wasted talent

padre78

not sure what ye think but IMO Ian Humphreys is the biggest loss to the national side in the last 10 yes. I think it's a travesty the he never got a shot at OH even as cover. what's impact sub. Pity. anyone else agree.

c'mon connacht btw

Rigor Mortis

padre78 wrote: »

not sure what ye think but IMO Ian Humphreys is the biggest loss to the national side in the last 10 yes. I think it's a travesty the he never got a shot at OH even as cover. what's impact sub. Pity. anyone else agree.

c'mon connacht btw

Can't say I'd agree with that

Clegg

I honestly don't agree. He's good with ball in hand but he's an atrocious tackler. Doesn't want anything to do with the physical aspect of the game. O'Gara was a poor tackler too but he at least attempted to slow them down. A speed bump to Humphreys open gate. He was never trusted fully by his coaches.

errlloyd

I completely agree he's wasted talent. I think he has a decent brain and some of the skills of a great player. I'd however lay most of the blame for failure on him.

I'd suggest that players like Paddy Wallace, Jeremy Staunton are more like the kind of wastes you're taking about. Even Mike Ross and Eoin Reddan lost much of their careers.

awec

Is there some other Ian Humphreys somewhere that I don't know about?

duckysauce

no ever see him behind a pack going backwards .... jesus .

Wasted talents are Mads, JJ, and Marmion three massive players . And JJ getting going away just shows that wtf ??? . He is a natural gifted player unreal did'nt get a sniff of the pitch last week even when the chips were down and on bench this week . Foley seems to b e a bitter chap. With Redden out now Marmy is second he would be first if it was my choice , and mads needs to be OH somewhere another natural .

The Lost Sheep

duckysauce wrote: »

no ever see him behind a pack going backwards .... jesus .

Wasted talents are Mads, JJ, and Marmion three massive players. And JJ getting going away just shows that wtf ??? He is a natural gifted player unreal did'nt get a sniff of the pitch last week even when the chips were down and on bench this week. Foley seems to be a bitter chap. With Redden out now Marmy is second he would be first if it was my choice, and mads needs to be OH somewhere another natural.

How are a 22 year old JJ and 22 year old Marmion wasted talents?

Hagz

I don't think he's a wasted talent but I do think he's underrated, particularly by his own fans.

errlloyd

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

How are a 22 year old JJ and 22 year old Marmion wasted talents?

I'd argue at this point marmion's talent has reached maximum exploitation. Did someone say he's play 74 games for connacht.

The Lost Sheep

Hagz wrote: »

I don't think he's a wasted talent but I do think he's underrated, particularly by his own fans.

Who are you referring to?

errlloyd wrote: »

I'd argue at this point marmion's talent has reached maximum exploitation. Did someone say he's play 74 games for connacht.

Has it? He's played 70+ games for Connacht and 2 seasons in group stage of H Cup but should we not see how he maybe does in internationals etc before saying he has reached maximum....

Fireball07

Ian Humphreys has ability, but I don't think he was ever set to be better than he is/was...


JJ and Marmion can't be wasted talents, they're extremely young!


A wasted talent is someone who was lost to injury like EOM or McKinley or players who never reached their full potential for similar reasons like Darragh Hurley.


I'd argue that TOL was a wasted talent, too much time playing scrum-half when it was clear he couldn't do the basics of the position. Everything else he did brilliantly, stick him in almost any other back-line position and he'd have been an even better player.

moleyv

waste of air more like.

errlloyd

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Has it? He's played 70+ games for Connacht and 2 seasons in group stage of H Cup but should we not see how he maybe does in internationals etc before saying he has reached maximum....

It wasn't clear that I meant "so far". I don't feel he started late, or got stuck behind anyone or anything, I think he's had the right amount of chances and taken them well.

yosser hughes

padre78 wrote: »

not sure what ye think but IMO Ian Humphreys is the biggest loss to the national side in the last 10 yes. I think it's a travesty the he never got a shot at OH even as cover. what's impact sub. Pity. anyone else agree.

c'mon connacht btw

No. You haven't watched or played enough rugby to know.
Ian Humphreys has had his opportunities. More than most in fact. He's actually made the most of his talents.
You couldn't be more wrong/

wp_rathead

yosser hughes wrote: »

No. You haven't watched or played enough rugby to know.
Ian Humphreys has had his opportunities. More than most in fact. He's actually made the most of his talents.
You couldn't be more wrong/

Tad of topic, but people saying the bolded line is a pet peeve of mine..it is unnecessary

Hagz

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Who are you referring to?

Ian Humphreys.

Fireball07

errlloyd wrote: »

I completely agree he's wasted talent. I think he has a decent brain and some of the skills of a great player. I'd however lay most of the blame for failure on him.

