2013 Waratahs Season preview

Halves

The scrum-half/fly-half combinationis the key to any team’s performance, and to be frank recent years have borne this out. With Burgess going we suddenly realised he was a pretty strong halfback. Pretorius was signed, and looked a great prospect before mysteriously disappearing from sight (with the rugby media spreading revisionist rumours as to why months later). McKibbin did a workmanlike job at times, but never set the game on fire, with Hart being trialled towards the end. Barnes is in my opinion a good player, but not necessarily a great one with that X factor along the lines of Cooper or Beale.

However, from seeing his performances with the Wallabies I suspect his best is obtained with a strong game plan and structure, both of which seemed lacking at the Tahs recently. I think he also needs a strong and stable scrum-half partner. To my mind the halves could perform a lot better this year with better structure and game plans, but the scrum-half position will be the crucial one.

Fans

Crowds have steadily eroded from the glory days of 10 years ago when the Tahs were a hot ticket and the SFS threatened to sell out for big games. Why? What’s there worth watching? Between the team playing ‘winning ugly’ (and not actually winning) in recent years, and the NSWRU being seen to fiddle while Rome burned, fans dropped like flies. From personal experience, long-standing season pass members disappeared in my area and weren’t replaced. Anecdotally, hardcore rugby fans swore off the Tahs and refused to return while the current tripe was dished up. They won’t come back until two things are delivered – first, entertaining rugby, and second, signs this isn’t a flash in the pan.

NSW fans have learnt long ago one or a few decent performances, or motherhood statements by the CEO or coach, don’t show the team has changed its culture and direction to what the fans want. Which is? The Tahs building themselves to be the Crusaders or Bulls of the Australian rugby conference – consistent results and good rugby, and stability. The fans are deeply cynical and disillusioned, and won’t be won back in a hurry. Just as rebuilding the team could take a while, rebuilding the support base will take even longer. And I don’t mean flash-in-the-pan spectacle fans who might turn up for a few games to see how Folau plays.

Overall

I am hopeful 2013 will see some serious improvement from the Tahs, and that as the first of several years leading into NSW hopefully becoming the Super Rugby title-winning powerhouse all Tahs fans have been waiting almost 20 years for. I’m not expecting them to top the conference and win the title, but playing attractive rugby and contending for the conference title and making the semis are probably the aim. Missing the finals while being attractive and competitive would probably be a pass mark.

The fact is, after so many years of disappointment, I’ve learnt to expect nothing and take what I can get. If I expect a repeat of 2012 (which actually I’d bloody well hope for better than) and get a better result, I’ll be content! Like I said, we Tahs fans are now a deeply cynical and pessimistic lot!