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Joined November 2021
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Everyone in Hobart knows who the woman is. 46-47 year old ex-CT receptionist. It’s out there in other forums based on her court case and the reporting from that where she allegedly stole from CT.
'Abandoned': Bitter Paine fallout out continues as former CA boss fires back at incumbent
Maybe the coach is the issue but can someone tell me how many players were used by the AB’s this year and how many players actually played 3 games in a row in the same position?
My money would say that there would be very few, as in less than 2-3 players across the whole squad that actually had the same number on their back during that time. Consistency of combinations is a huge thing and the AB’s tinkered way too much with nearly every position. Some of this was caused by injury but I’d love to know how many 6,7 and 8 combinations were tried as well as at 12 and 13.
They had more starting hookers than Kings Cross on a Saturday night and I think Retallick and Whitelock only started in two tests together.
My point is Ireland, France and to a slightly lesser extent South Africa worked with a squad of 25-28 with mainly settled starting combinations whereas the AB’s total squad count in the last 4-5 months would easily stretch to almost 40 by my count.
Consistent understanding of those around you and how they play leads to success. You know your role, you know what’s expected of you and if you do that results happen. The South African starting forward pack and their centre combination are perfect examples of knowing your role and sticking to it. Nothing flash just do your job and we will back you in. The Irish are on the same track with the French potentially the scariest with a monster, mobile pack and an incredibly skillful backline with their current 9 being the best link man in the game.
If I’m the AB’s I’m looking to get 10-12 tests into the same players in the same positions as much as I can in 2022 instead of Ardie Savea wondering if he is 6, 7 or 8, ALB wondering if he is 12 or 13 and Reiko checking if he is 11 or 13.
End of an aura: Critics target Foster and 'an empire that's gone soft' after All Blacks 'lose fear factor'
This is going to get murkier in coming days and weeks. Plenty of issues still in the closet at Cricket Tasmania and Cricket Australia.
Tim Paine just needs to get on with his life and his family’s life.
Too many people at CA and CT holding their breathe and hoping this would go away. There are some common denominators if you look hard enough over the last 4-5 years.
'Abandoned': Bitter Paine fallout out continues as former CA boss fires back at incumbent
Completely agree that we have seen the TMO become far more of an influence than they need to be. It’s been said before but the TMO is actively looking for reasons to penalise players which has actually slowed the game down on many occasions.
I think supporters of all persuasions have thrown their toys at the television watching some of the decisions that have been made because of undue TMO influence this year. Yellow and and in some cases Red cards have been dished out based on ridiculously slowed down TV replays that don’t take into account that Rugby is a contact sport. The Wallabies, AB’s and Springboks all copped having blokes in the bin when they attempted to tackle opposition players who had the ball and chose to deliberately charge into defenders with their heads bent over like a Rhinos and the rear ends in the air.
In essence they were driving their heads into contact at the last minute in a reckless manner. At real speed we are talking about micro-seconds of reaction time. When the TMO slows it down it looks deliberate and clumsy from the defender and this is where TMO’s and referees need to understand the nuances.
It just builds frustration and anger amongst all supporters and makes the players confused and literally throw their hands in the air. At different stages you could just see it on the faces of Kolisi, Hooper and Whitelock. They were all almost incredulous to the point of “did I miss the rules and regulation meeting around the TMO’s involvement?”.
A lot of this needs to be sorted out as we could see a World Cup Final decided by a TMO howler in 2023. I actually think the game is going backwards because of this and that cannot be a good thing.
Rantings of an armchair referee: Too much TMO and offside remains unclear
Totally agree that established combinations are critical to ensuring consistency of performance and trusting the guy next to you be it the centre partnerships or in the front or back rows.
I commented in a previous article that many of the better performing Northern Hemisphere nations and indeed the South Africans have stuck with established squads of 24-25 players this year whereas the AB’s used over 40 players.
The chopping and changing of players into and out of different positions was really frustrating with Ardie Savea and Reiko Ioane being prime examples but there were many others. I’d be interested to see how many AB’s played 3 games in a row in the same starting position. Jordie Barrett, Will Jordan, Codie Taylor come to mind.
There were some mitigating factors with quite a few key players not playing some tests because of new babies in Aaron Smith, Sam Whitelock, Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett but you’d have to say that the selectors did not allow a lot of opportunity for combinations to establish and settle in 2021.
The Irish, French and South Africans all have established combinations right across their squads whilst the Soap Dodgers out of Twickenham have a very settled forward pack and centre combination with a couple of years to build the confidence and game experience of a very talented new number 10 in Marcus Smith who held his own against the Boks. The fact he had a guy like Owen Farrell standing next to him will only help their cause.
2022 should be a year of combination consolidation for the AB’s as the clock is ticking and they are currently behind at least 4-5 other nations with two years to go until the 2023 World Cup.
The three things the ailing All Blacks need to return to the top