This weekend marks the ninth match of the season for the Wallabies and the ninth different line-up to have taken the field.
After a string of unfavourable results with some uninspiring performances, I decided to analyse the Wallabies team, or teams, should I say. Below is a table summarising all of the players to have donned the green and gold this year across the eight Test matches which have been played so far.
| Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | Game 6 | Game 7 | Game 8 | |
| 1 | Sio | Slipper | Slipper | Sio | Sio | Sio | Sio | Sio |
| 2 | Moore | Moore | Moore | Moore | Moore | Moore | Moore | Moore |
| 3 | Holmes | Kepu | Kepu | Kepu | Kepu | Kepu | Kepu | Kepu |
| 4 | Arnold | Arnold | Skelton | Douglas | Douglas | Douglas | Simmons | Simmons |
| 5 | Simmons | Carter | Simmons | Simmons | Coleman | Coleman | Coleman | Coleman |
| 6 | Fardy | Fardy | Fardy | McCalman | Fardy | Mumm | Mumm | Mumm |
| 7 | Hooper | Hooper | Hooper | Hooper | Hooper | Hooper | Hooper | Hooper |
| 8 | Pocock | McMahon | McMahon | Pocock | Pocock | Pocock | Pocock | McMahon |
| 9 | Phipps | Phipps | Phipps | Genia | Genia | Genia | Genia | Genia |
| 10 | Foley | Foley | Foley | Foley | Cooper | Cooper | Cooper | Cooper |
| 11 | Horne | Horne | Horne | Haylett-Petty | Haylett-Petty | Hodge | Hodge | Hodge |
| 12 | Kerevi | Kerevi | Toomua | Giteau | Foley | Foley | Foley | Foley |
| 13 | Kuridrani | Kuridrani | Kuridrani | Kuridrani | Kerevi | Kerevi | Kerevi | Kerevi |
| 14 | Haylett-Petty | Haylett-Petty | Haylett-Petty | Ashley-Cooper | Ashley-Cooper | Haylett-Petty | Haylett-Petty | Haylett-Petty |
| 15 | Folau | Folau | Folau | Folau | Folau | Folau | Folau | Folau |
| 16 | Polota-Nau | Polota-Nau | Polota-Nau | Polota-Nau | Polota-Nau | Polota-Nau | Polota-Nau | Hanson |
| 17 | Slipper | Smith | Sio | Slipper | Slipper | Slipper | Slipper | Slipper |
| 18 | Kepu | Holmes | Holmes | Alaalatoa | Alaalatoa | Alaalatoa | Robertson | Robertson |
| 19 | Horwill | Mumm | Coleman | Mumm | Skelton | Arnold | Arnold | Douglas |
| 20 | Mumm | McCalman | Palu | Fardy | Mumm | McMahon | Timani | Fardy |
| 21 | McMahon | Frisby | Frisby | Phipps | Phipps | Phipps | McMahon | Phipps |
| 22 | Frisby | Lealiifano | Lealiifano | Toomua | Kuridrani | Kuridrani | Phipps | Kuridrani |
| 23 | Lealiifano | Morahan | Naiyaravoro | Horne | Hodge | Mitchell | Kuridrani | Naivalu |
| Lost 39-28 (Eng) | Lost 23-7 (Eng) | Lost 44-40 (Eng) | Lost 42-8 (NZ) | Lost 29-9 (NZ) | Won 23-17 (SA) | Won 36-20 (Arg) | Lost 18-10 (SA) |
It’s an easy enough task to retrieve all of the line-ups from each week, but I wanted to delve a little deeper into the teams to see what trends were emerging and see if any concerns can be discerned by scrutinising the teams that have taken the field in 2016.
I’d also like to break down the players into their respective playing groups to ascertain just how many men have had to front up at scrum time, fill in on the wing or pack down alongside Michael Hooper in the back row. All of that information can be viewed, ordered by position and then by number of games started and then by the total games to have been featured in.
Having to write these teams out brought forward a few statistics and tidbits of information I hadn’t really considered. For example, across eight games the Wallabies have fielded 44 different players. That’s nearly enough to complete two match-day squads.
