Kurtley Beale Scared Witless Ahead of SMACKDOWN.

[Shaun]

Send on Pocock for a brawl, he has fists the size of a cannon ball!

[Vanilla Ice]

I'm with you on the mongrel... Biff, although entertaining, is for amateurs - the adrenaline is better used on the game than the oppositions face...

I'm just pointing out that there's more fire & passion on here than we've seen from some of our players this year.

I'd just like to see our boys at the breakdown not looking like they're just lining up for a slice of the roast of the day at the hotel buffet. In the words of the Brendan Maximus Cannon lookalike, unleash hell.

[Nick]

We definantly need a lot of controlled aggression tonight! Not really sure if Beale will be all that intimidated you usually have to think such and such is going to nail me and he'll do it all day. But when its a faceless opposition of the attack is really going to target me... It's not quite the same.

Notice how the waratahs have an enforcer... Name ours who has been in Beales mind in the late hours of the night?

Dont get me wrong hopefully some one steps up and takes the mantle because allthough punching it out on the field is just stupid, forget the card its the suspension that follows that will have repercussions, we need either a Lock forward or a Loose Forward to step up and be the Tahs worst nightmare.

[Burgs]

Another that seems to be forgotten in all this (and is in the position to be doing it tonight) is Brownie who has "a fine diregared for his own well-being".
He has done some decent work in the tackle and certainly isn't afraid to do the big hits.

[MBrogan]

Another that seems to be forgotten in all this (and is in the position to be doing it tonight) is Brownie who has "a fine diregared for his own well-being".
He has done some decent work in the tackle and certainly isn't afraid to do the big hits.

Richard Brown? Did you see how ineffective he was in that first game? I had big wraps on him mid last season before he was injured, but he was less then useless against the highlanders. Hodgson still has potential in him, anyone who saw him play for Manly can attest to that.

[jazza93]

brownie is heaps good he will smash the tahs and i hope he smashes that beale guy as well.

[LarryNJ]

Do you like a a fight or 2 during a game. Watch this NHL game from last week. The coaches almost got into the action. It all started with the hit in the right hand of the screen in the beginning of the video.

[YOUTUBE]h1w2JYSohBQ[/YOUTUBE]

[Skiza]

Personally the goalies squaring off was my favourite part, Larry

[LarryNJ]

Ya, that's like watching chicks fight!

[Burgs]

Sorry Larry

Well now the hype for inter team rivalry is out of the way and we can focus on implications for Australian Rugby, I really didn't rate Beale very highly for his performance tonight.
I am still confident he will mature into a great player, don't get me wrong, I just hope that he has cast iron ribs because he is going to get hammered a lot more with Staniforth style big hits in coming weeks.
I cringe at the thought of him facing up to say the Hurricanes full backrow for example. Someone will get done for assault from a legitimate tackle as he hangs in mid air!
I think he has spent too much time watching Benji Marshall, another lighter player who exists on "dazzling" attack and very ordinary defence, all be it in the other code.
At the end of the day they get found out and absolutely pole axed!
I hope he doesn't get hurt as it may wreck a promising future however, and I'm not just saying this to be smart, I have genuine fears for his safety if he continues playing the way he did tonight.

[travelling_gerry]

ditto Burgs........I winced a lot...

[freo_pete]

A great tackle beale made on Gitts tonight as they crossed the try line

And didnt Gitts let him know about it - beautiful to watch

[AndyS]

Actually, I thought his work in attack wasn't bad but you are right, he is just so damn small. I don't know whether he will be able to bulk up, but I hope so for his sake. The day of the truly small (as opposed to merely relatively small) player is pretty much over now it is a professional game.

[Burgs]

Two sides to every story I know but I think Growden might be gilding the lilly just a tad here:

Beale proves he is the real deal

Greg Growden
Saturday, March 3, 2007

ANALYSIS Or by its other name in WA, "spin"!

The Waratahs finished with only half the points because of a Sam Norton-Knight brain explosion - but at least know they have the full deal in Kurtley Beale.

There was despair at the end when stupidity finished any hope of a last-gasp Waratahs win, but when the heat subsides many will realise that the big gain from last night's match was that Beale showed he can handle the spotlight. If the Wallabies selectors do not use him during the Tri Nations or fail to take him to the World Cup, they should resign. Beale has that special something that Australian rugby is lacking. (Yeah, a death wish...)

As expected before the game, there was the attempted big-match psyche out when that oh-so-streetwise Force coach John Mitchell - remember he is from New Zealand (And?) - played the doubt game with Beale by saying that the teenager's instinctive rugby brilliance could be his undoing.

Obviously Beale is not into pre-match newspaper reading because he refused to be inhibited or intimidated by all those veterans around him.

As soon as the pivot received the ball, he was involved in a captivating leap into the air, as if he had just stepped on a bindi, and a swing of the hips, prompting suggestions of a hula-hoop revival. Already he was showing far more fancy steps than Wendell Sailor did in his "My Left Foot" impersonation in Dancing with the Stars. ("Hello, New Idea? Greg Growden here, any jobs available?")

And it was having the desired effect, mesmerising several Force defenders and giving that extra millisecond to change direction and have everyone guessing, including at times his teammates. He did get belted at times, with Force skipper Scott Staniforth bringing stars of another sort into Beale's horizon when he smothered him with a shivering second-half tackle.

But it wasn't his attacking prowess which was the prominent feature of his game early on. Not surprisingly, the Force thought they could bash the lightly framed Beale, running much of their ball at him. This was understandable, considering that during the Waratahs' South African road tour, Beale at times looked somewhat flimsy in the first line of defence. Too high, and not too often was a concern.

He was far more solid against the Force. Every Beale tackle was text-book, and there were plenty to execute as numerous Force attackers, including mean looking back-rowers, ran at him. The Force soon found that exercise wasn't providing much, so they started working other areas of the field.

Even in the wide open expanses, Beale made his mark. He was occasionally sighted when the Force had the ball, covering the fullback area with Peter Hewat (...to stay away from the defensive line, as with Benji Marshall). Beale's clearing kicks were put to the test, and the drop punts were also up to the required standard, even providing a moment of humour when one clearing kick seemed to disorientate his opposite, Matt Giteau, who not knowing he was so close to the sideline stepped on the wrong side of it when planting his left foot to boot it back down the field.

The linesman's call only added to Giteau's red-face moment.

As expected, the abundantly talented "Richie Rich" soon rebounded, and came up smelling like a millionaire. Taking a hint from Beale (uhuh...), Giteau also showed he can leap with the best. (It's called a side step...) A gargantuan bound onto his left foot just after the half-time break was all that was needed to expose an enormous hole near the NSW breakdown. Giteau went left. The Waratahs all went left. And straight ahead there was nothing. Giteau ended his barn-dance by placing the ball behind his opponents, and laughing at them for being so easily fooled.

Pleasingly, the match was a improvement on the last local derby - between the Reds and Brumbies two weeks ago - which was as animated as watching two snails fighting it to the death.

[travelling_gerry]

wheres Frontrower when you need him???

Shut Up Growden.....ya idiot..