'13 WC | Group A | Australia 28-20 England | Cardiff

[Billythekid]

It's 2013 not 2012 lol Farah was worse than Pearce in origin this year :lol:

No he wasn't. I know the tigers are on the bottom of the ladder and the roosters won this year but that doesn't mean i'm blinded to individual players form.

Some people really can't look past ladder positions.

 

[kickback]

Farah to cover an 80 min smith DCE who won the Clive Churchill and can cover all the halfs and back row ????? This is sheens looking after his old tigers mate it's a Joke

 

[herbert henry1908]

As others have said, the backline is awful.


Jennings and Hayne not there is just laughable.

 

[hutch]

Farah to cover an 80 min smith DCE who won the Clive Churchill and can cover all the halfs and back row ????? This is sheens looking after his old tigers mate it's a Joke

Farah can cover more positions than Evans. Clive Churchill has nothing to do with it. We don't even need a utility on the bench anyway, I don't know why coaches are obsessed with covering injuries that probably won't occur.
Tate over Jennings or Morris, Boyd over hayne, other examples of sheenius having no idea.

 

[Joker's Wild]

No Hayne is really the only gripe I have with this side.

Looks like Parker an Thaiday are going to get some time a prop

 

[Danish]

Farah played well this year and showed in origin he is more than up to it. Personally i wouldn't have picked him because having a specialist hooker on the bench is dumb.

It certainly isn't the strongest Australian team i've seen especially with so many of the top players being out of form (the storm trio in particular). Definitely think NZ look the best team on paper.

Farah has been rubbish this year. His origin performances particularly were diabolical. The last 20 mins of game 3 were paper stamping material.


Don't get me wrong, we'll still thrash the poms as they suck balls, but if we trot out this sort of boys club nonsense against the kiwis we'll get smashed.

 

[Tommy Smith]

It's a typical Dad's Army old boys team.

Sam Thaiday has barely played a good game of football in two years. Tate over Jennings is baffling. Tamou is an indictment on the Aussie front row atm ... NZ have a massive edge up front.

As for no Hayne, WTF? He's an absolute monster and should be first winger chosen in any side.

Good on Corey Parker though. Great selection.

 

[Tommy Smith]

And Farah is a great player but if you're going to select an interchange hooker to come on for 25 minutes you might as well select Segeyaro.

But that would be too bold and brave.

Seriously, if you want a hooker to come on and destroy an opposition over 25 minutes who can also cover the backrow, it's either Segeyaro or no-one for Australia.

 

[Marshall_magic]

Farah can cover more positions than Evans. Clive Churchill has nothing to do with it. We don't even need a utility on the bench anyway, I don't know why coaches are obsessed with covering injuries that probably won't occur.
Tate over Jennings or Morris, Boyd over hayne, other examples of sheenius having no idea.

It's Sheens, just be glad he didn't pick a bench with a hooker, winger and 2 back rowers, with 2 centres in the back row and 2 back rowers at prop. Also be glad he picked a proper 5/8. There is a reason they call him Sheenius.

 

[Evil Homer]

And Farah is a great player but if you're going to select an interchange hooker to come on for 25 minutes you might as well select Segeyaro.

But that would be too bold and brave.

Seriously, if you want a hooker to come on and destroy an opposition over 25 minutes who can also cover the backrow, it's either Segeyaro or no-one for Australia.

Looks like it's no-one then since Segeyaro isn't Australian.

 

[Reidy87]

I personally like Tate and think Morris is a tad overrated, so would have put Tate centre - Hayne wing; or Jennings centre - Tate wing. However there is a good argument for a Jennings/Hayne combo and an ageing Tate missing out.

I like Tate because he is still very quick (back in his Broncos days he was absolute lightning) but more importantly he is very tough and experienced - would rather take him into battle than Morris, Hayne or Jennings.

At the end of the day however, the backline is still very good - with our quality halves and fullback feeding them, any of our outside back options will score plenty of tries (and have proven ability at Test level to do so).

The biggest gripe is the inclusion of Farah. In my opinion, if you have Luke Lewis on the bench and Greg Bird in the back row - your halves and centres are covered. Think about it:

Slater goes down: Inglis to FB, Lewis centre
Cronk goes down: Bird to 6, Thurston to 7 (or vice versa if Thurston goes down).
A centre goes down: Lewis straight to centre
A winger goes down: centre to wing, Lewis to centre.

You get the point...... the only player Farah actually covers is Smith - realistically, Cronk at 9, Bird 6, Thurston 7 is still a bloody good spine.

Bird and particularly Lewis are just too versatile for Sheens to justify carrying a token utility bench player... much better serviced having a fearsome impact player i.e. Papali instead.

 

[DeeJ]

I'd have Hayne over Morris and anyone else in for Farah.

Tate over Jennings I'm ok with as Tate was very good this origin series (albeit on the wing) and Jennings underperformed. Jennings always kills when he plays for Australia though, but the standard isn't as high of course.

 

[Tommy Smith]

Looks like it's no-one then since Segeyaro isn't Australian.

Well that explains why he's listed as a future Maroon then!

And he's played for the Junior Kangaroos.

He was available had Australia wanted him.

 

[Joely01]

I think people are being a bit harsh on Farahs form this year, I thought he was still very good this year, especially in the team he had to play in.

I agree though that the selection is silly, another forwar to give an intense 20min stint would have been better

 

[some11]

Thaiday... the joys of incumbency.

 

[Someone]

No Jennings or Hayne. What a rubbish backline in comparison to what it could have been.

maybe Haynes strained relationship with slater has caused favoritism amongst the players and coaching staff.

who knows what sheens is thinking.

 

[WaznTheGreat]

maybe Haynes strained relationship with slater has caused favoritism amongst the players and coaching staff.

who knows what sheens is thinking.

Billy Slater shouldn't even be in the Australian team,always plays like a tard for the Kangaroos

 

[roughyedspud]

on the 2gb news this team is being described as your full strength team.......really??

 

[Armageddon.]

Well that explains why he's listed as a future Maroon then!

And he's played for the Junior Kangaroos.

He was available had Australia wanted him.

If it wasn't for injury he would have been playing for PNG in the world cup.

 

[Pierced Soul]

The biggest gripe is the inclusion of Farah. In my opinion, if you have Luke Lewis on the bench and Greg Bird in the back row - your halves and centres are covered. .

this is the issue when coaches want to designate a "utility" position. as you've said bird and lewis can cover most positions. there's no need to put a specialist player on the bench such as farah or DCE unless another specialist is carrying an injury.

on the 2gb news this team is being described as your full strength team.......really??

full strength in this case means no one was unavailable due to injury, suspension etc... it's definitely not the best team from the assembled squad.

sheens said he'd pick experience and thats pretty much what he's done. as much as i think hayne should be selected ahead of boyd, when you look at boyds rep level he has an incredible record. jennings had a decent year but tate is a right centre and one hell of a competitor which is why he's there.

morris is on the wing from his form from a few years ago.

parker should be starting ahead of bird and play a good 70 -80mins but he'll be used for about 30 mins by the master coach