Couldn't cut the Brumbies because until this year they were the best performing Aus side since the Tahs in 2014. The Brumbies woes this year are similar to those of the Reds and Rebels, and the Tahs up til this year. They are very poorly coached. Their skill levels are deteriorating, and they have no direction towards playing winning rugby.
Fix these issues and the wins will start again, and the crowds will start to return. Sadly, I can't see anything positive happening for some time yet.
The performance on the field while important should not have been the deciding factor. It should have been future performance on AND off the field. In my opinion this means the Brumbies should stay.
There is no reason why they cant get back to their best, it will take a while but I think they could get back to 20000 crowds to rugby if the right things are done, the type of game played, success, high profile players etc as well as a better stadium (indoor?)
I cannot see the Rebels or Perth ever getting close to what the Brumbies can get to.
It was a great decision to keep them and if anything I would have cut the Rebels and had some type of merger with the Brumbies to share their "territory".
I think it will be at least 5 years until we will have rugby close to where it has previously been, maybe 10.
The way to fix the future is through the kids playing the game, we need to coach skills that are lacking throughout representative rugby to 12 year olds and stick with it. Our current teams will not right the ship, it will be the players who are not even contracted.
