Australian Rugby / RA

[Quick Hands]

Absolutely. I feel like a big part of it is the commitment required to play for the Wallabies. For someone like Coleman, I wouldn't think the offer from an overseas club is going to be that much better financially. It's about cutting down the travel and time away from home for someone with a young family.

A point I've been making for some time.

Super rugby is a loser for Australia on so many levels, and this is another one.

 

[Aurelius]

Just changing the subject, I see on my facebook page for some reason a link has come through with a petition fot people to sign to dump Gallop as CEO of Aus soccer and how mismanaged soccer is and how many people are turning away from the game etc!!! Geez I thought to myself where have I read this stuff before? Is it that there are no Aussies capable of running sports in this country, or could it possibly be that it to easy to stir things up on the Net??
Just wondering is all!

Well, the evidence suggests so. Have you seen any Big Bash games lately? Cricket Australia have shoved so much cricket down our throats that we're starting to throw it back up, and as far as the soccer goes, I don't know why this guy Statjic (?) was really sacked, but saying that he was "too mean" doesn't do the credibility of the Matildas any good.

 

[Quick Hands]

Kind of an odd decision to start a family when (by today's standards) relatively young, given the amount of travel time professional rugby players are inevitably exposed to.

Even if he lived in the UK and ditched Wallabies duties, he'd still travel a fair amount.

Nowhere near as much as super rugby, and he'd pretty much be home for dinner every night. Compare that to 2-3 weeks in SAF, back for a week and off to Argentina, back for a couple of weeks then off to Tokyo, etc, etc, etc.

 

[Quick Hands]

The issue for us being that starting English/Irish players aren't choosing to come over here for two years

And even if they did, our super rugby sides have to jump through hoops to sign them and there's a cap on how many can be signed.
They'd end up playing Shute Shield.

 

[dru]

I thought Reds purchased Tupou from NZ at 15 on a 3 year deal.

It’s unusual, but sometimes it’s worth spending money on kids.

 

[KOB1987]

I don't really understand what value RA would get if they made a bigger offer to the kid now. Most of the rugby he plays over the next few years will be for Kings.

If the kid genuinely wants to play rugby league you'd probably pay him a lot as a teenager and then he'd still go to league as an 18 year old.

RA should probably make a play for him down the track but it depend a lot on what he wants to do. It's hard to recruit a player at that age who isn't very keen to play rugby union unless you pay him far too much.

That all makes a lot of sense. It's difficult to see how the Rabbitohs are going to get any value out of it during the contract period so as you say RA may as well sit on their hands and make a play for him towards the end of 2021.

He's fairly involved in the school culture, he's one of the year 10 monitors for the year 7 house and presumably he has to abide by the same rules as the other 1st XV players i.e. no club/league games on weekends there is a GPS fixture. It seems to me it's the Rabbitohs taking the punt, he's kinda locked into union for the short term. Hopefully RA won't fuck it up at the pointy end like they did with Crichton.

 

[Up the Guts]

If South Sydney want to pay a 15 year old let them. I watched a bit of him last year, if he lives to his potential he’ll be a dual code player like SBW and Folau anyway with both codes throwing their chequebooks at him at different points in his career.

There’s a pretty noticeable trend occurring amongst the newer generation of top league players spending a few years in the code, playing Origin and for the Kangaroos, and then heading elsewhere. Valentine Holmes has gone to try his luck in the NFL, Ponga and Crichton have talked about coming back to Union. There’s a bit more allure to touring Europe than there is spending a cold night in Kograh or Newcastle.

 

[Quick Hands]

If South Sydney want to pay a 15 year old let them. I watched a bit of him last year, if he lives to his potential he’ll be a dual code player like SBW and Folau anyway with both codes throwing their chequebooks at him at different points in his career.

There’s a pretty noticeable trend occurring amongst the newer generation of top league players spending a few years in the code, playing Origin and for the Kangaroos, and then heading elsewhere. Valentine Holmes has gone to try his luck in the NFL, Ponga and Crichton have talked about coming back to Union. There’s a bit more allure to touring Europe than there is spending a cold night in Kograh or Newcastle.

Although you'll notice that even though Ponga was born in Australia, lived his first 8 years here, spent 5 years in NZ and has lived in Australia from the age of 13 until the present that he's rugby ambition is to play for the ABs, not the Wallabies. Such is the state of the game in this country.

 

[Quick Hands]

That all makes a lot of sense. It's difficult to see how the Rabbitohs are going to get any value out of it during the contract period so as you say RA may as well sit on their hands and make a play for him towards the end of 2021.

He's fairly involved in the school culture, he's one of the year 10 monitors for the year 7 house and presumably he has to abide by the same rules as the other 1st XV players i.e. no club/league games on weekends there is a GPS fixture. It seems to me it's the Rabbitohs taking the punt, he's kinda locked into union for the short term. Hopefully RA won't fuck it up at the pointy end like they did with Crichton.

