Wallabies have re-established some pride, but now it's time to win

Much appreciated.

I thought that was an excellent post Force fan and kinda sums up my own thoughts . Incidentally last year The JHB Lions were fantastic but could not get more than 1 or 2 players into the Bok team . How could SA's best SR team not have a strong influence on the National squad . After a really horrible 2016 a crisis committee was set up and all role players invited to thrash it out . One of the things that emerged was that the Lions , their playing style and winning culture should form the backbone of the Bok team . Nick Mallett was particularly vocal about the lack of Lions representation in the team . Thais has all now come about . If it were only left to coach Coetzee this would not have happened . I see many parallels with your post .

Last week there were 6 penalties in the first 5 minutes. How does anyone get into a game and enjoy it with that many BS stop starts to a match. The game needs fixing and the Wallabies don't help let alone the need to change our team's name to the Pacific Union. Call me in 10 years when the game is fixed. In the meantime I'll watch the other code which is predictable sure, but is a physical, brutal contest that doesn't stop for Referees every minute. Enjoy a "Test Match" against who could care less!!

Nice work Tooly!!

Hmmm. Pirate? Where are the halves and backrowers exactly?

I'm tipping 10 minutes for Koribete for one or two test to lock him into the Wallabies then dropped, just as so many have been before him.

Hannigan is still a boy trying unsuccessfully to take on the men. He needs to be given time to grow up but in the NRC / SR not the Wallabies.

I'm struggling with the basic premise of this article. Surely the players should be already bursting with pride as they walk onto the ground as they are wearing our national team's jersey? They should need no further motivation. They should already have the fitness and skills required to more than adequately represent their country at the elite level. They shouldn't be a work in progress after a month together. They should be a well-honed, well-drilled unit. I reckon Cheika has been/can be a fairly good motivator but a poor selector/team builder. 9 of the players in the team for the Pumas played in the team that was rolled 40:11 by a team that has now been axed from Super Rugby. In that game the Waratahs showed the total lack of any real ticker for most of the game. The much maligned Western Force rolled the much vaunted Tahs in 3 of their last 5 encounters. Why should we be surprised that our national team show many of the same attributes? This undeserving clique makes up 1/3 of the Wallabies squad. In my experience these attitudes can be contageous. They destroy unity & cohesion and result in disappointing outcomes. It's demoralising when players around you are picked on potential or reputation rather than recent form at the appropriate level. Who should be selected instead? I like many others can roll off a list of players who have been repeatedly overlooked and are now plying their skills OS. Add to these problems the lack of any real on-field leadersip. The issues above have been with us for some time. They will take a longer time to fix. In the mean time I'll be getting my rugby fix in 2018 and beyond from Perth Club rugby, the Spirit competing in the NRC and the Perth-based professional team representing Australia in the IPRC. If there is no professional team in Perth it will be difficult to maintain any interest above club rugby. Maybe I'll just develop a new interest in something like Jukskei?

one thing that everyone seems to gloss over or forget which is the most galling for me - these guys are being paid a sh#t load of money as professionally contracted players and they are just not turning up together. If it was the NRL / NFL / AFL / Soccer they would be dropped for non performance & sent back to the lower grades to figure out their own game and wonder why they are playing on a dirt bowl in Upper Kumbucta West. I hate the continual excuse's taken - we are building a squad or working towards the next holy grail - RWC. its all bullsh5t. To restore pride and passion they need to show it - and if the current crop of rock stars do not show up i would happily take their over inflated salary and give $100K each to eight very good playesr from 1st grade obscurity. Players who can really play and have the right mana & attitude to start. Dont worry there are plenty of them out there in various grade comps around australia. BTW - there is another weird behaviour or attitude thats been adopted which is so wrong " The Not Ready Yet " comments or belief. If a player is talented, he will come out of a first fifteen from school and go straight into first grade, the really great players go straight from first grade to rep footy and the wallabies(to name a few; O'Connor, Campo, Ricky Stuart, Wally Lewis, They already know how to play and have the natural gift - they dont need to be developed, they dont need to spend some kind of quasi apprenticeship and they definitely dont need to spend 3 , 4 , 5 years learning their craft in a Super Rugby Team - Its like selecting with blinkers on Current Team need a psychologist to get in their heads and tell them " You are not a rock star" All Blacks attribute a fair amount of their success to mental attitude and they have a good psych on board. Contracts must be re-written to include a healthy at risk component of salary if you dont win Test Matches first and foremost and a very healthy bonus if they win Bledisloe and key silver ware. Im really looking forward to the Barbarians Game - i think thats going to be very telling and an opportunity for ALan Jones to select all kinds of players from obscurity.

Nice read Jack ..love this line "‘get a cap on the wing for the Wallabies’ raffle" - Cracker!

Building a squad devoid of fly-halves and backrowers but full of some of the most second rate provincial players this country can produce. England is building. NZ is building. South Africa is building. The Wallabies are barely keeping their heads above water. A home game against Argentina and no one is confident the Wallabies can pull it off. Amazing. Have Argentina improved so much or have we sunk so low? And if the Wallabies can win, I expect the "turned the corner" comments to flow. That is, until we get smashed by NZ, SAf, England, Ireland, Scotland etc. Then we'll be building again.

Arthur/Stillmissit, If you missed this from today's Oz where Cheika praised our backrow, particularly for Haningan. “He’s now played five or six Tests in a row and he’s got something about him that complements those other backrowers, particularly his workrate,” Cheika said. “He plays as a half-tighter player and that’s what you need especially when you have guys like Sean (McMahon) and (Michael) Hooper who you want to be looser.” I can see the Argies doing a number on us at the breakdown like Scotland did in June. The ABs could if they wanted to play that type of game by bringing in Kaino, but they want to outrun us it seems these days.

Arthur: Totally agree. Why give 2 of your 3 BR the idea that they can run around the park and occasionally, if nobody else is around, stick their head in a ruck? It is the job of everyone on the park to win the breakdown and particularly the BR as it is their primary job, along with several other key functions. If Cheika needed to learn what a #7 does, he had Jacko Kreil in front of him for 80 mins and watched the destruction of our BD by him (assisted by a willing pack and occasional backs). It's bloody madness!

Great post Jacko and sums up my thoughts and opinions well.

Marvellous though it would be to live in a 2 year time warp, things have moved on significantly since 2015. Some have gone one way, others....

How many caps are on display for the WBs this weekend? A helluva lot. They SHOULD win handsomely....

Scotland and Italy???

Boy is this RC Championship an unforgiving one. A team can play really great rugby as have Australia and Argentina , in periods at least ....and still not win a game .This year we have as always arguably one of the great rugby teams of all time in The All Blacks , a Bok side that is fast realigning itself .....and they are always a threat to any team when they get it right , an Aussie side with real potency in certain areas specifically on attack and an Argentinian team that plays for each other and will be very tough to beat at home . We know that .........Last World Cup the last 4 were these teams . That is no coincidence .

Yep - I agree with you Jacko :)

"The WBs have been within a whisker of two very good wins" We are starting to sound like Wales....