You have to go a long way back for the Wallabies backline for the next Test to be so unsettled and unpredictable.
I say that because every recent Roar article brings out literally hundreds of different opinions on all positions (except halfback) that change week after week.
There are no secure incumbents and definitely no certain combinations.
All our great past teams had at least four class acts in longstanding set positions, and usually two classy combinations.
Horan-Little – Gregan-Larkham – Farr-Jones-Lynagh – I could go on.
The key to the repeating success of these players, all class acts was their long repeating experience in their specialist position, and the resulting combination familiarity to react to opportunity and pressure.
All the above, as well as Ella, Slack, Roff, Campese, Latham and Burke all played with collective confidence built on hundreds of games in adjacent specialist positions.
The point is even a bunch of class acts only become exceptional in the big events by drawing on longer relationships in these specialist positions and familiar combinations.
It was not an accident that opponents almost never pierced the Horan/Little midfield defence – collectively they never left the gap.
We might agree current talent level is high enough, but developing no positional and combinational history is a disaster and negligent.
The Lions have been coming for 12 years. It’s the biggest thing in the game except the Rugby World Cup 2011 and 2015.
This scenario is the same as Cricket Australia arrogantly not planning, not preparing and not selecting for the tour of India.
After all this time the Wallabies are between a rock and a hard place.
We now either put forward the brave new world with players who have met more often in the bar, or we leave the talent behind on basis these Tests are too big for rookies.
The irony is pungent!
Then there is the consequences. What should we do in the likely event of a flawed first Test performance. We can’t continue to back a settled position player. There isn’t one.
Wholesale change then? No foundation, no rock.
For once, the backline scraped together from four nations will be streets ahead on combinations and positional experience than their Southern Hemisphere opponents – a first I think.
Mr Deans and the ARU’s elite performance team have allowed us to sink to a position where whatever team they now start at Suncorp behind Genia cannot have the ingredients above.
We will rely only on certain individuals’ class – and they will disappoint when we compare their performance to their potential.
For the ARU not to plan a Test before the Lions is itself extraordinarily shortsighted, bordering on negligence.
I am one of many fans that see the Lions as at the pinnacle of our rugby experience.
Our boys will give their all on the day but they are being sent to battle without full armour and little experience with their allocated weapons.
By definition it will be a long time before they play for each other the way the Lions will.
It’s time to hope for good luck.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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