You are indeed an optimist.

And to be fair, the NSWRU/Waratahs own the Crichton fuck up rather than RA. (I hope that Wamberal is noting this defence of RA on my part )

 

[Up the Guts]

Although you'll notice that even though Ponga was born in Australia, lived his first 8 years here, spent 5 years in NZ and has lived in Australia from the age of 13 until the present that he's rugby ambition is to play for the ABs, not the Wallabies. Such is the state of the game in this country.

Yes, I thought I heard talk of him aiming for playing for the Kangaroos and the ABs which doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.

 

[Derpus]

Yes, I thought I heard talk of him aiming for playing for the Kangaroos and the ABs which doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.

An inverse brad thorn?

 

[RugbyReg]

I thought Reds purchased Tupou from NZ at 15 on a 3 year deal.

It’s unusual, but sometimes it’s worth spending money on kids.

2 year contract as an 18 year old.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/spor...s/news-story/6f8e8df6ad32da69fe02b0dd27d6b343

 

[barbarian]

Well, the evidence suggests so. Have you seen any Big Bash games lately? Cricket Australia have shoved so much cricket down our throats that we're starting to throw it back up, and as far as the soccer goes, I don't know why this guy Statjic (?) was really sacked, but saying that he was "too mean" doesn't do the credibility of the Matildas any good.

I think there's a broader point here. I'm repeating myself here, but I do think the problem is not necessarily the individuals, but the whole model that most Australian sports have adopted.

It's a reliance on TV revenue (actually, a desperation for revenue in general) which means the game becomes a by-product. It's a pig being fattened for market. Once you start to view things through that lens, you drift away from why people like and watch sport in the first place.

Is there a sport in Australia where the admins are widely perceived to be doing a good job? Maybe AFL, but Gill certainly has his critics. I genuinely can't think of any others. Maybe basketball, though that's largely owned and run by Larry K.

I'm not excusing the individuals, but I do think if everyone is struggling with the basics of sports administration in this country then there may be a larger problem.
.

 

[Derpus]

^^^^
The economy has for the been slowing for the better part of 10 years. Spending money on shit like entertainment is the first thing that goes.

 

[Kenny Powers]

He's fairly involved in the school culture, he's one of the year 10 monitors for the year 7 house and presumably he has to abide by the same rules as the other 1st XV players i.e. no club/league games on weekends there is a GPS fixture. It seems to me it's the Rabbitohs taking the punt, he's kinda locked into union for the short term. Hopefully RA won't fuck it up at the pointy end like they did with Crichton.

What about summer sport wouldn't that clash with commitments at South Sydney. By no means the only kid at a GPS school that plays with an NRL club. But I do not understand how the schools allow this, without a good dose of double standards for the other students expected to play a summer and winter sport for the school.

Time for an unpopular opinion as my personal view is that any kid that has an NRL contract should be excluded from GPS competition teams, would certainly resolve the debate around scholarship and clear the carpet baggers out of rugby.

You are only ever going to build the game up with those that love the game for what it is (and not paying as well as league) the true believers. Mercenaries are what they are guns for hire, not true believers.

 

[dru]

2 year contract as an 18 year old.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/spor...s/news-story/6f8e8df6ad32da69fe02b0dd27d6b343

Thanks Reg and I guess there actually IS a gestalt difference there.

 

[dru]

Yes, I thought I heard talk of him aiming for playing for the Kangaroos and the ABs which doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.

ala Brad Thorn

 

[Strewthcobber]

I think there's a broader point here.

I'm not excusing the individuals, but I do think if everyone is struggling with the basics of sports administration in this country then there may be a larger problem.
.

I reckon they all struggle to attract and maintain the talent they want because they are getting outbid by other sports/countries with bigger dollars. And they don't know what to do about it.

Cricket loses a truckload to AFL and these days even Bangladesh T20 tournaments. Rugby obviously OS and league. Soccer they head off OS younger and younger.

Sports that at least seem relatively successful have a captured market with no major competition for their star and upcoming players. Or they accept their role as a development comp eg basketball and lower their ambition

 

[JuanBarn]

That all makes a lot of sense. It's difficult to see how the Rabbitohs are going to get any value out of it during the contract period so as you say RA may as well sit on their hands and make a play for him towards the end of 2021.

Basketball is also one his his great skills, with the contact running through till year 12 for him, I wouldn't be surprised to see him off to the States with his boot money to try his hand at College Basketball.

 

[Braveheart81]

Time for an unpopular opinion as my personal view is that any kid that has an NRL contract should be excluded from GPS competition teams, would certainly resolve the debate around scholarship and clear the carpet baggers out of rugby.

Why would the school or the GPS as a whole do this?

The biggest thing Kings get out of this kid is him playing rugby for the school.

It would be cutting off their nose to spite their face.