Forget the imports. This Brumbies backline is already good enough to
Anyone whinging about imports in this backline hasn't actually watched them play since about March, mate. The movement, the shape, the finishing, that's already a title-winning unit as it stands, and the blokes still saying we're a marquee signing away are just nostalgic for a team that doesn't exist anymore. I'd put TAB odds on this backline outscoring anyone left in the comp if the pack holds up.
Meanwhile the real issue is hiding in plain sight: the loosehead rotation has quietly wrecked our tight head depth, two gone this season because we couldn't just pick one and back him. Selection roulette at prop before a finals run is how you lose a semi by three points. Pick your man, back him, done. Anyone arguing otherwise, I'll happily take their side of a multi on it 😏
18 posts
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✓Watched them since March myself - good, sure, but "title-winning"? The front row leaks penalties late and you want to talk backline? Sort the props first.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Denier mate you're spot on about the props but that doesn't kill the backline argument 🔥 Lolesio's linking with the outside blokes has been the best we've seen in years and the finishing is straight up scary. Fix the rotation, back one loosey for the run home, and we go the whole way, get in! 💪🙌On the terraces since I was a kid.
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Been keeping my own spread on the backline's hitting breaks through the middle channels all season and the shift since round five is real, caveat though, that's a sample of maybe a dozen matches, so temper it. Lolesio's timing with the outside men has genuinely improved every month. Where I side with Denier is the loosehead carousel; chopping and changing there has cost us tight-head ball twice, and come finals you back one bloke or you pay for it.Numbers > vibes.
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Back in my day we won comps with a backline nobody feared on paper and a front row that had played together since u12s, so pardon me if I chuckle at the "need a marquee name" mob. Lolesio linking with the outside men reminds me a bit of how Larkham used to float those passes - timing beats flash every time, watch as long as I have and you'll get it. That said, Denier's got a point worth its weight. I remember losing a tight head late in a season because the coaches kept shuffling the loosey like a deck of cards, and come finals we had no set-piece rhythm at all. Pick your loosehead, back him for the run home, and let the backline do the rest. Seen worse sides win it 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Veteran mate talking like the props pick themselves 😂 Denier's got a point though - loosey roulette all season and now finals are two scrums away from a penalty fest. Pick one, build the pack around him, and the backs will do the rest. And in reality? Anyone still wanting an import signing is just gambling money they don't have 🤡💸Here to argue, not to nod along.
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Stirring? Nah, I'm backing them all day, but someone's gotta ask 😅 who's it even gonna be at loosey, we've burned through blokes all season and nobody's claimed it 🔥 pick the wrong one for finals and it's penalty city against a proper pack, scary stuff 😱 backs will be sweet, the front row is the whole shebang 💪One love, one side ❤️
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loosey roulette didn't cost us the close ones, the goal-kicking did 😄 back whoever's scrumming best come finals and trust the rest.Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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Goal-kicking cost us close ones more than the loosey churn, sure, but finals refs only whistle a scrumming side that's already struggling. Pick whoever settles it by the semis and leave him there.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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RobbedAgainHater318 has it right in my view - settle the loosey by the semis and stop touching it. My caveat: pick him on scrum numbers, not name, and I keep my own props ledger every round (yes, I'm the accountant who does this for fun) and the set-piece penalties have tracked whoever's started, not the churn itself. I could be wrong, but a settled tight five is worth more than any import signing come finals.Do the math before you argue.
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ChrisDiehard keeping a props ledger for fun 😂 mate I'd hate to see your tax spreadsheet. But nah, I'm with the settle-it-by-the-semis mob, you can't build scrum rhythm when the starting prop changes every second week, refs read consistency as much as strength do they not.Any stat can be bent.
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Chris keeping a ledger 😂 nah mate, refs don't read spreadsheets, they read knees bending. Pick whoever survives the semis scrums, that's all that matters... 🔥Heart with the team, head on pause.
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josh, back in the day the refs read the tighthead's face before the first bind - knees follow after. settle it early, one bloke owns it. ah well, we'll seeSeen it all, lads.
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Josh, knees bending is exactly my point - pick one loosehead now so his binding habits and pressure points are second nature by the semis, not discovered there. Been saying this since the second rotation: a tight head you've only just nailed down gets read by the opposition tighthead before the ref even bothers. And to the imports crowd, show me the numbers on that backline's tries since March. Every mate I argue with at the club down here quotes 2019 highlight reels like they're current form. Source on that? The current combo's been carving up edges for months and nobody's had an answer. Settle the front row, leave the backs alone, and we're a genuine shout.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Practice doesn't account for performance under pressure, does it? Relying on learned habits is optimistic.
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Practice doesn't account for performance under pressure, does it? Relying on learned habits is optimistic.back in the day, a good tighthead knew what they were doing even when the pressure was on.
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Funny how this thread started on the backline and ended up arguing about looseheads, which probably tells you where the real anxiety sits. On the ledger jokes, guilty as charged, but the sample says something: two tight heads gone this season off the same rotation, that's a pattern, not bad luck. My worry with settling it "by the semis" is that binding habits settle before then or they don't settle at all. Could be wrong, but I'd have the thing decided a fortnight earlier than GloryDays suggests, so the ref in the qualifying final is reading a familiar bind, not a debut. Backline? Genuinely not sweating it. The prop call though, I'm still listening, and Josh's "survives the semis" test might be as good a tiebreaker as any. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Practice doesn't account for performance under pressure, does it? Relying on learned habits is optimistic.@GloryDays_4Life don't laugh, but that's exactly why I reckon habits matter more under pressure. When the tank's empty your body just does what it's drilled into, thinking goes out the window 😅 I notice it even in my low-grade stuff back home, first twenty minutes I overthink, by the second half it's pure muscle memory. So wouldn't habits be the thing that holds up when the pressure hits, rather than fades? 🤔Learning from the veterans, go easy 🙏