Quade Cooper might be facing the axe

[beige]

Ontop of everything does anyone think that maybe their schedule is just too much with the mid week games as well???

I'm gonna say no on the basis of hoping that the Force will get to play either Wales in 2012 or the British Lions in 2013

[Rex Messup]

Elsom is growing into the role as skipper. I've felt he is improving in this aspect and has the support of the players. My problem is the time he spends in the backline whilst we are getting belted at the breakdown. He isn't the best 6 in the country

---------- Post added at 20:44 ---------- Previous post was at 20:42 ----------

His defensive flaws as a player are irrelevant.

How so?
Would you get a newspaper delivery boy to build your house?

[beige]

My brain exploded when I read that analogy.

[Rex Messup]

Nathan Grey

Not bad but give me Chief Harrogon every day of the week
,

Brian "Chiropractor" Lima

I'll see your Lima and raise you a "cement" Gillespie
,

Scotty "the car crash" Gibbs

Learned his trade in mungos before being poached by the Welsh rugby team desperate for a decent player

Gavin Henson

Stop it, my sides ache

Henry Honibal( best technique ive seen)

That'll do me

Gregan deserves special mention although his tackling style was a little.. unconventional

Gregan avoided contact like no other professional player I've seen

Axe had a very good technique which is why he is head hunted as a coach for softc--ks that won't tackle

Personally, I think there were much bigger hitters in the game

Watch these boys go at it[YOUTUBE] [/YOUTUBE]

[pieter blackie]

Elsom is growing into the role as skipper. I've felt he is improving in this aspect and has the support of the players. My problem is the time he spends in the backline whilst we are getting belted at the breakdown. He isn't the best 6 in the country[COLOR="Silver"]

Slowest growth I have ever seen!! He has done very little as an Australian Captain so far There are players in the squad with more respect and influence than him. and as you say as a player he is even less

[blueandblack]

Not bad but give me Chief Harrogon every day of the week
...

I'll take one Gilmeister, T. then.

[GIGS20]

Watch these boys go at it[YOUTUBE]YouTube - SOO BRUTAL BIG HITS[/YOUTUBE]

OK, I'm just making a quick call before and after viewing the video.

more than 80% of the mungo shit will be shoulder charges!

[zimeric]

Learned his trade in mungos before being poached by the Welsh rugby team desperate for a decent player

[/YOUTUBE]

actually he was poached by League and went back to union..........

Gibbs started his Rugby career at Pencoed RFC at mini and youth level, his first class career started at Bridgend RFC during the 1990/91, followed by a short spell at Neath RFC, before making his Welsh debut in 1991 against England. However he moved to Swansea RFC in January 1992, scoring a try on his debut in a Cup game against Oakdale. Gibbs also scored further tries that season in the cup against Neath RFC and Newport RFC to help Swansea reach the final where they lost to Llanelli RFC at Cardiff Arms Park.

Despite being only 22, he was selected for the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand, where he impressed so much that he was selected for the second and third tests instead of then-England captain Will Carling.

In 1994 Gibbs left union to join rugby league team St Helens.

Whilst playing league, Gibbs was selected to play for Wales in the 1995 World Cup. He also won the Challenge Cup and the inaugural Super League title with St. Helens in 1996.

On his return to union in 1996 it was sometimes joked that he was the fastest prop in world rugby, though in fact he was an inside centre. He became known as the world's hardest tackler (summed up by his nickname "Car-Crash") and this was exemplified by his performance in his second Lions tour.

In 1997 Gibbs was a key member of the victorious British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa. The Springboks were at the time the world champions following the 1995 World Cup and were expected to win the series. However, the Lions produced some memorable defensive performances with Gibbs at the centre of the action pulling off some devastating tackles.

In the defining moment of the series, Gibbs crashed through the Springboks' key player, 19-stone Os du Randt on one of his trademark bullocking runs. The Lions went on to win the series 2-1 and Gibbs was voted "Player of the Series".

courtesy wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Gibbs

[GIGS20]

Words duly eaten. My connection's slow, so I'm only up to 1:42. but at this point, I'm counting 15 tackles to 2 shoulder charges. (Quite a few would be called dangerous these days, but that would work the same in both codes so is irrelevant)

One of the things that did strike me though is the number of big tackles which were delivered using exactly the style Quade is failing to employ effectively, Going high, straight back and wrap up the ball. Maybe he just needs more pies.....what do you think Rex?

[Happy]

Give Quade an axe, that will improve his defence.

if defence is struggling maybe he should build a retaining wall ?

