Recent reports have chronicled Michael Cheika talking about player conditioning, running his ‘Wallatahs’ and ‘Guest Rebelabies’ up and down hills and taping players’ mouths shut.
This got me thinking: what is Cheika and his assistant coaches’ endgame?
In my Wallaby utopia, I invite the best players in the country – Kurtley Beale and Will Genia – to come together and practice as a squad.
The players I have selected already have fantastic skills in their positions and are match fit. I don’t need to teach them how to do their jobs, I just need to teach them how to play together as a team while keeping them battle ready. Combos, permutations and players learning to recognise, embrace and respect each other and their skillsets.
We will already have a gameplan developed based on the players we have selected and the way they have peformed in their respective franchises. Based on how the squad work together, injury, fatigue and sin-bin coverage, we select a gameday 23 and run-on 15.
All the other players will be ready reserves in case a player becomes unavailable due to injury or mishap with a local food truck.
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What I am seeing third-hand in the current Wallaby camp has a very military feel to it. Boot camp psychology is built around obedience and getting a group of people to behave exactly the same way. Everything is done a set way, the same way, over and over.
Now, this is an effective way to get people with average skills to war, but it has the curios byproduct of stifling autonomy and innovation.
Does this mean that Cheika’s gameplan is more of the same? The secret to winning is crash-ball, only faster, stronger and harder.
Continuing the military metaphor, the first SAS platoon was a collection of misfits – highly skilled free-thinkers who didn’t work well in the rigid structure of the infantry. Teamed together, they learnt to create something greater than the sum of its parts, agile and able to adjust plans of attack and defence to suit the environment.
A multi-skilled team that can box kick, grubber, crashball, high ball, offload, and run wide at the right time and frequency in attack, and cover the same possibilities in defence, is going to perform much better than a pony with only one trick.
Has Cheika prepared a tank battle where the enemy has just received a shipment of shoulder-launch missiles with armour-piercing heads?
I don’t think this is going to end well.
Kashmir Pete
Roar Guru
Hi Fox Beale – good test form? when exactly? At 15. Concur with you. Cheers KP
Kashmir Pete
Roar Guru
This would all be a lot easier if Poey went to 2, Hoops to 12, and GIll returned for 7.
Gepetto
Guest
Simmons is only on the Reds bench because clueless Stiles if the failing coach of the Reds. The promising youngsters were the players letting the tries in and dropping the ball
Fox
Roar Guru
Cheers Uncle Eric :)
Uncle Eric
Guest
Don't worry about Drongo, Fox. The man lives up to his name, simple as that!!
Fox
Roar Guru
Whatever you reckon Antoni Drongo ...whatever you reckon mate...you're the expert eh except to say if you think I look I wizened old looking is funny, because if you actually went to the Red members lounge you would know I would fit right in with plenty of the other members. Also the members lounge is not even the best place to view the game despite the extra trimmings. Good for drinking and handy TV sets - mind you there are over 400 of those in Suncorp. Your personal attacks on me are becoming like a vendetta Antonio Drongo -you need to grow up and the quicker the better - seriously. I mean I really don't give a toss what you think and I am sure vice versa - so lets call it even and let go for gods sake.
Drongo
Guest
Yeah, thought so, absolutely no one.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Waxhead, I promise not to take up coaching if you promise to start reading a bit more carefully. My paragraph: In my Wallaby utopia I.... Speaks to what I would do. I was attempting to lead you to your own conclusion that perhaps Cheika's selection practices has problems. Maybe it was too subtle for your reading age. If Chieka has a different game plan he had better stop saying publicly that we don't practice kicking and chasing much and there has to be a way to play without it. If this isn't Crashball, Can you please provide a definition on what it is, because I have no Idea what you think it is. I agree with your point, Club, SR and International fitness requirements are different. Some SR players (Most Kiwis) play at that level week in week out. These are the ones that should be selected. Do you think that an SR coaches only strive for their players to meet minimum SR fitness levels? To an outsider it might look like that in some AU franchises but that definitely isn't the case, the players have a lot to do with their own fitness level, and the ones that aren't putting in the extra work are the ones that should be left playing NRC with the young guns with Wallaby aspirations, not selected by default into a Yellow Jersey. And I am pretty sure I know what fitness is, I play some form of football 4 times per week and I am in no way fit enough to play professional sport.
