{"id":387631,"date":"2026-04-19T19:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/387631\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T19:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:12:15","slug":"eddie-jones-bold-prediction-amid-brodie-retallick-all-blacks-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/387631\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Jones’ bold prediction amid Brodie Retallick All Blacks talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie Jones says that Brodie Retallick\u2019s form has shown that modern day players can maintain their standards for longer amid talk of his All Blacks return.<\/p>\n

The Test centurion is currently out of the international reckoning and has been so since the conclusion of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but new head coach Dave Rennie wants to bring him back home.<\/p>\n

Rennie<\/a>, in his job with Kobelco Kobe Steelers, has watched Retallick<\/a> play outstandingly well for his side in the Japan Rugby League One.<\/p>\n

Almost 35 but still going strong<\/p>\n

Jones<\/a> insists that the All Blacks<\/a> boss is right to want him back in the equation despite the lock turning 35 in May.<\/p>\n

The current Japan head honcho reckons more players will be able to last until well into their 30s even though there are still vast physical demands placed on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like 35 is the new 30. Because they\u2019re physically in so much better condition and the good players train 12 months of the year, and they keep getting better,\u201d the ex-England head coach told the Rugby Unity podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cRichie Mo\u2019unga does 360 touches of a ball on a Tuesday morning to get better. They\u2019re committed, they\u2019re obviously earning good money which is incentivising them to play longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll see more and more players playing into their mid-30s. The age that we once thought players would decline, particularly for the less obvious speed positions, I think players can play for much longer now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eddie Jones: Brodie Retallick has the facet that \u2018differentiates\u2019 All Blacks, he maintains those standards to the \u2018highest extreme\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Ewen McKenzie joined Jones on the show and he agreed with his fellow former Wallabies boss, insisting that the change in the game has enabled individuals to play longer.<\/p>\n

Rugby has become \u2018homogenised\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that the game\u2019s set up, players like myself and the way the scrums were \u2013 we had twice as many scrums back in the day \u2013 the reality is that you pay the price post-rugby,\u201d McKenzie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a more defined game now, everyone\u2019s got similar roles. Everyone can attack the ball, everyone\u2019s got to tackle, everyone\u2019s got to carry the ball \u2013 that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re in the team because you\u2019re a good scrummager, that\u2019s not so relevant anymore. Or your lineout like a Steve Cutler, who was in there because of his lineout.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can all be fudged now, you have to be able to carry the ball, you\u2019ve got to be able to tackle well and you\u2019ve got to be able to get around the park, but that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s homogenised the whole game. I\u2019m not saying that\u2019s a negative thing but that\u2019s the reality. Therefore, you can focus in terms of your preparation, your training and whatever. You can be better prepared physically to be able to play longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Brodie Retallick adds caveat to \u2018no consideration\u2019 response to Dave Rennie\u2019s All Blacks return call<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Jones says that Brodie Retallick\u2019s form has shown that modern day players can maintain their standards for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[142359,28149,1463,1464,1759,111,43,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-387631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-brodie-retallick","9":"tag-eddie-jones","10":"tag-home-page","11":"tag-internationals","12":"tag-japan","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}