Pick the greatest Wallabies team of the Super Rugby era: Second row

well it's hard to argue...

TLN, yes he was. He should have been Wallaby captain on Mortlock's retirement and was being groomed to be. The appointment of Elsom and the subsequent loss of that intellectual continuity in the leadership group is (imo) a large reason the Wallabies started to nose dive. They have never really recovered.

Agreed It was very trendy to attack Sharpe around the Deans / post Deans era, but the numbers were always there. He was the only Aussie player I could always rely on in the Fantasy Rugby comp to consistently draw good stats. Very rarely penalised, always made ground, even if it was only falling forward and as good a lineout jumper as Australia has ever had.

Eales and Sharpe next

Barnes was a big loss for Aus rugby.

Sometimes you'd think we only need one lock, cause nobody can do everything.

I wasn't upset when he went to the Force. What annoyed me was the other talent that went with him. At the end I thought he benefited from a small improvement and not a lot of competition for the incumbent.

I heard D'Arcy talk about his move to Penrith once. You could still push in the scrums in those days. The coach, I think, got him to teach the "dark arts", but didn't guide him in the nuances of RL prop play. My 30 year old recollections, I could be wrong.

Horwill’s injuries started with a Knee injury which included hamstring injury. Ugly. Here’s a description of his first one in 2010; ‘Ruptured ACL, lateral collateral ligament. Tore my whole post-lateral corner off, which includes the ITB hamstring out of its insertion,” Horwill said. ”Sliced my meniscus off the insertion, had to get that pinned back down. I completely ruptured my semimembranosus tendon at the musculotendinous junction.” Played again in 2011. Then in 2012 he tore his hamstring muscle in half. And he captained the Wallabies in 2013…

And if you can ask a prop who they would prefer at lock it would probably surprise many. In a chat a few years back Greg Holmes raved about how strong and stable Rob Simmons was. He is denigrated for his work at the ruck and average impact with ball in hand, but the bloke is a scrum and line out perfectionist. Whilst I’d not be selecting him for the Wallabies anymore, I hope he eventually goes to the UK where I am sure we will hear about the positive impact he makes to a strong club forward pack over there. We seem to expect ball running and ruck clearing impact from all of our players, often at the expense of the technical aspects of the game like the scrum and line out…

Don't forget you have blokes like Matt Cockbain and Finnegan and a few others. Both would get the 6 spot ahead of Fards and you get all of Fardy's talent and skill with even more mongrel. I'll be interested to see whether we propose that a bloke like Melon is a candidate at 6 because the 8 spot for mine is going to be an easy pick going to someone else.

Good to see Micheal Cheika contributing to the Roar. Welcome! I'm guessing Dave Dennis will be your 6 if John Mumm's boy is on the bench?

A foundation Brumbies player.

a second shoulder reconstruction and a back injury affected his consistency in the last few years of his career.

I ultimately picked Foley at Hooker for the same reason tight head. I’ve got one lock and 3 looses who can all run the pill dynamically. My tight head and hooker have to be technically rock solid. And although we are all picking Eales as the standout lock, even Nobody couldn’t win his share of line outs with the first few years of TPN’s throwing… I’ve opted for an Eales / Vickerman combination. The loosies are going to throw up some interesting debate!

An outstanding young prop in the 80s named Tony D'arcy went from Rugby to play for Penrith. I think it was at the same time Michael O"Connor went to St George. In Rugby D'arcy was unique as a prop because he was fast, powerful and great footwork for a big man. Like Tupou today. He could have been a decade long Wallabies star of the era. In League he was hopeless. His mobility, whilst unique for his position in Rugby, was average for a League Prop. He lost weight with the League training and, because he was not tall either, lost his ability to bust a tackle. He had average ball skills and his defence was also a problem.

3 stand outs only imo - Eales, Giffin, Vickerman

Eales and Arnold.

Vix off the bench for me - angry and peed off!

We loved him out West so I’m going Eales (who we now loathe out West) and Sharp. Has a poetic balance.