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Newly appointed Wallabies selector Michael O’Çonnor has raised the prospect of David Pocock being selected as the Wallabies No. 7 over current incumbent captain Michael Hooper.
Georgina Robinson from the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Michael Cheika’s job as Wallabies head coach is likely safe but that Stephen Larkham’s position as Wallabies attack coach is in question.
Fresh from delivering the worst year for the Wallabies since 1958, Michael Cheika is reported to have a roadshow with Rugby Australia’s high-performance manager scheduled next week to visit the Australian Super Rugby franchises.
The 37-18 thumping Eddie Jones’s England dished out to Michael Cheika’s Wallabies at Twickenham seals a record number of successive wins by England over Australia, another dubious record that Michael Cheika has collected as Wallabies coach since 2016.
With the break in the test season this weekend, I decided to take a YouTube trip down memory lane and watch the Brumbies host the Crusaders in Canberra in the 2004 Super Rugby final.
Michael Cheika has repeatedly told the Australian rugby community about how much he cares about the Wallabies, and with the commitment and passion he displays in public, there is every reason to believe him.
Starting Pocock in the big games just reintroduces the sane dynamic, he does most of the ruck work and gets targeted. It only takes one injury during a RC game or quarter final and the Wallabies lose him entirely. Use him as a finisher and they are able to introduce him as a new dynamic, and he is more likely to go the distance for the whole year.
I reckon Genia should be captain, he had the experience, starts, respect of the team and owns his starting spot completely. Having Pocock coming on at the end of the game so that there are brains on the park if Genia gets subbed, is IMO another reason to have him as a finisher. I can think of a few games the Wallabies have lost, because Hooper made poor captaining decisions at the end of the match.
Let Pocock be finisher and save his neck
I’m not sure he is, Cusack is starting for them tonight with Samu coming off the bench. Irrespective the point is that both are good players, who could fill the Brumbies starting role while Pocock comes off the bench.
Let Pocock be finisher and save his neck
Don, I was talking about Samu WRT the Brumbies, not the Wallabies.
Let Pocock be finisher and save his neck
If you ever need a quick essay for an organisational behaviour class then you should submit that rant, but it makes pretty boring reading when it comes to a post about footy.
Thorn’s cultural revolution at Reds set for first examination
We’ll see but at least we know that there is no defensive frailty at 10. Stewart soaked up Amaneki Mafi on the run last year and got up without a hair out of place, the 10 channel will be well looked after at the Reds this year.
Thorn’s cultural revolution at Reds set for first examination
Thorn made it entirely clear to the Reds faithful what he was doing, it is just that there are a fair number who don’t agree, and a fair proportion of those who won’t let up about. It isn’t the coaches job to run around comforting fans who insist on sooking about his decisions.
As for Slipper, the coach isn’t his psychiatrist, it isn’t Thorn’s job to address his depression. If he even knew about it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Slipper was only let go because they had set the precedent with Hunt though and that might not have been all Thorn’s call. Thorn recently said he was happy that Slipper was doing well at the Brumbies, so I get the feeling he might not have had as hard an attitude to him as people assume.
Thorn’s cultural revolution at Reds set for first examination
So you are saying that it makes you listless?
Mick O’Connor? Start Pocock in the 7 and Hooper off the bench, thanks
Good article Will, the only bit I disagree with is the claim the pack is lightweight. They have five Wallabies and the scrum is anchored by two 130kg plus props, they will be hard for any opponent to handle.
I reckon the Reds attack will be what supeises people though. They have five big fast ball runners, Tupou, Timu, Salakaia-Loto, Kerevi and Peteia, who will win one on one contests, and the wingers Naivalu and Feia-Sautia are both excellent finishers. The playmakers just need to get those lads on the front foot and Stewart is excellent at straightening the attack, so I can see it happening.
They actually made quite a few breaks in the trial match against the Chiefs, but didn’t convert to points due to dropped ball. With another two weeks training and under cover in Dunedin, instead of playing in the sweaty Brisbane summer, I reckon we will see tries.
Looking forward to the match!
Thorn’s cultural revolution at Reds set for first examination
Michael O’Connor’s take on no lookers …
”At Test level though you can’t be throwing blind passes. You can’t be taking risks at the line.”
https://amp.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/pocock-an-option-for-no-7-at-world-cup-says-o-connor-20190220-p50z3x.html
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
Michael O’Connor’s take on no lookers …
”At Test level though you can’t be throwing blind passes. You can’t be taking risks at the line.”
https://amp.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/pocock-an-option-for-no-7-at-world-cup-says-o-connor-20190220-p50z3x.html
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
Yup, he is paid $650k a season to be a positive influence and can’t do that if he is sitting in the naughty chair for a high tackle. Which is why he needs to priortise fixing his tackling, or they may as well not have him in the team. Which is what I have been saying all along.
What was your point again?
