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Dear Waratahs, could you please learn how to spot and develop talent?
Why on earth are the likes of the Alaalatoa brothers, Allan and Michael, starring for other Super Rugby sides, along with Scott Sio, while you had to bring in a player like Angus Ta’avao and gave Jeremy Tilse years in the squad?
Why have you persisted with such flawed locks in Dean Mumm and Will Skelton while allowing Adam Coleman to slip out of the squad and to raise his game elsewhere? What attracted the decision to choose Tala Grey over Lopeti Timani? Was Dave Dennis really a player demanding selection ahead of Scott Fardy?
There are any number of the Waratahs’ backline players that should be swapped for Reece Hodge, but in 2016, the year he made it into the Rebels side, you were carrying Zac Guildford and Matt Carraro on your books. Surely his talent warranted an opportunity over such players?
We could look back at players like Chris Latham, Stirling Mortlock, George Smith, Owen Finegan, Dan Palmer and many more but let’s not dwell too much on the past.
There is a very clear issue with quality talent being released from the NSW squad before it matures, while under-performers are kept in their place. The complaints about the Waratahs putting in heartless performances doesn’t really surprise if just being in the squad is enough to retain a spot ahead of rising talent.
There is something rotten with the Waratahs that rewards incumbents. It is an indictment on the Tahs’ development pathways that Michael Hooper and Nick Phipps had to go to other teams to earn experience and then return to their home state, a path previously trodden by the likes of Adam Ashley-Cooper.
It becomes even worse when we look at the recruitment of experienced Queensland players such as Brendan Cannon, Berrick Barnes, Drew Mitchell and rugby league players such as Lote Tuqiri, Matt Rogers, Wendell Sailor and Israel Folau that have all been brought in to play for the Waratahs having already forged successful careers in another code and in Dell’s case another team.
NSW supposedly produces the largest number of rugby players in the country but the ability to identify the best of them and develop them into better players appears to be missing. Is it just too hard to expect them to identify the best given limited contract spaces?
Does the fact the Brumbies, Rebels and Force between them have three times the squad size inevitably mean they will pick off some of the cream? As a Tahs fan do I just need to suck it up and accept some of the best players from my region will wind up in a different shirt?
Or is there a genuine issue with some very average players being retained in squads at the expense of giving some top talent a shot? I think the answer lies somewhere in between.
In the same vein, I’m sick of hearing that Michael Cheika is trying to bring Kurtley Beale back. He’ll come or he won’t but there are plenty of midfield options so that it won’t be the end of the world if he doesn’t.
What I want to know is what Cheika is doing to try and convince Michael Alaalatoa to come home.
Australia has a few tightheads coming along to wrest the Wallabies’ No.3 jersey from Sekope Kepu’s grip. The one who looks most ready is plying his trade in New Zealand having been released from the Waratahs early and is currently ineligible for the national team unless we convince him to return this side of the ditch.
Is anything happening in this space or will we lose him the way we lost another New South Welshman, Steve Devine?
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.