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Ball Handling 101

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Joined August 2017

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Loves to pull out the back and jam hard on the leading pod runner. And gardening.

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” was the form 10 in Australia by some margin from 2013 through 2019 (excluding his time out due to illness)”

Not true. Played 12 for the majority of his career early on outside Toomua until moving to 10 later. Around this time the Waratahs were the form team in Australia and Foley was the form 10. Later in that 2010s decade and closer to the 2019 World Cup was when CLL started to become the form 10 and rightfully played 10 for Australia

'Don't want to be a token selection': Former Wallaby Leali'ifano confirms Samoa World Cup availability

Funny, I didn’t seem to notice Ben Donaldson yelling “Who’s Carter Gordon” to the crowd either! Take note Noah

'I don't care': Donaldson unfazed by rivals' hype as Tahs playmaker opens up on slow start

Porecki’s biggest doubt is him becoming seemingly increasingly prone to concussion. Despite his clinical and reliable game, is he worth the investment if he’s going to get unfortunately sidelined due to another head injury soon? Don’t want to overexaggerate this and I’m happy to be corrected if wrong but these things tend to spiral.

Faessler and Mafi would probably be the form hookers this season in Australia.

A year or two ago Feleti Kaitu’u looked likely to shape as one of the most important players in Aussie Rugby – a shining light in a position with shallow depth for the country. However Cron doesn’t seem to favour him as much as the previous coach Sampson, and he had some recovery time from injury on the sidelenesm so he’s fallen out of the picture a bit sadly. It’s a shame as I thought he was trajecting towards a 2023 squad position and as one of the few Force players to do so.

Could really use BPA around the block too!

Who is winning the battle for the Wallabies No.2 jersey?

“But Tate’s running game is the best in Aus!” cry McDermott fans around the country. Respectfully, despite his impressive involvements in broken play, McDermott’s inconsistency at the core aspects of his role as a 9 prove to repeatedly put pressure on his 10. I believe a different coach may be what’s needed to smooth out the rough edges in his game and make him the 9 he has the potential to be

'Huge for us': McReight stars but Waratahs snap losing run against Reds in Super win

Perpetually underrated but truly one of the gems of Aussie Rugby. An menace in tight and goes above and beyond with his involvements in link play. Oozes Rugby IQ. Deceptively elusive feet at the line to get around the shoulder of his tackler and generate an extra metre or two on his carries when most forwards look to win the collision by trucking it up straight ahead. Love watching him play

'Huge for us': McReight stars but Waratahs snap losing run against Reds in Super win

Surprised to learn that we are in the so called “McDermott Era” when the guy wasn’t even picked in the Wallabies squad.

For the people like yourself who endeavour to gaslight the rest of the Aus Rugby community by exaggerating this myth of White not having a running game in order to make McDermott seem a comparatively better player: is your theory that if you keep saying it then it might eventually become true?

Now without the BS – McDermott is clearly a talented running 9 however it’s evident that his lacklustre passing and high probability of having his box kicks charged down limit his game management ability. Just ask the consecutive Wallabies coaches who haven’t picked him!

Exclusive: Bombshell twist as Wallabies star heads West to start domino effect in pointer to centralisation

don’t forget attempts a box kick that gets charged down too!

Exclusive: Bombshell twist as Wallabies star heads West to start domino effect in pointer to centralisation

I believe it’s possible if it’s someone like a Pat Carrigan who played as a forward in Rugby (I’m pretty sure; if not a NAS or someone similar for the sake of the argument) prior to signing with the Broncs.

Now you might also come back to me and say that this compromise is a cop out; of course a leaguie with a Rugby background is going to transition quicker.
BUT these are the players of the highest priority for RA – league players with that Rugby background.

So I think it’s a fair argument

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

typically though RA would want to sign a Leaguie for at least one world cup cycle wouldn’t you say – bit of a 4 year plan. See how it goes

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

Hahaha but it’s hard to have a reasonable discussion with them when we start with this so we have to take a more diplomatic angle

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

Thanks Doc

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

Good breakdown, wouldn’t argue with a lot of those stats. As I said above the Roar Editors changed my article title to imply I’m demanding week to week selection in the WBs from NRL sides.

But from a much more realistic point of view a young player can fast track their development and valuation by doing a couple years’ in the big shiny NRL grad program rather than taking a role at a Super Rugby startup straight out of uni

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

Can’t say I knew the exact years but I don’t think anyone is unaware of the fact that Rugby came first.

I speak to the history of the NRL and its structure as a competition rather than the individual teams themselves.

We can split hairs over these facts but objectively more tribalism and culture in the NRL than SRP, despite the longer “heritage” of the Tahs and Reds.

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

Growing quickly however.

And good things said about the entertainment level of the Womens.

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

I haven’t seen that mentioned… cause I’m not sure you could get triple digits for a RLWC medal on Gumtree

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

Not going to lie the editors did me a bit dirty with changing my title as it implies week to week Wallabies selections out of the NRL.

I don’t disagree with your points about the transferability of league and union skills; in fact, I think we can take these as a given. For good measure I actually addressed this in the article.

But it’s also not the same as picking a tennis player or a swimmer in the Wallabies

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

The best part of spending your free time writing an article for The Roar – the discussion. I invite you to point out where I’ve gone wrong Bob 🏉

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

NZ Rugby a small market on its own.

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

I agree with the gist of what you’re saying but not sure about the details.

Why 6 each? How does this address the issues of the compromises made to the respective third tier comps in the countries? How do you plan to capture the Japanese market in your proposal??

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

Not quite Rocky – I’m definitely not implying it’s what I ultimately want.

Sure it seems improbable now and that they wouldn’t allow it but extend your time horizon and it could be a different story – money’s money.

I’m actually surprised at the Rugby transferability people presume AFL players possess when in many cases they’d possess even less Rugby background than a Leaguie. I’d have to say I disagree with this assumption.

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

This is certainly something that could’ve been broken into its own article. However contextually important here – it’s all a bit of a positive feedback loop

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

when you put it that way…

But there’s a few angles to look at this one from aside from the actual footy side of things, for example PR / marketing. And the kid hasn’t even pulled on a jersey yet.

What if the Wallabies picked from the NRL?

Ahh blast – how embarrassing. In hindsight it definitely didn’t sound right hahahaha

Why Italy beating Australia and Georgia beating Wales is great for Aussie and Welsh rugby

Interestingly we both published a RWC focused article overnight. I actually think increasing the number of teams is the answer personally taking us from 12 to 30 matches per pool. I talk about it here: https://www.theroar.com.au/2022/12/09/why-italy-beating-australia-and-georgia-beating-wales-is-great-for-aussie-and-welsh-rugby/

Can the Rugby World Cup get even better?

I do love the idea of spreading matches more evenly throughout the week however I think huge improvements could be made without doubling players’ workload per week through just more evenly spread fixtures

Can the Rugby World Cup get even better?

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