Gibson: Waratahs ready to take risks in 2018

A simply appalling white wash. As a Tahs life member, it broke my heart. The fish has well and truly rotted from the head at the Tahs. Gibson presided over a bunch of unfit, low-spirited players who had forgotten their skills. Looking at the recruitment, at a time when some great up and coming players were looking for homes (TPN still does not have a club) what does Gibson do? He offers Simmons a spot. Says it all.

Ah Reb, a man with my ( cynical) heart

Does not matter what they do. Still got the same useless coach. Gibson thought last year was pretty good. Please go back to NZ and take the management with you.

So PeterK are you saying that all Tahs coaches should be from Randwick if they are to have any chance?

Haha, they do train really well.

Danie, the trouble with passion is that it needs to be seven days a week. if it just in the game then three results are certain. Yellow cards, poor fitness and poor skills. Professional players need to be passionate about their training, their skills acquisition, their pre game preparation and their post game recovery. That is the modern definition of passion, and it coincides with professionalism. From the comments made by the coaches and admin post season I believe that there are hundreds of amatuer athletes across multiple sports in Australia who have a more professional approach to being excellent, and therefore have a greater Passion to be Excellent, than the tahs. Half the amatuer A surf boat crews in Australia seem to be better committed to the cause..day in day out....let alone swimmers, runners, sailors....pursuing excellence passionately, with no payment.

Danie, the trouble with passion is that it needs to be seven days a week. if it just in the game then three results are certain. Yellow cards, poor fitness and poor skills. Professional players need to be passionate about their training, their skills acquisition, their pre game preparation and their post game recovery. That is the modern definition of passion, and it coincides with professionalism. From the comments made by the coaches and admin post season I believe that there are hundreds of amatuer athletes across multiple sports in Australia who have a more professional approach to being excellent, and therefore have a greater Passion to be Excellent, than the tahs. Half the amatuer A surf boat crews in Australia seem to be better committed to the cause..day in day out....let alone swimmers, runners, sailors....pursuing excellence passionately, with no payment.

Wal, yes you are correct, the little things are difficult. But I think Rugby players today, in both league and union, spend too much time in the Gym - or actually pushing too much weights. As an ex-age group triathlete (not very good - but good enough to give it a go and enjoy a few beers at the end), some Coaches do not do the initial training, which should be paramount, i.e. setting a program to get them seriously aerobically fit to do the 80 minutes - train to be able to go for 120 minutes. This should be done at the start of the season and it only takes a month, as they should have good rugby fitness, when they come into camp, - long and slow and bring it up to long and faster times. Once they have this, the other training comes a lot easier and then both the long and short and gym work can be put together.

Perhaps they should sell tickets to their practice sessions instead

omg not hegarty again!!! He is an 'ashtray on a motorobike' when it comes to value. I.m sorry but he is a dud! Im prepared to give gibson another year.He had great defence at the saders and he was a good player and he has a smart rugby brain. Fitness however thats a sad story ...whats that about at this level !!! ??so hopefully the new central system will help there .. Lets see how he goes and lets hope he gets phillip at least for some go forward.

This year was so underwhelming the only emotion left for next year is indifferent expectation. As a Tahs fan, I won't expect much. I just want consistent passion (especially in defense), teamwork and solid decision-making. Besides on-field change, hopefully things improve in the management and administration side. The membership process was frustrating, and some of their competition prizes pretty woeful among other things.

What would your 12-13 be in that case, Markus?

2018 team slogan 'The Waratahs..... probably can't get any worse than 2017..... Memberships on sale now!'

Recruitment is not Gibson's strength at all. Zac, Fat Angus and now Simmons.

I would still like to see Rona sign with the Brumbies, I think he would help fill the gap that Tomane left. Dargaville and Muirhead look to both be very smart footballers but lack a real standout factor - tackle breaking size, blinding pace or a 50m boot. He would also be a good backup outside centre behind TK (Andrew Smith is handy here at the moment but will be 33 by start of next season).

I think while we're all wasting time and money on branding and rubbish logos the Tahs should look at a new tagline: "The Waratahs - we're gunna"

To be fair, there aren't many 10's knocking down the door as backup options, in any part of Australia. Mason and Hegarty will be as good back ups as any other state.

I don't think people fully grasp how hard the smallest difference in fitness are to achieve. All of these guys are fit, the vast majority work extremely hard on their fitness. but those teams that show up as fitter every year, require a level of discipline and planning that not even every top level athlete can achieve. The dedication to recovery is often the most arduous part Even inside the AB's setup McCaw, SBW and Thorn stand apart in the complete dedication to the full fitness cycle of training resting and recovering. For most other mortals burn out then becomes a massive risk.

Gibson has no idea on recruitment and talent identifications thats why.

I still hope they at least try Hawera at 12 to see if it is workable. His defence is nowhere near as good as Godwin's, but if he can play flat enough and run straight enough then it might offer more in attack.