Goddard injured unfortunately

We’re definitely on the slighter side compared to most top teams at this level but we are starting to see the benefits of the u19’s and this tournament in these lads are playing enough together now that the skill level can shine through.

Game did have good flow from our end. Left plenty of points out there so a bit of ruthlessness would’ve been nice.

Crazy to think in years gone by we would’ve played that Japanese game then off to the World Rugby Championship where you’ve got England and SA waiting for you… No wonder we have been so hot and cold at this level. If we can sort the scrum we are a good chance of getting out of our pool.

I honestly think it has legs if it’s done intelligently. As Geoff said there’s no doubt an element of Twiggy looking at ways to keep costs down but there’s a few things here that make it worth considering for mine.

First you’ve got the number of dual code kids coming through that union can’t afford to contract a lot of the time. These kids have spent 5-6 year playing both codes by the time they finish school and right now union isn’t picking up as many as we’d like or even keeping them in the country. I see no harm in the Force and Bears using this arrangement to attract more of those kids to Perth as they can get paid more that way. At some point it will become apparent which code will pay them more to focus on them or which they are better suited to.

The senior squad would only have 2-3 players this would be applicable to but I can see it being a way to help keep those players in Aus if they aren’t cracking national squads but can command a better wage than Super can provide.

I also don’t think anyone in high performance would be expecting players to rotate between squads on a weekly basis. It would be scheduled around injuries or availability considerations or playing blocs with each squad.

It makes a lot of sense to me for the Force and Bears to explore something like this given how isolated they are and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

Yep… Completely agree and wasn’t saying they should be picked for the Wallabies. As I said, post ’27 is where I see them entering their own if they continue on their current trajectory.

As I again said, locks take longer to mature than props these days so I’m not a fan of rushing them into Gold unless we have 2-3 injuries.

So we understand each other I’m talking about the people on here I’ve seen write them off in Super Rugby, saying they should be dropped etc, as being numpties.

Dunning was considered an athletic and skillful prop. Are you saying Canham is an athletic, skillful second rower 😂

What’s Frost got to do with the price of butter? That’s at interesting way to backtrack on what you said.

You were telling me Swain is more athletic than Canham and that Canham is a lumbering plodder. He’s made two clean breaks now this season where he’s run 40+ metres.

Swain doesn’t run those lines, can’t run those lines but has all those other positives you listed so another sign for you to stick to the Brumbies players that you know.

Thank you for announcing yourself.

Yes he was incredibly unathletic when he made that half field break. A more athletic lock like Swain would’ve skipped clear and dotted it down under the posts…

Yep he let’s himself down at times with silly errors or ill-discipline which isn’t uncommon for big men his age. His physicality is good on top of being mobile so I think he’s tracking in the right direction to be a good tight forward post ’27.

No I don’t think he had a great game either but you’re missing the point I’m making if you think that’s relevant. He’s 23 and second rowers take longer to come good than front rowers these days but people have unreasonable expectations around tight forwards his age and don’t seem to see that you need to persevere through the teething period. I’ve seen plenty of people on here write him and Amatosero off because they’ve been hit and miss this season which I find stupid given their upside.

Yep that’s the progression for them and season 2 under McKellar is where they’ll hope to see that.

The progression for the Reds after last year was winning more physical contests and we’ve done that this year but not consistently enough to go all the way but maybe next year.

Entertaining considering the conditions. Tahs certainly won the physical contest. Against anyone else I would’ve loved seeing Amatosero play like that. The old bull young bull running battle with LSL was great.

I always enjoy reading comments on here about tight forwards not delivering when they’re in their early 20’s. There’s numpties on here who will talk about how disappointing Amatosero or Canham has been this season, when they are doing exactly what they need to do for 22/23 year olds in those positions. Future is bright post ’27 with those two on their current trajectory.

Speaking of numpties, where’s the one that told me Canham was an unathletic second rower and assured me he’d watched a lot of Reds and Rebels game to come to that conclusion. Hope he was watching tonight 😂

I don’t think anyone would expect it to work swapping out week to week. The more likely scenario is a few players would be in respective squads for blocs based on injury, time of year or where either coaching group think they’re more effective at that point.

Kids who play both would continue to play both as they enter a professional career. I can see that working in certain position profiles, particularly if you want to attract top end young talent to Perth which can be an uphill battle.

I think it’s a really interesting concept. Certainly worth exploring from union’s perspective as it might be a way to keep the 1-3 players in each squad that is relevant for in the country.

Look at the sevens guy that went to the dragons. Not really wanted by any of the Super teams so the idea it’s only our best that could add value to an NRL roster is rubbish. You’re bang on.

We struggle to keep non-Wallabies in the country and this could be a way to do that.

So many kids grow up now playing both that I don’t believe certain position profiles won’t be able to swing back and forth as need be.

It’s got legs and Perth is the perfect place to trial it.