Out of those 44 players, only nine men (James Slipper, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu, Michael Hooper, Nick Phipps, Bernard Foley, Tevita Kuridrani, Dane Haylett-Petty and Israel Folau) have featured in every match so far. This is going to be diminished by one after noting that Slipper won’t be playing this weekend. When casting an even more critical eye, only five of those players have started every match and only three of those (Moore, Hooper and Folau) have started each match in the same jersey number.
There also appears to be a tendency to give players a chance but to expect immediate results if they aren’t the incumbent. This can be evidenced by the 11 players (Toby Smith, James Hanson, James Horwill, Sam Carter, Wycliff Palu, Lopeti Timani, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Luke Morahan, Sefa Naivalu and Taqele Naiyaravoro) who have so far only featured in one game this year.
Throw into the mix the likes of Tom Robertson, Will Skelton, Ben McCalman, Matt Toomua and Adam Ashley-Cooper who have only featured in two matches each. There really is a lot of rotating going on.
Breaking down the playing stats even further and it can be seen that eight players have played less than 15 minutes all up this year. As expected, a few of those players have already been listed as having only featured in one or two matches, however Nick Frisby holds the unfortunate record of managing only 12 minutes despite being named in the match-day squad three times.
There also seems to be a likelihood of playing across various positions if you’ve played a lot of games this year in the backline. Of the backs who have started in five or more matches, only Will Genia and Israel Folau have stayed in the same position, despite most people pining for Folau to be played either at 13 or 14.
Regarding the other backs, Foley has had an equal split of time at 10 and 12 for the Wallabies in 2016. Samu Kerevi has lined up at both centre positions, similarly, Dane Haylett-Petty has done the same in both wing positions.
Nick Phipps has played more time on the wing (41 minutes) coming off the bench in the first game against New Zealand than he has across the remaining four Rugby Championship games coming on for Genia for a mere total of 33 minutes as his natural scrumhalf position. Reece Hodge can also be thrown into the mix. He has only featured in four games so far, starting on the wing for three of them, however it can be argued that most people would prefer to see him at 12.
Speaking of wings and outside backs, the number 23 jersey, traditionally kept for an outside back or centre, has had a different occupant each week. Yep, that’s not a typo.
Across the eight weeks already played, all of Christian Lealiifano, Morahan, Naiyaravoro, Rob Horne, Hodge, Mitchell, Kuridrani and Naivalu have had a chance at injecting themselves from the bench in the tainted 23 jersey.
Following that confusing statistic, the 4 and 12 jerseys are the next most rotated ones, with four different players wearing those numbers at one point or another across this season. Bringing up the rear, the 5, 6 and 11 jerseys have had three different owners too.
Furthermore, the Wallabies haven’t played two Test matches this year with the exact same forward pack. I’m not even limiting that to consecutive weeks. I mean overall, through eight games, we haven’t seen the same eight forwards take to the field in the starting team this year. Uh-oh.
This coming fixture against the Pumas extends that record.
Retreating to the outside backs once again, the tables illustrate that Folau and Haylett-Petty have started in all eight matches played thus far. This means that another seven different players have fought for the other wing spot and/or the outside back bench spot. As a small consolation, two games featured a 6/2 split, including no backs whose preferred position is 11, 14 or 15.
In one of the more interesting statistics, the Wallabies have played five games in 2016 with five men who have, at one point, captained the Wallabies. However, the only two games we have won this year were when all five of these men were in the starting team.
The winning matches against South Africa and Argentina all included Stephen Moore, Dean Mumm, Michael Hooper, David Pocock and Will Genia in the starting teams, all of whom have captained the Wallabies at some stage in the last five years. Maybe it was a lack of leadership holding the Wallabies back?
Now that this information has been broken down, perhaps more obscure data will yield the secrets to unlocking winning strategies.
I was looking at our two wins to see if there were any discrepancies that might have accounted for these rare occasions. The catalyst seems to be that we win every game in which Rory Arnold comes off the bench. That seems fair enough. It also means this weekend might be harder than anticipated.
