WF Locks - Comparison with other Ausie Locks

Any comparison of Locks comes down to the desired mix of skills between the two locks and how they work with the other Forwards.

This group shows Locks who have played for more than 200 minutes up to the end of Round 9.

Adam Coleman has close to the highest level of ruck involvement, is the strongest ball carrier and the highest success at Line Outs. However, he has the lowest tackle rate at the lowest efficiency, a relatively low TOW rate and the highest Penalty rate. Coleman must be under consideration for Wallaby selection but needs to improve his tackling and discipline.

Sam Wykes has comparable ruck involvement to Carter, Dennis, McDuling and Skelton. His Defensive ruck involvement, with Dave Dennis is the lowest of this group. This group generally has the lowest ball carries and comparable TOW. Wykes has fewer LOW than Carter and Dennis but more than McDuling or Skelton.

Steve Mafi has the third highest ruck involvement, is a strong ball carrier, the highest TOW rate, a low tackle count, and the 2nd highest Penalty rate. Mafi is currently ineligible for Wallaby selection.

Luke Jones and Rory Arnold have the lowest level of ruck involvement but show good discipline. Luke Jones is a strong ball carrier.

Will Skelton. Can somebody please explain to me how/why, on seeing his stats ytd, he should be considered an automatic selection as one of the Wallaby Locks.

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The Locks below have all played less than 200 minutes up to the end of Round 9.

Wilhelm Steenkamp has had minimal game time but is still a strong contributor in the line out and a reasonably strong ball carrier. Ruck data is based on only 35 minutes of game time.

James Horwill has a high level of ruck involvement, and tackle count but appears to have lost his impact as a ball carrier. He has the highest TOW rate of all Locks but is by far the most penalised.

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Which 4 rucks would you select for the Wallaby RWC squad?

simmons (not assessed due to injury) and jones would be my starting locks for the wobs, with arnold and coleman to complete the squad. coleman for his aggression (his penalty rate I think shows he doesn't shirk the tough stuff) and ball carrying and arnold for his discipline and tackling.

still don't think skelton is up to the international game as yet. Needs to develop further.

Based on those stats and granted it is a small sample size, i'm not sure why steenkamp is not getting more game time.

Horwill is a coach's nightmare, so many penalties.

I think cheika will go with simmons, jones, carter, skelton.

Skelton has been playing more minutes per match this year, I think Cheika is looking to work him into a Long term wallaby career. Jones was dropped like a red headed stepchild after a shaky performance on the sprig tour and I don't think we'll be seeing much of him (that's a shame) Simmons hasn't had much game time and I think it'll depend on how he plays. Horwill has earned himself an early departure, if he's picked, it will be a testament to the power of Qld power brokers, too many penalties, too little impact.

Arnold looks good, but is green, same with Coleman.

I would select Timani, Coleman and Jones in the squad looking for one of them to step up for the starting spot and one for the bench, but I would be looking for some experience on the other side.

I wouldn't pick Sam, as he is going overseas and that seems to be the policy.

There aren't too many experienced options to steady the ship, the ones who are running around all have some form of issue

Horwill, read the first paragraph, Simmons the same (and they're both ineffective loose cannons who haven't shown anything at international level) carter has the experience and certainly has the work rate, but never imprinted himself on my. Ind as the first lock picked, just not the dominant sort of number 1 lock I would like, chapman looks good on paper, but he suffers the same issue as Carter.

There is plenty to suggest we should be blooding a crop of fresh locks in a World cup year but even I wouldn't do that. I think the door is open for Simmons to prove he's the man, he's called the Wallaby lineout a lot and certainly has plenty of games under his belt.

My starters? Assuming Simmons has enough good rugby under his belt, I'd play Simmons and Timani (just shading Jones out through stats) with Coleman on the bench, but that would depend a lot on what happens in camp.

Cheika will go with Skelton for sure, possibly Simmons (unless he doesn't return well from injury) and throw Timani to the bench (the fox sports selection)

Both of us will be relying heavily on Fardy and McCalman taking a fair bit of the load off the locks.

Yeah Agree with Gigs on this. Simmons and Timani with Coleman on the bench for a bit of young mongrel.

Ross HP to take over duties from Wykes next season no doubt which will see a nice young force combination in 4/5

To be fair to Horwill, Simmons has been out so he has to up his game and infringe for two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stone Cold

To be fair to Horwill, Simmons has been out so he has to up his game and infringe for two.

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Agreed, but he has proven to be a bear of very little brain in the process hasn't he?