{"id":366175,"date":"2024-02-08T00:10:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T01:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366175"},"modified":"2024-02-08T04:04:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T04:04:52","slug":"no-comment-awkward-question-stumps-top-wallaby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366175","title":{"rendered":"'No comment': Awkward question stumps top Wallaby"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the newly crowned John Eales Medallist<\/a>, Rob Valetini had plenty to crow about on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

But one question \ufefffrom Today<\/em>'s Alex Cullen left the Wallabies enforcer a little lost for words the day after the Rugby Australia Awards in Sydney.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffDo you miss Eddie Jones?" Cullen inquired.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season on the home of rugby, Stan Sport, kicking off on February 23.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

"No comment," Valetini replied, before he and fellow award winner Eva Karpani flashed awkward grins.<\/p>\n

Jones, of course, bailed on the Wallabies just 10 months into a five year contract following the historic 2023 Rugby World Cup flop.<\/p>\n

Jones – who was not invited to the awards – is now coaching Japan despite repeatedly denying links to the job during his ill fated Australia tenure.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Disgusting' act slammed as new Kostecki details revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Major concern for NRL star after 'two wasted years'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Premiership star Burgess set to leave Rabbitohs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

\ufeff"You don't have to answer that one anyway, we've all moved on, we've all moved on," Cullen said.<\/p>\n

"He's moved on to Japan and the less said about that the better."<\/p>\n

No.8 Valetini was rewarded for his consistency in 2023, tallying 141 voting points to edge prop Angus Bell (132) and winger Marika Koroibete (116).<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old played \ufeffall nine Tests for Australia last year, earning the respect of his teammates with punishing physicality in both attack and defence.<\/p>\n

"It is a bit strange but I am proud of the boys considering me for this award. It is one of the best you can do. I am truly grateful," Valetini told reporters.<\/p>\n

"There are a few wounds there but I am getting past it and trying to use it as motivation this year.<\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

"After the hard season last year there will be a fire in a lot of players' bellies – the boys that didn't get selected or boys that were selected and were not successful at the Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

"Obviously, there is a new coach as well (Joe Schmidt). It will be a clean slate for everyone and everyone will have to perform in Super Rugby to be picked.<\/p>\n

"Over the offseason I have been trying to work hard and use it as motivation to try and do better, not only for myself but for my teammates as well and for Australian rugby as well, to try and put it in a better place."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the newly crowned John Eales Medallist, Rob Valetini had plenty to crow about on Thursday morning. But one question \ufefffrom Today's Alex Cullen left […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":366179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366182,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366175\/revisions\/366182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/366179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}