Welcome, once again, to the Weekend Edition. I won’t tell you what happened in games on Friday night, and I’m not going to tell you what I think is going to happen in games that’re on Saturday afternoon, or on Sunday. But, I’m not going to stop you talking about those games in the comments. In fact, I’d love it.
So, what will we write about? I’m interested in the news that falls through the cracks each week. I’m hoping to pick up the odd bit of news that comes in after Hoss’s marathon news-gathering efforts on Fridays. If that fails, I may have to make some shit up.
This week I’m going to look at the Waratahs injury woes. Have a look at retaining players and what keeps them at clubs. And discover where the real lack of talent is in Australian rugby.
Even The Waratahs Don’t Deserve This!
I heard news during the week that Waratahs replacement, replacement, replacement hooker Julian Heaven is out for at least six weeks with an AC joint injury. His injury marks the eighth long-term injury to a front rower and the fourth to a hooker for Darren Coleman’s side this season. That’s an incredible number.
Let’s look at the injuries.
- Julian Heaven — AC joint
- Dave Porecki — Achilles
- Mahe Vailanu — knee
- Theo Fourie — foot
- Thomas Lambert — knee
- Daniel Botha — knee
- Angus Bell — toe
- Tom Ross — knee
That means Gordon hooker, and full-time concreter, Jay Fonokalafi is now the Waratahs number one hooker. I won’t lie, I’m a fan. I think the coaching staff at the Waratahs have done the smart thing here and not chucked a 19-year-old future talent in the deep end. They’ve found a man who has done the hard yards and learnt the dark arts through years of hard graft.
Adding to the Waratahs injury woes are injuries to other key players: Langi Gleeson (calf), Lalakai Foketi (knee), Izzy Perese (back) and Max Jorgensen (hamstring).
None of this is helping coach Darren Coleman keep his job, and, to be honest, I think he probably shouldn’t. But the injuries don’t help. I understand that sometimes you get the coach you can afford, a la Brad Thorn at the Reds a few years ago. I don’t know if this was the case with Coleman at the Tahs, but I can see that being head coach at a Super Rugby team is not the place to learn on the job.
It seems I’ve wandered off-topic. So tell me, do you think this injury crisis is bad luck or bad management? I’m guessing, as in most things, it’s a little of both.
Convincing Players To Stay Home.
Like most of you, I’d heard the rumours swirling around the future of Hunter Paisami. English rugby had come knocking with a big cheque to lure the Reds centre away from his new home. I’d heard things had gone as far as a medical being performed to prove his fitness.
I had just about resigned myself to losing a key member of the Reds squad and a genuinely good player to watch. Furthermore, I knew he had a wife and a young child, and he was looking to secure his future and the one-year deal being offered wasn’t going to cut it.
Paisami knows the difference a year can make. If his contract had been up at the end of 2023 in a year when he’d had injuries and hadn’t set the world on fire, his asking price would have suffered significantly. I could understand where things were going. But, then I saw an Instagram post that had me thinking “hold on, we’re a fucking chance here”.
When I saw the love in the room from and for the family, I knew we were in with a chance. A few days later, my suspicions were confirmed when RA announced a two-year deal for Hunter at the Reds.
The two-year deal is important but, it is almost certainly for less money than the deal in the UK. I feel Hunter and his family are happy living in Queensland, and he is happy at the Reds but, a short term deal didn’t offer them the security they needed.
All of this has been a long-winded way of saying that if we create an environment the people want to be in, they are more likely to stay. So do rugby coaches need to go full Ted Lasso to keep their players from taking big money offers from overseas, or is just winning enough?
No Lack of Talent
‘There’s not enough talent in Australia for five teams.’ I’ve heard it for years and honestly there’s very little proof to back this up. There are plenty of talented rugby players in Australia and plenty of Australian rugby players playing in other countries.
What there isn’t enough of is high quality coaches. The pathways for young, talented coaches in Australia are close to nonexistent outside the two major competitions. From there to Super Rugby coach is a huge step up. I put it to you that if Australian rugby invested in coaches at all levels, playing levels would improve at all levels.
Anecdotally, I’ve been told by a young family moving to Australia from the UK who had been in the system there. The father had been a coach and had done the required training to coach his son. Coming here and continuing to coach, he was shocked at the level of training required to coach his son’s side.
This surely must be some sort of priority if we are to grow our sport.