I'd suggest that players like Paddy Wallace, Jeremy Staunton are more like the kind of wastes you're taking about. Even Mike Ross and Eoin Reddan lost much of their careers.

Paddy Wallace was a wonderful footballer, could you really considered him a wasted talent?


Jeremy Staunton is probably the answer that everyone would be thinking for this question.

yosser hughes

wprathead wrote: »

Tad of topic, but people saying the bolded line is a pet peeve of mine..it is unnecessary

Is it? Thanks for sharing

Mahatma Geansai

duckysauce wrote: »

no ever see him behind a pack going backwards .... jesus .

Wasted talents are Mads, JJ, and Marmion three massive players . And JJ getting going away just shows that wtf ??? . He is a natural gifted player unreal did'nt get a sniff of the pitch last week even when the chips were down and on bench this week . Foley seems to b e a bitter chap. With Redden out now Marmy is second he would be first if it was my choice , and mads needs to be OH somewhere another natural .

Wait, you think that Marmionn should be first choice for Ireland? :eek:

Winters

Waste of a thread?

total former

Bob Casey

Swiwi.

Doug Howlett. The time he kicked that car. Now that was a wasted talent...

sydthebeat

Ian Humphrys had gotten, and is getting, the most his talents will allow. Id argue its actually questionable if he would have played so many games for ulster in his first stint had his brother not been DOR.

I think he can be wonderful with ball in hand and he can have good day with the boot (more often than not) but his defense (terrible) and accuracy under pressure (questionable) are the two reasons he never got beyond A level for Ireland.

bilston

Fireball07 wrote: »

Paddy Wallace was a wonderful footballer, could you really considered him a wasted talent?


Jeremy Staunton is probably the answer that everyone would be thinking for this question.

The problem with Wallace is that it was discovered that 12 was his best position when he was 26 or 27. Even then coaches faffed around playing him at 10 from time to time and it was actually.playing 10 when he buggered his knee. If he had nailed down 12 as his position at the age of 20 or 21 then MAYBE we would be talking about Wallace and O'Driscoll being the greatest Irish midfield rather than D'Arcy and O'Driscoll.

Jeremy Staunton was a wasted talent but was unfortunate to come through when ROG was at his peak, what about that Munster centre who a lot of.people raved about? He never pursued a professional career IIRC but was meant to be very good. McCarthy?

Ian Humphreys isn't a wasted talent, he has actually made a decent career for himself, but was never as consistent as his big bro Amd therefore was never likely to play for Ireland.

pickarooney

Jeremy Staunton won a Heineken cup, a Celtic league, four English premiership titles and five international caps. WFT are you people on about him being a wasted talent?

bilston

pickarooney wrote: »

Jeremy Staunton won a Heineken cup, a Celtic league, four English premiership titles and five international caps. WFT are you people on about him being a wasted talent?

5 international caps is the disappointing aspect.

Wang King

To my mind it has to be Jeremy Staunton, would perhaps have made a wonderful ball playing 12 at Munster

Buer

Staunton has to be up there, absolutely.

In terms of a waste I would personally go with Ian McKinley, through no fault of his own. What a talent. I have no doubt whatsoever that he'd be starting against Italy if life hadn't turned out the way it did. He was simply the most accomplished young outhalf I've ever seen in this country.

Heroditas

total former wrote: »

Bob Casey

A modern day Neil Francis - fantastic lineout operator but didn't offer much else around the park due to a chronic lack of pace. He made Tom Denton look like Usain Bolt.
Carved out a decent enough career with London Irish but I wouldn't say he was a wasted talent. He made the most of what he had.

bilston

Buer wrote: »

Staunton has to be up there, absolutely.

In terms of a waste I would personally go with Ian McKinley, through no fault of his own. What a talent. I have no doubt whatsoever that he'd be starting against Italy if life hadn't turned out the way it did. He was simply the most accomplished young outhalf I've ever seen in this country.

If we are going down the injury route then I'd add Ciaran Scally and David Pollock to that list, but obviously like McKinley not their fault.

total former

pickarooney wrote: »

Jeremy Staunton won a Heineken cup, a Celtic league, four English premiership titles and five international caps. WFT are you people on about him being a wasted talent?

And he was completely peripheral to all of the above.

It's a great haul of medals but Staunton was tipped to become world class once he overtook O'Gara, and that was considered inevitable.

Actually, it's not a million miles from the JJ Hanrahan situation...

budhabob

Buer wrote: »

Staunton has to be up there, absolutely.

In terms of a waste I would personally go with Ian McKinley, through no fault of his own. What a talent. I have no doubt whatsoever that he'd be starting against Italy if life hadn't turned out the way it did. He was simply the most accomplished young outhalf I've ever seen in this country.