[Rex Messup]

Words duly eaten. My connection's slow, so I'm only up to 1:42. but at this point, I'm counting 15 tackles to 2 shoulder charges. (Quite a few would be called dangerous these days, but that would work the same in both codes so is irrelevant)

One of the things that did strike me though is the number of big tackles which were delivered using exactly the style Quade is failing to employ effectively, Going high, straight back and wrap up the ball. Maybe he just needs more pies.....what do you think Rex?

Quade is an angry young man. He has a real streak of c.u.n. tea in him. He just needs someone to work on his technique. The kid has the attacking flare and brilliance to cut teams to shreds and put other players into space. We have to work on him rather than putting his backside trackside.
We need a 12 that can tackle and everything will be honky dory.
It's great to see Cooper starting at 10 this week. The Italians are going to get their pants pulled down. I'm happy that we have real wingers this week too.
JOC is a sensation but he's out of position on the wing.

[hertryk]

Gitz on the bench, and Berrick coming in to "cover" Quade.....

[tic]

If QC is dropped, we have no attacking options at 10. Sooky is "safe" at 10 but safe does not win you world cups.

This is what is needed -
a) Cooper needs to improve defence
b) He needs protection at inside centre - hard assed tackler and strong line runner to feed off his sweet little passes - therefore drop Gits
c) Forwards need to immediately grow a set and give the backs some room and some protection.

To me, our forwards continue to disappoint and are the cause of most of our problems. The backs can't be expected to cover their mistakes all day long.

Peter Balckie you are just dead wrong when you say Cooper is only good against weak teams. He has less impact against stronger teams because our forwards are big girls who can't man up. I recall him playing blinders against The Bulls and The Stormers in Super 14 this year (both matches won by The Reds), because he played behind a young pack who worked their guts out all night against much more fancied opponents.

In the end, you can't win without a decent forward effort.

One last observation - at Super 14 level, Quade often stood at fullback in defence while Marcia stood at 10. This is not possible at Wallaby level as we don't have a strong defending FB like Marcia. If we did, we could hide QC back there for many defensive phases.

[robyn <3]

If QC is dropped, we have no attacking options at 10. Sooky is "safe" at 10 but safe does not win you world cups.

This is what is needed -
a) Cooper needs to improve defence
b) He needs protection at inside centre - hard assed tackler and strong line runner to feed off his sweet little passes - therefore drop Gits
c) Forwards need to immediately grow a set and give the backs some room and some protection.

To me, our forwards continue to disappoint and are the cause of most of our problems. The backs can't be expected to cover their mistakes all day long.

Peter Balckie you are just dead wrong when you say Cooper is only good against weak teams. He has less impact against stronger teams because our forwards are big girls who can't man up. I recall him playing blinders against The Bulls and The Stormers in Super 14 this year (both matches won by The Reds), because he played behind a young pack who worked their guts out all night against much more fancied opponents.

In the end, you can't win without a decent forward effort.

One last observation - at Super 14 level, Quade often stood at fullback in defence while Marcia stood at 10. This is not possible at Wallaby level as we don't have a strong defending FB like Marcia. If we did, we could hide QC back there for many defensive phases.

This I fail to comprehend - he's supposedly the best the country has to offer yet we have to hide him in defence because he's so weak? I could think of a LOT of places I'd rather keep Cooper than at last line in defence. You can't blame Cooper's inability to tackle on the forwards. Sure our pack aren't the strongest but Cooper's got sucky defence any time of day.

if we dropped Cooper, and put a safe option at 10, we've still got the flashy skills of James O'Connor, Beale, Ashley-Cooper, who can all play some pretty fancy rugby and put in a solid defence effort. It is possible to win a world cup without Cooper - he's not the only guy with a fancy side step in the team. But he is currently, the weakest link. He should get a harsh wake-up call.

[James]

Totally agree Tic. Too many lightweights in our backline. Relook at Giteau as a possible 9. We don't have much depth there and Genia hasn't been in brilliant form. Plus if you had Giteau on the bench as a 9/10/12/15 back-up you could have 5 forwards on the bench.

We need Ioane and Cam Shepherd back. Hide Cooper on the blindside wing in defence.

I think the last time Adam Ashley-Cooper played 12 was back in 2008 against the Barbarians and he had an amazing game. I'd like to see Deans try:

9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Shepherd
12. Ashley-Cooper
13. Ioane
14. Mitchell
15. Beale

21. Giteau
22. Turner