u/anxiousatac

Currently in the squad available for selection:

Ikitau, Suali'i, Henry, Paisami, Daugunu, Flook.

Other capped Wallaby centres not currently in selection mix:

Kerevi, Perese, JOC, David Feliuai.

We would have the greatest pool of rugby talent in the world at our disposal - we would become the bane of the rest of the rugby playing world.

Anyone playing in either code is eligible for Wallabies selection and half the team's (presumably most of Wallabies squad from positions 4-15) salaries are paid for by NRL. They would obviously need release clauses written into their NRL contracts for Wallabies tests.

Wallabies can become like Argentina and chose to select their players from international competitions - NRL, Top14, JRL, URC, Prem, etc. and like Argentina the union doesn't have to pay their salaries, it's a win-win.

Does anyone know if Bluetooth (thus most of the EMF) stays off when you are listening to the headphones wired?

I ask because I don't think there is a wire between the two earcups. I believe only power is transmitted through the yoke, not audio. I watched the teardown and each cup has it's own H1 Bluetooth chip. So I think when they are wired they are still talking to each other wirelessly.

So apparently he's been coaching in the NRL for the last few seasons, all I remember is that he unexpectedly left the Wallabies setup a few weeks before Rennie got axed which was cited as personal reasons (did he somehow foresee the turbulence ahead and bail early...?) and then he was a remote coach or 'sounding board' for Eddie Jones through 2023, he didn't even attend trainings he was just an advisor for Jones to bounce ideas off.

After some more googling it appears that he made the final 2 candidates for the Waratahs head coaching job to replace Coleman in 2024 and went as far as assembling his own coaching staff but McKellar was bizarrely chosen ahead of him despite the blistering player reviews he received at Leicester.

And fast forward to present day an article from this week indicated he didn't even apply for the currently vacant Tah's job, a shame as he would've been the best candidate by far.

It's pretty sad he's no longer involved in any capacity in rugby australia, this is a guy who was regarded by many in union as the best technical coach in the country in terms of the pure coaching of skills.

If you listen to anecdotes of the senior players from that era (plenty of podcasts out there) it was clear that Deans didn't know how to construct a coherent gameplan and like Razor was out of his depth at the international level - so was the opposition (besides NZ) just terrible at the time and Australia hit a golden run of players 2010-2015?

By the sounds of it (Giteau, Horwill, Moore, Genia, Cooper) the dysfunctional environment that Deans fostered was a significant hinderence to the team's performances at the time.

We should probably all be putting a bundle of cash on the ABs to take the series. And I'll tell you why.

First test vs SA under Razor, Jo'burg 2024. We lose 27-31. But, after 67 minutes, we were ahead 27-17 and, if my memory is correct, we had an attacking opportunity to put the game to bed. We didn't take it and the SA bomb squad finished over the top of us with the assistance of errors and cards. A very disappointing defeat.

2nd test vs SA under Razor, Capetown 2024. We lose 12-18. We were ahead 9-3 at halftime, but I don't think we were as convincing or as worth a win as in Jo'burg.

3rd test vs SA under Razor, Eden Park, 2025. Lost in the mists of Wellington, we actually win 24-17 and we basically beat their team of stalwarts - a late try and some late pressure by the Boks making it a bit closer than comfortable.

4th test under Razor, Wellington 2025. We lose 10-43 in a bit of a disaster. But, if you're a SA journalist giving us no chance, then this has got to be what you're looking at. Rassie rang some changes and picked some younger backs (which I mistakenly thought was running up a white flag). But, regardless - at halftime, we were winning 10-7. At the 60 minute mark we were still very much in the game. Then the wheels fell off...

Point is - we weren't that far away from these Bok bastards.

We have to improve our performances in the final quarter - in all of these matches it was costly. That points to the bench and how it is integrated.

From the Wellington test - we failed at lineout, scrum and high ball, although someone suggested we might have been royally stiffed in the scrums.

Why was Allianz the venue for the Irish test last week? It sold out within days and it's only the 3rd largest in capacity in Sydney (Accor 80,000, SCG 47,000), at the moment demand is through the roof and yet RA are scheduling half of 2026's home tests in smaller boutique stadiums like Townsville (25,000) and Perth NIB (19,000).

Furthermore RA have recently scheduled Wallabies tests at Canberra's GIO stadium and Bankstown Stadium for Wallabies home tests in 2027, how is this sensible when the Wallabies only play 4-6 home tests per season? If they played 12-14 home tests for sure it would make sense, but as it stands 4-6 games is a very limited window for RA to generate revenue?

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me because the huge latent Australian sports market, significant population advantage (especially when including the massive diaspora of union-loving expats) and infrastructure advantage (larger capacity stadiums) is essentially the only thing RA have over NZR - but they aren't making the most of this advantage, it seems?