Dctarget
Tim Horan (67)
Rebels will goto the championship with Montyball
Aussie Player Exodus
- Thread starter swingpass
- Start date
Wilson
Phil Kearns (64)
Would be an odd choice for them to leave super rugby, but I guess they'll be a bit more competitive in England's second division
Dctarget
Tim Horan (67)
I'm sure we'd find a way to lose that too
molman
Jim Lenehan (48)
They're in an odd place the Reds. I feel like their strongest squad was a year or two back. There is still oodles of talent there and you can see how quickly things can turn around if you look at the Tah's 22 season after that shocking 21 season. It's hard to judge if Thorn is still the right option from the outside, I really don't think he was up to it at the beginning, but now. I did always appreciate his hard-line on standards and his clear aim to set a strong culture. When you hear Quade, Hunt etc.. and others talk about how they were during those periods you can see why some hard decisions were made, especially when you have these influences who could have easily lead a very young team of players astray. I'm just not sure they've ever taken that next step to the rugby standards they obviously aspire to.
Foote probably needed some more time and experience as an assistant before taking on the head job. It'll be interesting to see how Sampson goes down there. It's got to be a hard team to create culture and identity around when it's had such a transient squad over the years. Though Hodge isn't too far off topping Tom Englishes 97 caps.
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
Hanigan and Holloway to Clermont?
Dctarget
Tim Horan (67)
Apparently Holloway is going in Hanigan's place
Marce
John Hipwell (52)
A smart move on their part
molman
Jim Lenehan (48)
Personally think it's a shame. Shown a real positive work ethic that can only be good for the younger lads coming through.
The Ghost of Raelene
David Codey (61)
Yeah it is, but I’m sure he’s feeling pretty fulfilled after coming back from Munster and getting into the Wallabies and is still likely to go to the RWC. Can no doubt sign a more lucrative deal now following some good form.
Drew
Bob Davidson (42)
Yes, good luck to him post rwc. He finally started playing to his potential and should make the most of his career.
On another note, not sure it counts as player exodus, but anyone else notice the subway ads on tv with the fake honey badger? Gold jersey, bushy hair with headband, but it’s not him? Is off doing ads in Japan or Europe?
On another note, not sure it counts as player exodus, but anyone else notice the subway ads on tv with the fake honey badger? Gold jersey, bushy hair with headband, but it’s not him? Is off doing ads in Japan or Europe?
The Ghost of Raelene
David Codey (61)
I still expect Hodge to be around the Wallabies squad come RWC regardless of this. I think players at his age have to look for the best contract available. It's probably the last big one you will get if its 3 years or more. Not sure if the same deals may have been in Aus given its a RWC year and surely there is some sort of future planning for 2027. I know there is the Lions in 2025 but that is a great opportunity to test the players you want for the 27 RWC.
Hodge has been great for the Rebels and seems to be a really good character guy to have in your squads.
Hodge has been great for the Rebels and seems to be a really good character guy to have in your squads.
Derpus
Nathan Sharpe (72)
‘Australian rugby let me down’: The giant who rejected Eddie and NFL for France
Emmanuel Meafou is 145kg, 202cm and one of the best players in European rugby. He plans to play for France. Meafou is also Australian and couldn’t get a start here.
I know DC has been talking about him for a while but man we need to fix this shit. How can the Tahs, who have had zero strong locking options since 2018, decide that a fucking giant is in the 'too hard' basket when all he needs is some dedicated PT time.
Fucken useless pricks.
Wilson
Phil Kearns (64)
It's surprising given the timeline the tahs didn't take a punt on him instead of someone like Le Roux Roets, but there's so little room in the squads right now for guys who need to go "pro" to make it but are a year or two off playing professionally. It becomes a big gamble to make, and is well beyond simple talent Id. The only guys I can think of who were signed to full squad positions at a super side knowing they wouldn't play are Tupou and Lynagh, both of whom were about as sure a bet as you could make at the time. Most of the other guys signed early are players like Beale, O'Connor and Cooper who were pretty much ready to go from the start.‘Australian rugby let me down’: The giant who rejected Eddie and NFL for France
Emmanuel Meafou is 145kg, 202cm and one of the best players in European rugby. He plans to play for France. Meafou is also Australian and couldn’t get a start here.www.smh.com.au
I know DC has been talking about him for a while but man we need to fix this shit. How can the Tahs, who have had zero strong locking options since 2018, decide that a fucking giant is in the 'too hard' basket when all he needs is some dedicated PT time.
Fucken useless pricks.
Without a fulltime professional level below super rugby we're going to need to need to find a way to make these contracts work though, or else we'll keep on loosing guys to Europe and rugby league, were the professional programs run much deeper and they can afford to take those bets. It's going to hurt us in the tight 5 more than anywhere else too, given the time it can take those guys to mature into their bodies.
TSR
Andrew Slack (58)
I was talking to one of the guys at a Prem club and they are looking to farm a guy to Europe because they think he has enormous potential but is a project player and needs 2-3 yrs in a pro environment to develop and they didn’t think he could be accommodated here. They didn’appear to be critical of the Super teams. They saw it as a commercial reality that the squads needed to be targeted with their investment and this guy would be more of a speculative investment.
Wilson
Phil Kearns (64)
I wonder if we'll see more of this sort of thing as teams develop partnerships internationally. It has the added advantage of giving the guy an opportunity to travel and live overseas for a while, hopefully making him easier to retain in the future. Certainly the Japanese partnerships look to be growing and MLR is probably a great space to invest more into, particularly given they aren't offering top tier money to compete with a fulltime space in a super squad.
It's certainly a risk though, particularly when that foreign club (or another in the comp) might be able to offer more once he has been developed. I guess at the end of the day that doesn't necessarily leave you any worse off if you couldn't have retained him without sending him os though. I think you'd probably have to accept there would be an attrition rate and trust that overtime the partnerships would let you retain and develop more talent than you lost.
Adam84
Rod McCall (65)
Yeah was having this chat on Twitter also.
CBA/Salary Cap doesn’t allow Super Rugby clubs to offer full-time development contracts to players who aren’t going to offer a return for 2-3 years. They do have academy contracts, but they’re part time and CBA limits them.
Most Super Rugby clubs will use 30-35 players in a season, which is more then the number of full time positions that they’re currently allowed anyway.
Offering full time contracts to players like Jorgensen straight out of school is a rarity, and even then that’s usually reserved for backs who are likely to be physically ready for Super Rugby much earlier then a tight forward.
Realistically each club needs to have the ability to contract a further 10 players, give them the luxury of reserving squad spots for players who might take 18months to 2 years to be physically up to it. But that’s a further $5million a year in salaries that RA needs to find.
Pass it to Dunning!
Bob Loudon (25)
It's not like he wasn't given a chance to make an impression. He was largely a bench player for the Rats but still got time in the NRC. And in the NRC he was too big and slow to make an impact. Meanwhile the Tahs had Rob Simmons, Tom Staniforth, Jed Holloway and Ned Hanigan on the books in 2019.‘Australian rugby let me down’: The giant who rejected Eddie and NFL for France
Emmanuel Meafou is 145kg, 202cm and one of the best players in European rugby. He plans to play for France. Meafou is also Australian and couldn’t get a start here.
I know DC has been talking about him for a while but man we need to fix this shit. How can the Tahs, who have had zero strong locking options since 2018, decide that a fucking giant is in the 'too hard' basket when all he needs is some dedicated PT time.
Fucken useless pricks.
Besides, we assume Meafou will be good internationally because he's playing well in northern hemisphere club rugby. As if we haven't already tried that with every other player who turned out to be duds when they got in a gold jersey.