Australian Rugby / RA

[sunnyboys]

I think you need to do a bit more research into the 10 captains. McCall, Little and Sharpe are all Queenslanders, add Moore that’s 4/10. The only ones who played for NSW are NFJ, Kearns and Poidevin, both of Smith and Mortlock are from NSW but never played for the Tahs. And Gregan is true blue ACT.

yes i could have phrased that better. Little Sharpe and Moore all ended their careers/or spent a majority of their careers outside the QLD sphere of influence. Moore only came back for $$ and demanding a board seat. I guess the other way I could have phrased it was to point out the number of QLD captains who didnt sign.

 

[sunnyboys]

Have I suggested this? If so apologies, my intention was that the Unions should take much better control of their votes.



Here's the thing, though - 6 months takes us through the broadcast negotiations, and the intentions of what the pro game looks like going forward. So we get locked in to a deal done by a short termer who has no downside to the shiteness of his decisions.

A bloke who already has shown his enthusiasm for, or at least acceptance of Shrink to Greatness.

Back to the shanky post - there is more than a pique of self digust. Much more. Still, I have little to argue with your suggestion that there is little to no self disgust within the board.

yeah having 'interims' managing long term structures like comps and tv deals isnt ideal. not at all. you would hope McLennan is involved earlier than June 30 as part of a transition

 

[KOB1987]

yes i could have phrased that better. Little Sharpe and Moore all ended their careers/or spent a majority of their careers outside the QLD sphere of influence. Moore only came back for $$ and demanding a board seat. I guess the other way I could have phrased it was to point out the number of QLD captains who didnt sign.

Sharpe of course was instrumental with the Force, Little moved to NSW late in his career to commence the post-rugby stage of his career. I don’t think anyone can argue these two and Moore don’t value Queensland rugby. It’s probably equally as pertinent, maybe more so, to point out the number of NSW captains who didn’t sign.

 

[Boof1050]

So correct me if im wrong but there is still 4 board members who have been there through some of the biggest clusterfucks the game has seen, 1 has been on the board since 2005? Seems like some are very comfortable with a nice little power clique they've got happening. I'm certainly not advocating for the Wiggs saga, nor Kearns as CEO but massive questions may need to be asked about a bloke who has been on the board for 15 YEARS and presided over a hell of a lot of decline in the game and is still manouvering around the states getting support.
Smells mighty bloody fishy to me!
I'm sensing there wont be many changes to the playing arena and Super will reign for Australian Rugby.

 

[dru]

Sounds like the old cardigan brigade taking action against the new cardigan brigade.

“That’s not how we do it, old boy, you need to make more effort on pretence.”

 

[Pfitzy]

Ha! This is great. Fuck off Wiggs you twat. It isn't a dictatorship.

Well, at least not until I get appointed Benevolent-Dictator-For-Life.

 

[kiap]

massive questions may need to be asked about a bloke who has been on the board for 15 YEARS and presided over a hell of a lot of decline in the game and is still manouvering around the states getting support.

McLean joined the board in mid 2013. There is a 9 year max limit, so he will reach 7 years in July.

The role of ARU president, which he performed back in 2005, is not a board director position that can vote on stuff. It's sort of a ceremonial gig, one of three at RA if there are also a couple of deputy presidents presenting jerseys (or whatever) too.

 

[hoggy]

So correct me if im wrong but there is still 4 board members who have been there through some of the biggest clusterfucks the game has seen, 1 has been on the board since 2005? Seems like some are very comfortable with a nice little power clique they've got happening. I'm certainly not advocating for the Wiggs saga, nor Kearns as CEO but massive questions may need to be asked about a bloke who has been on the board for 15 YEARS and presided over a hell of a lot of decline in the game and is still manouvering around the states getting support.
Smells mighty bloody fishy to me!
I'm sensing there wont be many changes to the playing arena and Super will reign for Australian Rugby.

And Rob Clarke making statements about reviewing Super rugby and moving forward.

 

[barbarian]

A few here want the Board to resign en masse, but is that justified in this latest saga?

I reckon the Board for once did the right thing. From my reading of the situation, Wiggs was trying to steamroll the Board into making a CEO appointment with absolutely no process and a distinct smell about the whole thing. He threatened to resign if they didn't comply with his wishes.

The Board, to their credit, stuck to their guns and told him to go jump. For a code where this type of backbone has been all too rare, this is one instance where we should applaud them.

Rather than it being a sign everything is rooted, I reckon it's a sign we've got the right people around the table.

Am I a blind optimist? Maybe. But I just can't see how Wiggs departure and the circumstances surrounding it reflects poorly on the remaining Board members.

 

[Boof1050]

McLean joined the board in mid 2013. There is a 9 year max limit, so he will reach 7 years in July.

The role of ARU president, which he performed back in 2005, is not a board director position that can vote on stuff. It's sort of a ceremonial gig, one of three at RA if there are also a couple of deputy presidents presenting jerseys (or whatever) too.

