Sharpe prediction: no Giteau, no worries

[AndyS]

Indeed, which pretty much says it all about the quality of that particular piece. I generally rate Smith a bit higher than most of the others, but he can be a bit hit-or-miss. I have often wondered whether he actually has a ghost writer on certain topics.

As I see it, when we had Giteau we had a game plan that revolved around Giteau but that was unfortunately only ever good enough to see us mid-table. Now we don't, so we will (hopefully) have a somewhat different gameplan revolving around the new list of personnel. I would expect that it would more strongly feature the forwards with a more balanced (in terms of talent) backline, but it is worth remembering that the backline will still consist of seven of the top 50 backs in the country. If the forwards do the job, the backs should still be able to execute it - after all, if paper talent alone were all that mattered the Wallabies would now have a grandslam.

[Em-Forcer]

Amazing he cannot recall that in 2006 we were 14th, and in a competition as strong as the Super 14 there is no shame in nineth, I do not think the other Australian franchises were much higher. He also forgets only two points seperated 7 and 9 and 5 points seperated 3 and 9.

And, erm, remind me - which Australian team was the only one to beat each of the others last year...?

[brokendown gunfighter]

Leave the comedy to the pros gunty.

If you were a pro BB you would be a pauper

[SleazyWineBaas]

Great to see the locals are a touch precious about sentiments from the East
The Australian is a nation wide newspaper expressing the sentiments of the nation as a whole, not just the misguided delusions of one eyed minority group with a tiny rectangle for the first time
Neck up

'Carn the Force

[zimeric]

the newspaper might be nationwide but this particular trollop of a journo has clearly shown his colours over the last two years.. and they arent necessarily green & gold... closer to a yellow colour..

[mudskipper]

Sharpe by name and sharp nature...

[Lee Grant]

The article doesn't seemed to be that silly to a neutral give or take a bit of quibbling Force fans could have about this and that. And he wouldn't do the headline - the sub editors of papers do that. They fancy themselves as knowing what to write to grab the eyeball of the reader.

Sharpe has a point about the game changing. Play will be more structured now without the FK sanctions etc. But the loss of experience of Giteau, Mitchell, McIsaac, Pelesasa, Staniforth, Valentine and even the impact of Horua is not balanced out by the acquisition of Petoors, the props and other folks IMO, nor the game changing.

Some people here think that 2010 will be a rebuilding year for the Force. I think that's right and most people here in the east will think the same IMO.

[SleazyWineBaas]

Actually Lee, we in the west think we have cut a lot of dead wood and have built strongly in areas of weakness. Pretorius will give us better value for money than the sulking Matt Giteau. I personally think we lack strike players in the backs that will score tries. The Bokke have showed how 10 man rugby can win world cups and tri nations. Don't count us out

[GIGS20]

Actually Lee, we in the west think we have cut a lot of dead wood and have built strongly in areas of weakness. Pretorius will give us better value for money than the sulking Matt Giteau. I personally think we lack strike players in the backs that will score tries. The Bokke have showed how 10 man rugby can win world cups and tri nations. Don't count us out

I hope we become more than a 10 man rugby team, but if that's the best way into the semis, count me in!