Against the Head Back!

Digifriendly

'Against the Head' resumes on Monday at 7.00pm on RTE2.
Looks like this will run the course of the 6 Nations and probably beyond. Maybe there will be brief highlights of the 'A' game.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/againstthehead.html

Badgermonkey

I wish they'd give Eoin McDevitt from 'Off the Ball' a crack at it.

Not likely, due to Newstalk association.

I've always found Against the Head a terribly dull watch tbh.

stephen_n

Badgermonkey wrote: »

Not likely, due to Newstalk tbh.

Doesn't stop them using Hook

wixfjord

Badgermonkey wrote: »

I wish they'd give Eoin McDevitt from 'Off the Ball' a crack at it.

Not likely, due to Newstalk association.

I've always found Against the Head a terribly dull watch tbh.

Joanne and Mark fairly add to that terrible dullness.

irishbucsfan

No Alan Quinlan please. He's awfully boring and rarely says anything interesting on air. As much of a legend as he is and all.

CatFromHue

no current players full stop!

watching luke fitzgerald and alan quinlan last year was painfull. they're just not an a position to give their honest opinion.

i cant see eoin mcdevitt getting a run either as off the ball starts at 7pm.

actually no frankie sheehan or victor costello either as they dont really contribute much other than cliches (victor especially).

gerry thornley, brendan fanning, liam toland or emmet byrne would be good. thats of the last two arent working for setanta anymore. matt williams would be a great addition, again if he isnt still with setanta ( i upgraded to sky last year so no longer have setanta)

i wonder if we'll see michael bradley make an appearance?

Trojan

Agreed on the current players thing. Heaslip was incredibly boring on the Setanta iTalk show with the boxer there a couple weeks back. Legend of a player, desperately correct, polite and uninteresting when questioned about the game.

CatFromHue

heaslip is better when he is not a show....but texting in questions for the panel!

duckysauce

CatFromHue wrote: »

i cant see eoin mcdevitt getting a run either as off the ball starts at 7pm.

actually no frankie sheehan or victor costello either as they dont really contribute much other than cliches (victor especially).

doubt Against the Head is live so it wouldn't conflict with his radio programme, hopefully no more T -R - Y from Mark cringefest stuff

Badgermonkey

stephen_n wrote: »

Doesn't stop them using Hook

His brief on Newstalk ain't sport though.

You could imagine Des Cahill et al getting worried if any young turks like McDevitt were granted access. Though I recall Ger Gilroy presented something on RTE.

lologram

McDevitt is a quality presenter, better than anything RTE are going to put forward.

If presenting Off The Ball clashed, Ger Gilroy could do it. As far as I know, he only does the weekend sports shows on Newstalk, and he has worked with RTE before.

JustinDee

duckysauce wrote: »

hopefully no more T -R - Y from Mark cringefest stuff

Does he does really do the "Stevo" when a try is scored?

trackguy

Frankie Sheahan just came up with a gem of a reason for playing John Hayes.

Apparently, when introducing Tony Buckley into the Munster team, Kidney would start him but keep Pucciarello on the bench as a security option should Buckley be struggling.

So, Frankie says it follows that Deccie just might...... play Hayes and Court, and keep Ross on the bench as security!

Seriously, is that actually a reason? I have serious reservations about Sheahan as a pundit if he is that blinkered.

Risteard

Not to mention that Hayes is injured.

trackguy

Risteard wrote: »

Not to mention that Hayes is injured.

I don't think he even mentioned Healy either.

Haha he couldn't even bring himself to bring DOC's selection into question.

Podge_irl

Sheehan should be fired from all punditry positions until he can demonstrate he's not biased towards his old mates or (more importantly) the players his PR company is contracted to.

He's a joke at this stage.

wixfjord

The man is incredibly biased.
It'd be like one of us doing punditry for RTE.
Anyone remember his blog last year?! :pac:

trackguy

wixfjord wrote: »

The man is incredibly biased.
It'd be like one of us doing punditry for RTE.
Anyone remember his blog last year?! :pac:

I honestly think that you'd struggle to find many ppl here as biased as him.

He ignored Healy and discounted Ross as starters in the front row and didn't give any consideration to Cullen being selected. When quizzed about DOC all he could muster was something along the lines of 'Well there's Mick O'Driscoll too!'

In all seriousness, he is way too close to the Munster players to be a pundit. He's TOL's and Wallace's agent ffs.

Say what you want about George Hook but at least he has standards in that regard. He has gone on the record as saying he distanced himself from EOS, who he had a professional and personal history with, so that he could be objective.

thomond2006

Frankie's old boys club must be pretty exclusive!

profitius

trackguy wrote: »

I honestly think that you'd struggle to find many ppl here as biased as him.

RTE has Sheehan but we've Jackass.

Honey-ec

Joanne Cantwell - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

George Hook - arrgggggggggggghhhhhhhh

If they replace those two (and not with Gerry Thornley) then I might break my ATH embargo this year.

sock puppet

profitius wrote: »

RTE has Sheehan but we've Jackass.

It just isn't the same without Goose and thehighground.

thomond2006

sock puppet wrote: »

It just isn't the same without Goose and thehighground.

I hate being unbiased, not as much fun tbh.

I wonder what happened to the old thomond who wanted Ronan and Dowling to start for Ireland...

The Rooster

I was really worried after he gave Wallace man of the match v L.Irish (remember Wallace had a quiet game, and it was only after he went off that Munster played really well, scoring 3 tries) that there was a betting scam and that he'd be in big trouble.

Thankfully it was nothing as untoward as that and was just old fashioned nepotism!

Podge_irl

The Rooster wrote: »

I was really worried after he gave Wallace man of the match v L.Irish (remember Wallace had a quiet game, and it was only after he went off that Munster played really well, scoring 3 tries) that there was a betting scam and that he'd be in big trouble.

Thankfully it was nothing as untoward as that and was just old fashioned nepotism!

His PR company manages Wallace. It benefits him to give the MOM to Wallace, it was a joke decision.

sock puppet

sock puppet wrote: »

It just isn't the same without Goose and thehighground.

Maybe we could give them a padded room type thread to debate in? Would be interesting stuff I think.

Both knew plenty about rugby, but were too far gone in fanatical ways to debate/discuss normally!

tolosenc

Podge_irl wrote: »

it was a joke decision.

IIRC, that's what Wallace thought too...

CatFromHue

i just watched the show on rte player and thought it was all right. for a 30 mins show it has a lot to cover so will never get too in detail.

i do like thornley and glennon.

sheehan come across as being too close to the munster players. it was funny when he started talking about doc. the presenter seemed to be pushing him on who should be partnering poc knowing that he'd want to defend his mates and he looked very uncomfortable. then when glennon started going on about cullen i did start to laugh!

they did a quick round up of the A game and the ail games too which i liked (even if the voice over guy mixed up marys and young munster!)

Podge_irl

tolosenc wrote: »

IIRC, that's what Wallace thought too...

He did in fairness to him. I don't blame Wallace for it. I don't entirely blame Sheehan for it. I fail to understand why people keep employing him though.