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
We are all required to be able to meet the core requirements of our job Fionn and the pre-season is when rugby players are supposed to address skills issues, like Quade’s tackling. Look at the work that Pocock has obviously put into his running and passing game, which was previously deficient, he has taken responsibility for his problem and fixed the issue. Quade should be concentrating on doing with that for his tackling, he is reportedly on $650k so it is just an expectation, no excuses.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
So what, club footy and NRC should hardly pressure the decision making of a 70 test Wallaby.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
This is my last reply to you Charlie, because I don’t have any time for that sort of immature ranting on here, it is completely unnecessary in a discussion about football. Look at how Brodie Retallick passes at 3.34 on this video, you will see him demonstrate the exact skill that I describe.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bledisloe+2+highlights+2018&&view=detail&mid=9992A65052AD130F300C9992A65052AD130F300C&FORM=VRDGAR&fbclid=IwAR3BBJopzuuQ-CipBCSgir3zWSk00DVTeWtm21TfrNaI7bhxNGP8jBBURwM
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
If you look at the way the All Blacks make those sorts of passes, even the forwards, you will see that they identify the target with their peripheral vision a fraction of a second before making the pass. It prevents the shoulders turning to much and gives the defence very little time to work out where the ball is going.
Cooper passed then looked, the root cause of the mistake. If he had looked and there was no clear target, there is always the option to just take the tackle and let the ball be recycled whole the Rebels were on the front foot. It isn’t like Cooper had to win the game on his own.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
“For mine, and as Nicholas also pointed this out, his (so-called) tackling has been an issue since day dot. Fix that and he’s a long ways to getting better.”
Yeah, I know right.
That is what frustrates me, he only has to fix one thing in his game, but instead you get news reports every off season about how he is trying to take over as attack coach, becoming a boxer or whatever the latest flight of fancy is. He should be spending his spare time aiming his shoulder at the middle of a tackle bag and should be made to start at Red Rover for every defence training session, until he can tackle 100 times without a head high.
From all reports It isn’t like he is lazy, just misguided, I’d be as happy as anybody for him to fix the problems and prove me wrong.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
You are getting a bit philosophical for me there Chook, but I will try to answer by saying that “confected” mean’s “made up” in this instance.
As for his failing’s, I think they are the result of him not focusing on fixing them. That’s his problem, not anybody else’s.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
“Again 18 months later he got penalised? Wow. Get rid of him”
It is the first professional game he has played in that 18 months … you would think he could have filled in the time learning how to tackle.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
Nah you clearly can’t criticise Saint Quade, all his fan boys will go on hysterical, lip quivering rants along the lines of…
“but what about Foley, Beale, Hooper, Folau … the Wallabies physiotherapist”
… all to avoid the question of why a player who has reached 30 years old and 70 tests, still hasn’t worked out how to avoid costing his team catastrophically losing a game and even a series, by learning to make a simple legal tackle and by not trying to pull pointless low percentage no look passes.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
Nope, my whole point is that Cooper’s failings are because he stuffs around showing off, not because of any limitation on talent. Attitude is as important as skill and if his attitude hasn’t changed by now, I don’t think it will by the WC.
The whole Foley vs Cooper things is confected anyway, Toomua is better than both of them.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
No, I just read the newspapers, where his comments get reported. Sorry to ruin your bazinga moment.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
I am reluctant to spend much time on the ridiculous whataboutary that inevitably comes with discussions about Cooper, so I will just say I have commented on all of those players and leave it at that.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
I make no secret of supporting Thorn’s approach, I have been writing about something similar since before he took over the Reds.
https://www.theroar.com.au/2017/08/07/its-all-about-the-coaches/
https://www.theroar.com.au/2017/07/26/australian-rugby-needs-a-champion-team-not-a-team-of-champions/
Focusing on the team as a whole, rather than on individual celebrity players, is what has worked in New Zealand for a long time and is what has bought teams like Ireland and Scotland up by the boot laces in recent years. We Aussies, or a lot of us of us anyway, love our celebrities though – our sport has come to resemble a reality TV show. It was always going to be a hard sell for the Reds to set somebody like Cooper aside.
Personally I was always a supporter of Cooper’s but after he blew the Reds season in 2017 with a red card for a high tackle, I lost patience with him. He insists on dominating the backline of teams he is in, then lets them down with his stuff ups. I would rather a 10 who is more of a team player.
I guess we will just a have to wait for the results to see who was right.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
I think you are half right Fionn. Cooper does cop it more for mistakes than others. I would put that in part due to his relentless self promotion. When you are constantly in the media and on social media showing what a whiz you are, it rubs some people up the wrong way and they look for an opportunity to see you fall.
The epitome of that was in 2011 when Cooper set himself up as the Bad Boy of the tournament, to which the Kiwi fans ruthlessly pursued him. I think they went way overboard and think some still do now, but that is just what you get for always having to be the centre of attention.
But the flip side is that I think he does make more catastrophic failures than Foley does, particularly yellow and red cards for high tackles. He is one of the most carded players in the World and it costs his teams games, seasons if you look at the Reds in 2017.
When a senior professional player fails to fix a costly, fixable problem, it rightfully really, really grates on those fans who are interested in seeing their team win, rather than being a platform for some bloke to perform circus tricks.
That is why people are more tolerant of Foley, he always does his best and sometimes that isn’t good enough, but it is better than watching a show-off who could do better, stuff things up for the rest of the team.
Welcome back to the big time, Quade Cooper
“But issue remains Rhys – every team needs their best player on the field as long as possible”
That is the conventional way of thinking about it, sometimes you need to break convention due to a new situation. If Pocock gets badly injured, which is what is likely to happen with the way he is being played, he might not be available at all.
Let Pocock be finisher and save his neck