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Cooper resigned for an additional 2 years
What has happened to aidan toua i thought he was really promising in the JWC and i am very surprised that they haven't promoted him
Reds promoted Shipperly, Morahan and Situauti out of the Reds Academy, they have all show much better development then Toua.
Toua has had injury problems which hampered his development
Reds fill there last position on the roster by signing North Harbours utility back Michael Harris.
Michael Harris
Height: 186 cm
Weight: 96kg
Born: September 8/07/1988, North Harbour, NZ
Representative honours: NZ – U 20's
He qualifies for Australia through his Australian born grandmother.
Reds 2011 likely starting side
1. Ben Daley
2. Saia Faingaa
3. James Slipper
4. Rob Simmons
5. James Horwill
6. Scott Higginbotham
7. Lei Tomiki
8. Leroy Houston
9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper
11. Rodney Davies
12. Anthony Faingaa
13. Will Chambers
14. Digby Ioane
15. Peter Hynes
16. James Hanson
17. Greg Holmes
18. Van Humphries
19. Jake Shatz
20. Ben Lucas
21. Michael Harris
22. Luke Morahan
Albert Anae, Radike Samo, Liam Gill, Kimani Sitauti, Adam Wallace-Harrison, Guy Shepherdson, Dominic Shipperly, Ben Tapuai, Ed Quirk
I remember one quote throughout 2010 was that the Reds had not one single Wallaby in there forward pack, having a look forward towards 2011 the Reds have potentially 10 capped Wallaby forwards in there team(humphries, higgginbotham pending)
A very Handy squad to be sure.. If they ride off their 2010 form they will be tough to beat.
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The loss of Daniel Braid will be pretty huge. I know the Force have their own holes but the lack of a genuine openside flanker might limit the effectiveness of Genia and Cooper. To be fair to Daniel Braid he was arguably the 3rd best openside in the Super 14 for the last year or two. I am sure Liam Gill (is Andrew Shaw still in the squad) is a talented youngster but I doubt he's ready for that.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
He is definitely the biggest loss, I don't think it's a massive hole to fill though, Jake Shatz filled in at blindsided a few times throughout 2010 when Braid was injured, Ed Quirk debut'd in 2010 and he can play open side as well... Both those players are probably blindside flankers in the long term but can still play openside..
Lei Tomkik is a obvious replacement, he is a quality open side and was injured throughout most of 2010, I expect we will see him starting a few matches, and then there is Liam Gill, 2010 colt of the year who has performed very well in the 7's circuit, he will definitely get a few games in 2011.
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3 i think, Byrnes, Weeks and Braid
Oh, yeah, forgot about Weeks.
Byrnes wasn't really a consistent guy IMHO, he was outed by Higginbotham pretty squarely by the end of the year
C'mon the
I thought Byrnes was a good 2nd row prospect but I didn't realise he's 29. He definitely has the frame and the aggression to be a top lock.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Byrnes was lock, but he was dropped coincidentally not long after he signed with Melbourne, Rob Simmons was his replacement
Weeks isnt a big loss in hindsight, James slipper should fill the role nicely in 2011, at the time it was disturbing
Link has mentioned that Liam Gill has displayed the potential to be starting open side next year
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