Waxhead
Guest
Like I said Timbo. It's too full of holes to warrant further analysis. But I'll make a token attempt at ABC. What's Cheika's end game you ask - duh.....to win. Then you say the selected players have "fantastic skills" - duh......they don't - that's the issue. Then you say the selected players turn up match fit - duh.......they are match fit for Super Rugby or Club Rugby. Cheika needs them much more fit than that - he's needs them super fit for Test Rugby. What you also don't understand (obviously because you've never been fit yourself) it that fitness is a changing dynamic thing and ......is always relative. Relative to the opposition, relative to how fit you were last week or last year. Every paragraph is like this for you Timbo - full of silliness. Later on you refer to Cheika's game plan as "crashball" "more of the same". Total bollocks - that has never been Cheika's game plan. Like I said - please don't ever consider coaching :)
piru
Roar Rookie
(sorry the site cut me off halfway through) The point here is all these stats favour Folau - he is a running FB - first, foremost and pretty much only. If we include kicking stats as well DHP leaves him for dead. Kicks: DHP: 41 (4.5 pg) Folau: 12 (.8 pg) Kicking mtrs DHP: 1475 (163.8 pg) (35.9 pk) Folau: 315 (21.0 pg) (26.2 pk)
piru
Roar Rookie
How many tackles broken, defenders beaten, line breaks, line break creates, try assists and all by per carry are more meaningful. Agreed Peter, and this season there was nothing much between the two of them Tackles broken: DHP: 24 (2.6 pg) Folau: 49 (3.2 pg) Line breaks: DHP: 5 (.5 pg) Folau: 10 (.6 pg) Tries: DHP: 3 (.3 pg) Folau: 9 (.6 pg) Assists: DHP: 4 (.4 pg) Folau: 3 (.2 pg) That's with DHP having played 9 and Folau playing 15 this year I haven't done per carry but if someone wants to work it out DHP had 85 and Folau 134 - at first glance it would seem that would increase Folau's stats very slightly by comparison.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
So you don't think playing with 14 men is a contributing factor for leaking tries? So you don't think substituting one of the most experienced players for a club rugby player doesn't make a difference? Crusaders 1/2 time score 28-10. Full time 45-17 The Force had a better second half voiding your fitness premise. You are manipulating your fantasy football stats to support your claims. Neither are valid.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Three? I assume you are only talking about the Bledesloe I include: 4 - England 3 - NZ' 1 - SA 1 - Ireland 0.5 - Scotland
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
CUW As a thought experiment, name some guys you think are unfit and let's see if we can find a suitable player to replace them with. Alternatively, find a better way of managing the fatigue. Front row, Halfback and at least 1 lock are guaranteed to sub. Assuming their bench player is a like for like swap, They should only need to run 50-60 minutes, preferably less. The big boys up front have a shelf life and due to a quirk in the rules can come back on in case of an injury or sin bin. 50 is fine. The swapped lock is usually an enforcer but game dynamics can change this. The Back Row Sub needs to be done carefully, as they are covering for 5,6,7 and 8 and an injury in the last 20 minutes can be a game changer. These 4 positions require high intensity for all 80 minutes and are probably the ones that should be under yours, mine and and Chieka's magnifying glass. Hoops seems to be able to manage his assigned workload. Ads Coleman is good for 80 in SR but comes up about 10 minutes short playing Cheikaball, and that is OK, his 4,19 and 20 need to shoulder more burden to compensate. Hanigan and the #8 du Jour - Timani, Higgers, MacMahon or Dempsey are the ones that really need to be in tip-top top shape or replaced with someone that is. There is an alternate theory: If you are playing Cheikaball, Play a 6:2 Bench. Plan for Hoops to be injury cover for the centers. Beale is I deal cover for 10,12 or 15 and a good center and FB can play wing.
Fox
Roar Guru
Nice response Timbo
Fox
Roar Guru
You know I am starting to feel sorry for you Antoni Drongo so I will let you be.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
I have no doubt that Cheika's drills involve playing game patterns over and over. Do one thing over and over until you can master it without thinking about it. Do that with 50 or so scenarios and it becomes automatic for the players. This is important when developing new combo's. I would expect that with 45 guys, he can and does make a couple of scratch teams to play against each other. The leftovers could be practicing special skills like goal kicking, touch finding, tackling or leaning how to move bodies in a ruck.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Mpm, The assumption is valid - The players "I" select would be fit, otherwise I wouldn't have selected them. I was trying to lead you to the conclusion that a number of the players that have been selected are either not fit or that the game plan requires the players to have a level of fitness over and above that needed for a standard game. Either way, I think it is either the wrong game plan and/or the wrong players for it. Check out Will's article that goes deeper into Chieka's Psyche http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/07/28/cheika-go-public-wallabies-fitness-concerns/
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Contrary to popular belief, I am pretty open minded. Take the time to "Bother" to point out the holes. Provide a convincing argument and I will shift my views. Maybe we can find middle ground. Slagging me off tells me that you don't agree with me, I support and encourage your right to do that. Doing it without being able to back it with a cogent argument makes me know I am pretty close to being right, but the truth is inconvenient.