it's in an Oxford dictionary it would be for that reason. However, it's a new word

If physicality is not a word then why is it in the dictionary? Freier.

there is no such word as "physicality". It's an Americanism. Who is underpowered...Johanssen ?

If you are so obsessed with physicality and physical appearance how can you hold sway with a massively underpowered player?

what has happened to Lloyd Johanssen I wonder ?

Freier must be in the run on side. Deans's ( or the selectors ) fixation with the current front rowers available will be he's downfall. If Deans can't shape them up in a few more tests then really, we would have been better off with a Jeff Mould or Geoff Sayle like chap from the Shute shield as coach, or Alan Jones again

Thank you stillmissit. I had no idea that Johansson was a league convert.

Benjamin - here is the list. It is not definitive, I have assumed that Jones started in 2002 and was sacked in 2005. This is based on McQueen finishing with the Lions tour in July 2001 so there might have been a couple of new players in the end of season tour that year but I dont remember any. W.J.SAILOR-* N.C.SHARPE M.S.ROGERS-* S.P.HARDMAN D.J.VICKERMAN D.N.CROFT A.L.FREIER M.J.GITEAU M.A.BARTHOLOMEUSZ M.P.TURINUI L.D.TUQIRI -* D.P.HEENAN A.K.E.BAXTER M.J.DUNNING J.A.ROE C.RATHBONE R.U.SAMO M.T.HENJAK N.J.HENDERSON M.D.CHISHOLM S.A.HOILES R.D.ELSOM - * H.J.McMENIMAN S.T.MOORE M.A.GERRARD A.M.CAMPBELL D.A.MITCHELL A.P.ASHLEY-COOPER L.D.T.JOHANSSON - * A.KANAAR L.J.MacKAY G.S.HOLMES T.POLOTA-NAU S.G.FAVA D.E.S.FITTER I put the star there for league converts. Realistically there were no back ups for Larkham but MacKay was a 5/8 I think he was the only one in this list and I cant even remember his one game. From the time Larkham took over the only players who played 5/8 from memory were: Elton Flatley, Mattie Edmonds, Rod Kafer and lachlan McKay. None of these got much time.

Fair enough stillmissit. Waugh - my mistake, although I do recall his debut at Twickenham, back when he used to wear a scrum half. Just out of personal interest, would you be so gracious as to list the players he capped? Also, realistically, who was the other option behind Larkham?

Jerry at the time of that semi I knew a couple of people involved with the Wallabies and Jones' tactics for the game were to drive in up hard and retain possesion, drag some of the inside backs in and then see what opened up later in the game. The key message was take no chances, keep it simple and then take our opportunities in the second half. The players decided they would take their chances when they showed and not let anyone through the defence. We all know which way this game went and it wasn't Jones tactics. I agree with you regarding his strengths but as our national coach I always viewed him as a bigger disaster than Greg Smith and Greg had a brain tumour which was affecting him and eventually killed him. Evidently he was a great coach prior to this but became ill so cant be blamed. In the light of his disastrous time with the Wallabies and after even worse with Qld, combined with E. Jones win/loss ratio he is our worst coach ever.