Would love to see Wallace Charlie in there with an eye to next year. He’s class.

No comms have come to Wests yet about how long he’s out for but fingers crossed.

Agreed to disagree on what’s best for his development but I appreciate you’re probably closer to the money than I am. I look at how Brothers purposefully left Tim Ryan in colts for a year even though he would’ve been the best available for 1st grade because they wanted him to play against his peers and in slightly less regimented footy.

I think there’s something to be said for letting Pakeho test himself against the best in the world in his age group. It’s a good progress check in a way that Super Rugby can’t provide.

I think there’s also something to be said from a Wallaby perspective about players in these age group teams getting used to winning before they come into senior footy. Pakeho by himself might not make enough of a difference of course but I believe in resourcing these teams if the Super Rugby team can manage.

Then again he’d probably say he wants to play the Lions instead 😂

Bang on about King and the Reds. Goddard would’ve been very handy.

Agreed plenty to be excited about which is nice.

It’s such a hard one with overseas players as you want to reward those that have committed locally but if the difference between going deep this year is not selecting Pereira and Leota and our scrum continues to struggle or selecting them, then I’m wondering if you do select them as going deep is a great advertisment for the code in Aus.

True forgot about the Lions. Hopefully Henry is fit for that and they can release him. You generally need a couple of players with real Super Rugby experience if you want to go deep in these tournaments.

Yep Prass didn’t set the world on fire at 10. He’s actually looked pretty good in 1st grade for Brothers at fullback but probably doesn’t have the pace to make a go of it professionally.

Yep the contact to the head should’ve been a yellow but I dunno if it was serious enough to be cited (red card threshold).

Some thoughts now that I’ve watched it.

King is in all sorts at tighthead at the moment. Could see this coming watching the u19’s last year. Bloke might need to think about focusing on loosehead if he can’t figure this out. Was good to see Langi and Hill get some scrums together given they’ll be first choice or close next year. Hopefully Ah Colt back for the Argies as they’re going to go so hard at our scrum.

Doyle has Wallaby written all over him. Morrison has a few too many bad reads in d currently but the potential on him is enormous. He’s a great example of why the u19’s comp is so valuable as I’m not sure he’d really be on the radar without it as I don’t think the Tahs were really into him before the Brumbies came calling?

The Fowler/Harvey combo is the way to go. They made it so difficult for the Boks to get out of their own end.

I can’t help but think about next year watching Hill, Langi X 2, Brial, Cleverley, Watters and Conway run around so well this year. Goldsbrough and Robinson will be there again so you’ve got half a team who don’t look out of place with a year in hand.

Throw in Uys, Grenfell, Fonua, Ross, Grover, Fowler, Jacques and Fittler from last year’s 18’s and we could be onto something here. I think RA should seriously consider allowing a few of our French based boys like Lemoto and Leota a squad spot so we give ourselves every chance to go deep.

I more mean the team we ran against NZ is closer to our first choice team. Fowler, Ah Colt, Grover, Brial etc. but in terms of who might come into the squad come Italy:

Durbridge at 7 – looks like he’s playing Shute at the moment.
Ekanayake at 6 – Not sure I’d even pick him but he was there last year. Sevens is done by then yeh?
Pakeho at 12/13 – I thought the tournament started after Super finishes? Could be wrong there.
Tonga at 11/14 – Not necessarily an upgrade but as with Ekanayake, sevens should be done.

Don we are singing from the same hymn sheet except I’d have Kellaway on the wing instead of Daugunu initially. Not that Kellaway has shown more than anyone but I just think he is a good facilitator in a backline where you’ve got strike weapons like Sua’ali’i, Kerevi and Wright.

But yeh I’m all in on Kerevi at inside with Sua’ali’i on the wing.

If you run a 6-2 and JOC is on the bench you’ve got full coverage across the backline.

Or if you’re Eddie Jones you pick Kemeny as a bench backrower and he can play wing apparently 😂

How good! Look forward to watching it later today. Not sure about SA but the team we put up against them in the World Championship should be stronger than this one so don’t think we’ll have done our dash with this win.

Even if you bring back the Sunwolves and Jaguares as part of it you’ve still got crazy flight times regardless of touring and there’s no high performance value from an American national team perspective if you’ve got the 3 teams in the States your probably need to make a season schedule work…

The financial incentives to do something like this would have to be massive and there was reportedly frustration from the Japanese union when the Saffas insisted on serious compensation for the Sunwolves to be accommodated into the comp so history repeats and all that…

He’s synonymous with Campbell really and it’s not too similar to how Maddocks has been playing in France more often than not.

I might be the wrong person to answer this though as I think there’s typically never as much of a spread as people think between say the current fullback in Wright and the bottom of the rung in Aus at the moment in Grealy.

Ramm would not look out of place as a Wallaby fullback but he’s not going to give us anything we don’t already have.