Australian XVII

We only put 16 points on a team that had no hooker/6/centre - and a fullback who usually plays on the wing.

Personally, I think thats terrible.

I would be all for Gavin Cooper playing right left back row, with no thiaday and Papalii on the bench.

Can the media shut the fuck up about the players age, stop telling Smith, Scott etc that they're getting too old that only fires them up over Origin. We need to keep telling them how good they are so they get cocky and don't have an axe to grind.

Pieman wrote:We only put 16 points on a team that had no hooker/6/centre - and a fullback who usually plays on the wing.

Personally, I think thats terrible.

I would be all for Gavin Cooper playing right left back row, with no thiaday and Papalii on the bench.

It was a team with a new coach, basically a new set of outside backs and who only got together for the first time 4 days before the match. Keeping them to nil, while getting 7 or 8 line breaks is as good as you can realistically expect from them.

I didnt actually think Gallen had that great a game. Certainly was one of the better players on the park but just did what he always does - high quantity, low quality. I cant remember him belting through the line, rattling defenders. I cant remember him getting a hand free for a good offload. 200m+ is obviously pretty fucking good... but he was actually dead last among Australian props in metres/hitup and was the only one to not have an average hitup of 10m. I thought Boyd should have been MOTM.

ryno_ wrote:

It was a team with a new coach, basically a new set of outside backs and who only got together for the first time 4 days before the match. Keeping them to nil, while getting 7 or 8 line breaks is as good as you can realistically expect from them.

I didnt actually think Gallen had that great a game. Certainly was one of the better players on the park but just did what he always does - high quantity, low quality. I cant remember him belting through the line, rattling defenders. I cant remember him getting a hand free for a good offload. 200m+ is obviously pretty fucking good... but he was actually dead last among Australian props in metres/hitup and was the only one to not have an average hitup of 10m. I thought Boyd should have been MOTM.

Welcome to the Ice bandwagon Ryno, I've be saying that about Gallen for decades. Yep, he punches massive numbers every game because of his high work rate and the fact he demands the ball, but I think teams actually perform better when his numbers are lower as other contribute more. Deadset, I just can't come at the bloke, THE most overrated player ever, (ok, maybe that's a stretch) and I'll be honest, not that far behind is Thaiday. Another great contributer, but if he never had that massive mop of hair back in the day and if he played for any other side other than Brisbane, I don't think he has anything like the career he has had. That said, I've actually come to like the bloke, he is a mighty character and I'm sure an awesome teammate to have around, but those things surpass his actual abilities.

Ice wrote:

Welcome to the Ice bandwagon Ryno, I've be saying that about Gallen for decades. Yep, he punches massive numbers every game because of his high work rate and the fact he demands the ball, but I think teams actually perform better when his numbers are lower as other contribute more.  Deadset, I just can't come at the bloke, THE most overrated player ever, (ok, maybe that's a stretch) and I'll be honest, not that far behind is Thaiday. Another great contributer, but if he never had that massive mop of hair back in the day and if he played for any other side other than Brisbane, I don't think he has anything like the career he has had. That said, I've actually come to like the bloke, he is a mighty character and I'm sure an awesome teammate to have around,  but those things surpass his actual abilities.

The Anti-Gallen/Ice-Finals-System bandwagon. Do we get shirts? But seriously, if a prop isnt averaging a hit-up to the advantage line every time he gets the ball, how can he be MOTM? Urgh.

I get what you're saying about Sammy, but honestly no player has a higher motor then he does. He can only play limited minutes at his age, but when hes on the field no player is busier then he is and he's not a complete spastic with the ball either. He's almost always the first forward to set a defensive line or back up a breakaway. He'd be my first picked bench 2nd rower.

Sammy is only good for bench rep duties these days. He's made a good tradition to that role. However, there must be a whole bunch of other candidates within striking distance

As for Gallen, I made the call after the game that he and thaiday had probably played their last Australia game. Then they named Gallen motm. It genuinely surprised the shit out of me.

ryno_ wrote:

It was a team with a new coach, basically a new set of outside backs and who only got together for the first time 4 days before the match. Keeping them to nil, while getting 7 or 8 line breaks is as good as you can realistically expect from them.