Good on Arnold, he’s been a workhorse in his debut season. Speaking of which, only two games have been played this year without fielding a debutant, yet out of the six games we have had a player making his debut, only in the very first game of the season have players made their debut in the starting team.
Conversely, the Wallabies have lost every time they fielded three players with hyphenated surnames. Unfortunately, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Dane Haylett-Petty and Adam Ashley-Cooper just weren’t meant to play together.
This becomes an increasingly difficult problem when every game played this year featured a man with a hyphenated surname in the 14 jersey.
Maybe there’s more to this whole name-scheme?
For instance, every match has featured a reserve halfback by the name of Nick. That doesn’t seem too pertinent, does it?
Or that if you’re a Wallabies prop whose surname begins with an S then you’re a loosehead. That seems like more of a coincidence than a rule, but I’ve never played in that position so I can neither confirm nor deny that rumour.
Someone named Scott has started every Test match for the Wallabies this year, so I guess that makes it the name most likely to get you into the starting team. Mr Higginbotham might want to come back and try his luck now, knowing this rule exists.
On the flipside, it’s unfortunate if you’re name is James. Despite being the most popular name in the Wallabies squad this year, only twice has a James slipped into the starting team. Sorry to all the Jameses out there, but it’s likely you’ll be warming the bench.
Anyway, these musings were the result of a day packed with too much spare time. I’m not sold on any of the clichés or ideas that Cheika has professed about his strategies to building this team and eventually winning.
I wrote the article to highlight how many changes the Wallabies have been subject to. I have always been and always will be a devout Wallabies fan, so they aren’t in jeopardy of losing my viewership and support, but as a fan who was so delighted watching the heights we climbed to last year, the continued stumble we have taken so far in 2016 has definitely got me worried.
There’s no time like the present to buck this trend and get back to winning ways and I can only pray this weekend is the time for that step in the right direction.
Good luck boys!
Front Rowers
| Player | Starting Appearances | Bench Appearances | Total | Starting Positions Played |
| Sio | 6 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Slipper | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| Smith | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Moore | 8 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| Polota-Nau | 0 | 7 | 7 | – |
| Hanson | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Kepu | 7 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| Holmes | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Alaalatoa | 0 | 3 | 3 | – |
| Robertson | 0 | 2 | 2 | – |
Locks
| Player | Starting Appearances | Bench Appearances | Total | Starting Positions Played |
| Simmons | 5 | 0 | 5 | 4 (2 times), 5 (3 times) |
| Douglas | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Arnold | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Skelton | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Coleman | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Carter | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Horwill | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Alaalatoa | 0 | 3 | 3 | – |
| Robertson | 0 | 2 | 2 | – |
Back row
| Player | Starting Appearances | Bench Appearances | Total | Starting Positions Played |
| Fardy | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Mumm | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| McCalman | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Hooper | 8 | 0 | 8 | 7 |
| Pocock | 5 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| McMahon | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
| Palu | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Timani | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
Halves
| Player | Starting Appearances | Bench Appearances | Total | Starting Positions Played |
| Genia | 5 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| Phipps | 3 | 5 | 8 | 9 |
| Frisby | 0 | 3 | 3 | – |
| Cooper | 4 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
Centres
| Player | Starting Appearances | Bench Appearances | Total | Starting Positions Played |
| Foley | 8 | 0 | 8 | 12 (4 times), 10 (4 times) |
| Toomua | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
| Giteau | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Lealiifano | 0 | 3 | 3 | – |
| Kerevi | 6 | 0 | 6 | 13 (4 times), 12 (2 times) |
| Kuridrani | 4 | 4 | 8 | 13 |
Outside backs
| Player | Starting Appearances | Bench Appearances | Total | Starting Positions Played |
| Folau | 8 | 0 | 8 | 15 |
| Haylett-Petty | 8 | 0 | 8 | 14 (6 times), 11 (2 times) |
| Hodge | 3 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| Horne | 3 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| Ashley-Cooper | 2 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| Mitchell | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Morahan | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Naiyaravoro | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Naivalu | 0 | 1 | 1 | – |
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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