Thanks for the correction!
My whole point of this schemozzle is the whole lot need to go and start with a clean slate! Theres probably more chance of Trump giving an apology than that happening!

 

[kiap]

I think McLean will be gone soon, Boof.

Just because people who live is NSW doesn't mean that they have anything to do with SS.

fair enough

JON has a long-standing antipathy for SS

I'm not quite on board with that. But perhaps we would agree that JON should never be on the board again.

As for Roger the Dodger, it's "car number nine, your time is up".

 

[John S]

As for Roger the Dodger, it's "car number nine, your time is up".

"We don't have a number nine"

"Oh, really? Number six - you're in trouble"

 

[sunnyboys]

McLean is stepping down on June 30 for Hamish McLennan. its only 7 weeks or so away.

And didnt Castle announce a series of review committees covering comps, coaching, pathways, governance etc??

 

[dru]

A few here want the Board to resign en masse, but is that justified in this latest saga?

I reckon the Board for once did the right thing. From my reading of the situation, Wiggs was trying to steamroll the Board into making a CEO appointment with absolutely no process and a distinct smell about the whole thing. He threatened to resign if they didn't comply with his wishes.

The Board, to their credit, stuck to their guns and told him to go jump. For a code where this type of backbone has been all too rare, this is one instance where we should applaud them.

Rather than it being a sign everything is rooted, I reckon it's a sign we've got the right people around the table.

Am I a blind optimist? Maybe. But I just can't see how Wiggs departure and the circumstances surrounding it reflects poorly on the remaining Board members.

They removed Castle in order to engineer that opportunity then got weak kneed when push came to shove. I’m not seeing the optimism.

 

[Juan Cote]

Leaving aside where the board have let the game get to in the last decade, the key question must be is the organisation better placed now than (say) a month ago?

The answer is an unequivocal no!

They have proven themselves to be:

• without foresight (caving into 10 ex Captains and giving the CEO the flick without any thought to a replacement);
• without a strategy to get themselves out of this hole (there seems to be no credible plan to get rugby back on the park and they are unable to meet the 'going concern principle');
• divided with the interim chair offering appointments without the full support of the board (see McLean's email and dealings re Wiggs/Carroll, et al)
• unable to manage any sort of transition as key positions have people acting in them (up until yesterday afternoon McLean was described as interim Chair and Acting CEO, we now have another Acting CEO who was not the interim Chair's first choice and what appears another Chair waiting in the wings to take over later);
• lacking acumen in being able to come to an agreed position with their auditor and miss the ASIC deadline;
• poor at maintain key relationships with the NSWRU not supporting them (see the bizarre email from the QRU);
• lacking candor as newspapers are seemingly able to report on board discussion verbatim (each side has aligned with either the SMH or Oz); and
• unable to negotiate to wrangle $16M out of World Rugby (seemingly the only plan to keep the lights).

And all of that in the space of a few weeks.

Take one event in isolation if you like - that's what the current board would want.

 

[Tomikin]

I suppose the latest dealings have at least made everyone move on from Castle, and with no rugby on tv, we are keeping in the papers. any news is good news.

 

[Tomikin]

And why do people assume the Optus deal is dead in the water, also with no one able to go to the game live, wouldnt it mean more people tuning into the idiot box.. Plus Foxtel and Optus crying out for content..

 

[KOB1987]

And why do people assume the Optus deal is dead in the water, also with no one able to go to the game live, wouldnt it mean more people tuning into the idiot box.. Plus Foxtel and Optus crying out for content..

A Fox publication ran a story saying something like ‘with Optus seemingly withdrawing itself from negotiations’, after Castle resigned. My read on it was that they suspended the negotiations due to the virus and/or RA not having a CEO, others interpreted as Optus not willing to deal with anyone other than Castle. So yeah I agree with you.

 

[kiap]

And why do people assume the Optus deal is dead in the water

From smh:

Before the coronavirus outbreak hit in March, the telco was days away from making a formal offer for the next five years' worth of Wallabies Tests, Super Rugby matches and a new national club competition.​

​

Optus and Rugby Australia agreed to suspend talks for six months, but a senior source in the telco told the Herald that the Singapore-based business would not be in a position to restart negotiations for "12 months".​

That assessment might (or might not) not bear out. The deal was reportedly for ~$30m p.a., but there are some other factors against Optus as well.

Front and centre is Hamish McLennan joining the RA board - and probably as Chairman. If that doesn't scream NewsCorp, I don't know what will.

Maybe the only way an Optus deal is not dead is if RA somehow only sign a shorter term alternate deal, maybe 2 years. But it's hard to see past another 5-year Foxtel "soup plus" deal being taken - and at a lower price than the last deal.

Should that occur, RA puts head between knees, kisses its arse goodbye, and bends over.

It's cap-in-hand time.

 

[Lorenzo]

let's not assume foxtel survives. Things were bleak there before everyone pulled their discretionary ad/subscription spend.