If we're referring to wastage due to injury, then I think Barry Murphy has to be up there. A great talent whose body just wasnt up to Pro Rugby.

total former

Heroditas wrote: »

A modern day Neil Francis - fantastic lineout operator but didn't offer much else around the park due to a chronic lack of pace. He made Tom Denton look like Usain Bolt.
Carved out a decent enough career with London Irish but I wouldn't say he was a wasted talent. He made the most of what he had.

Possibly, I always thought that he had the raw material but didn't work hard enough to really reach his potential.

Heroditas

total former wrote: »

Possibly, I always thought that he had the raw material but didn't work hard enough to really reach his potential.

He was alright in his early career with Leinster but got displaced by Leo fairly quickly and then let.
I think he did reach his potential - a lock with a mid-table team.
He just wasn't good enough and reached his ceiling with the Blackrock senior cup team.

EDIT: his later international appearances were a disgrace IMO (I think one was against Canada and he was invisible)

errlloyd

How about Shane Byrne? Made his international debut at like 30 right? Went on to be a Lion, but I feel he was such a late bloomer we missed out on the best he had.

connemara man

Just putting it out there but Niall O Connor :pac: :P

Wang King

connemara man wrote: »

Just putting it out there but Niall O Connor :PAC:

Did he have anything to waste?.....

connemara man

Wang King wrote: »

Did he have anything to waste?.....

He could of had a flourishing career......... Doing anything else :P

The Ape

Donnacha Ryan is 31, Phenomenal player but only solidified his place in the past few years and has been plagued with injury for the past year.

Wang King

The Ape wrote: »

Donnacha Ryan is 31, Phenomenal player but only solidified his place in the past few years and has been plagued with injury for the past year.

Could we put Ferris in this grouping? A player who's career was eventually destroyed by injury

jacothelad

Wang King wrote: »

Did he have anything to waste?.....

A fantastic golf game.....

jacothelad

Rodney O'Donnell, Colin Patterson and Nigel Carr.

phily2002

Tony Buckley for me was the biggest waste of talent...
Never felt IH was a waste of talent, good player but couldn't see him holding his own against the worlds best

.ak

wprathead wrote: »

Tad of topic, but people saying the bolded line is a pet peeve of mine..it is unnecessary

Its also a no-no here. So for everyone, please don't do this. It falls under our 'don't be a dick rule'

blinding

jacothelad wrote: »

Rodney O'Donnell, Colin Patterson and Nigel Carr.

Rodney O'Donnell looked great in the few appearances he had for Ireland before injury finished his career.

Colin Paterson was probably the best Irish scrumhalf that I have seen.

Its very hard to judge how good and for how long players that have had such injuries could have been.

I would have thought that Nigel Carr had a good career. (Rugby was tough in them their days. He was a tough guy who could take it and dish it out)

jacothelad

blinding wrote: »

Rodney O'Donnell looked great in the few appearances he had for Ireland before injury finished his career.

Colin Paterson was probably the best Irish scrumhalf that I have seen.

Its very hard to judge how good and for how long players that have had such injuries could have been.

I would have thought that Nigel Carr had a good career. (Rugby was tough in them their days. He was a tough guy who could take it and dish it out)

Carr's career was ended at 27 by an IRA bomb on his way to Dublin for an International training session. David Irwin and Chipper Rainey were injured.

"
Heroically, Dr Irwin, pictured left, then pulled Mr Carr and Mr Rainey from the car. That may have saved their lives.
"I tried to haul Nigel out, but his feet were trapped. I managed to pull them out of his trainers and carried him to the roadside and went back for Philip."
Amongst his injuries, which ended his hopes of going to that year's rugby world cup and finished his rugby career at the age of 27, Dr Nigel Carr – now with the innovation, research and technology division at Invest NI – had rib fractures, an injured spleen and a broken leg. He was working in forensics at the time and says that some of the first people on the scene were his colleagues from forensics.


The O'Connor sisters say that it seemed quite a while before anyone came to help and that there were worries of a second bomb, as well as the prospect of a cold-blooded IRA murderer observing the scene. Jennifer O'Connor said: "I looked at the hills and thought somebody is sitting there laughing, thinking they'd done a good job."


Now that is a wasted talent.

moleyv

Wang King wrote:

Could we put Ferris in this grouping? A player who's career was eventually destroyed by injury

Denis Leamy too

desertcircus

Outside of Ireland: Danny Cipriani.

moleyv

desertcircus wrote:

Outside of Ireland: Danny Cipriani.

he might have his chance this season. Personally I hope he does great.

bilston

Gavin Henson

pickarooney

total former wrote: »

And he was completely peripheral to all of the above.

It's a great haul of medals but Staunton was tipped to become world class once he overtook O'Gara, and that was considered inevitable.

Actually, it's not a million miles from the JJ Hanrahan situation...

So at every club he went to he, he was never good enough to make the 10 shirt his own. Maybe he just wasn't that brilliant and made the most of what he had in terms of career success?