I didnt actually think Gallen had that great a game. Certainly was one of the better players on the park but just did what he always does - high quantity, low quality. I cant remember him belting through the line, rattling defenders. I cant remember him getting a hand free for a good offload. 200m+ is obviously pretty fucking good... but he was actually dead last among Australian props in metres/hitup and was the only one to not have an average hitup of 10m. I thought Boyd should have been MOTM.

A team with a new coach? Mate 80% of the team have played together a fair bit and under that new coach.

ryno_ wrote:

The Anti-Gallen/Ice-Finals-System bandwagon. Do we get shirts? But seriously, if a prop isnt averaging a hit-up to the advantage line every time he gets the ball, how can he be MOTM? Urgh.

I get what you're saying about Sammy, but honestly no player has a higher motor then he does. He can only play limited minutes at his age, but when hes on the field no player is busier then he is and he's not a complete spastic with the ball either. He's almost always the first forward to set a defensive line or back up a breakaway. He'd be my first picked bench 2nd rower.

Yeah, we can do shirts.

Thaiday has nice hands and for a while there, playing inside/outside Smith, Lockyer, Thurston and with Slater chiming in he was almost perfect at what he does. Maybe I'm a touch harsh, but I think if there wasn't a few suspension from rep duty he wouldn't have played the test and wouldn't be in the Qld side this year. Again, I just think if he wasn't playing for Brisbane, he wouldn't have had the rep career he has had. Not to say he didn't perform, just lucky enough to get more opportunities with the Broncos.

Pieman wrote:

A team with a new coach? Mate 80% of the team have played together a fair bit and under that new coach.

6 of the players had 2 jerseys between them, its hardly a team that has tried and tested combinations in the backline. JT also said after the game that they bought in a whole new system, not just QLD copy/paste.

ryno_ wrote:

6 of the players had 2 jerseys between them, its hardly a team that has tried and tested combinations in the backline. JT also said after the game that they bought in a whole new system, not just QLD copy/paste.

Huh?
I mean far out - 9/7/6/4/1 have all played plenty of footy together.
IMO they should have scored more points against a team that was pretty fucking shit on paper

He said that they took out some of the stuff sheens had in place and made it more simple.

Pieman wrote:

Huh?
I mean far out - 9/7/6/4/1 have all played plenty of footy together.
IMO they should have scored more points against a team that was pretty fucking shit on paper

He said that they took out some of the stuff sheens had in place and made it more simple.

New 2/4/5. So more then half the outside backs. No wonder they looked a bit rusty - it takes time to build that combination and learn timing of hitting holes outside your halves. And they only put 16 on the board but they broke their line enough and created plenty of chances. For a team that had only trained twice, it wasnt a bad outing.

yeah i think its a bit harsh being to critical on the points scored, there was a time where dugan went to go inside and the pass went to ground (was either boyd or a halve), if dugan keeps going outside then either he or fergy scores, it was an error bought out solely from lack of combination imo and wasn't the only one

the only guys i could be critical of was the edge back rowers for offering nothing, combination plays a role there too but they should still have been able to. they didn't seem to get involved much and when they did they all went down pretty easily by the first defender

leaguegod wrote:yeah i think its a bit harsh being to critical on the points scored, there was a time where dugan went to go inside and the pass went to ground (was either boyd or a halve), if dugan keeps going outside then either he or fergy scores, it was an error bought out solely from lack of combination imo and wasn't the only one

the only guys i could be critical of was the edge back rowers for offering nothing, combination plays a role there too but they should still have been able to. they didn't seem to get involved much and when they did they all went down pretty easily by the first defender

I thought our second row was a bit ordinary aswell but Im not sure if that was because I was comparing them to Scott and Tamou (who were great) or because they actually were having a bludge.