Australian Rugby / RA

[Rebel man]

Haha c'mon, now you're just being bitter

No coach, players lining up to leave like they are getting on Noah’s biblical ark and nobody wanting to join

 

[Strewthcobber]

Because the contracts are guaranteed under RA agreement with RUPA, it nullifies the argument that RA had their hands tied and couldn’t negotiate earlier with players. They are the arbiters of the rules (salary cap, etc) it’s only there because they say so. They easily could have war gamed this much earlier but have completely fluffed this whole thing. The current admin is frugal (which might not be the worst thing) but so was Hamish originally when he cut tens of millions off RA admin during Covid to keep us afloat and reducing grants. The first 6 months of this admin is looking worse than the first 6 months of his. All this to me points to it been a governance issue or structure than the individuals, they can’t all be this incompetent one after another (Pulver, Castle, Hamish, now this lot)

It's not about RA's relationship with the players. It's about RA's decision making process re the Rebels

RA are about to be issued writs from the Rebels, who allege that they lost the license in unconscionable circumstances. The Rebel's directors have been very clear with their legal threats almost since the extent of their problems first emerged.

RA couldn't negotiate, or even be seen to be negotiating with the players while the decision to withhold the license was yet to be made.

 

[Tomthumb]

No coach, players lining up to leave like they are getting on Noah’s biblical ark and nobody wanting to join

They will soon have a coach, have just signed Kellaway and have Sua'ali'i coming on board. Still have guys like Bell, Lambert, Porecki, Amasosero, Gamble, Gleeson, Teddy Wilson, Edmed, Foketi, Jorgenson & Pietch

With a competent coach and a healthier team they really aren't that bad. The Rob Penney stench is hard to wash off

 

[John S]

Haha c'mon, now you're just being bitter

I'm rather inured against anti-tah's hate as a rusted on Tahs supporter - but I feel the hate is just going to keep ramping up.

 

[Highlander35]

They will soon have a coach, have just signed Kellaway and have Sua'ali'i coming on board. Still have guys like Bell, Lambert, Porecki, Amasosero, Gamble, Gleeson, Teddy Wilson, Edmed, Foketi, Jorgenson & Pietch

With a competent coach and a healthier team they really aren't that bad. The Rob Penney stench is hard to wash off

 

[Tomthumb]

I'm still a fan of his. Really hard to look good as a 7 when the whole tight 5 is either injured or really bad

 

[Wilson]

Hearing Wilkin is headed to NSW or that Gamble is looking for a way out?

 

[Highlander35]

Hearing Wilkin is headed to NSW or that Gamble is looking for a way out?

Just reckon he's a poor man's Jordy Reid.

 

[Wilson]

Just reckon he's a poor man's Jordy Reid.

Yeah, I kind of expect Wilkin is one of the 3 rebels open to the tahs for that reason - he'd back himself over Gamble and it's far and away his best chance of getting a start and pushing his case for the wallabies, where as most of the others would still rate their chances at the other provinces. That and he has a bit more of a nsw connection than most. Maybe a window for him at the Force too, but that'd be more at 6.

 

[Dctarget]

Apologies for wrong thread but it looks like the 'other' forums have been restricted/hidden? I quite enjoyed them. Any chance of them coming back?

 

[Derpus]

At least the cricket one...

 

[Dctarget]

At least the cricket one...

Yeah I wanna go cheer on Bangladesh

 

[Highlander35]

Yeah, I kind of expect Wilkin is one of the 3 rebels open to the tahs for that reason - he'd back himself over Gamble and it's far and away his best chance of getting a start and pushing his case for the wallabies, where as most of the others would still rate their chances at the other provinces. That and he has a bit more of a nsw connection than most. Maybe a window for him at the Force too, but that'd be more at 6.

With zero inside word, I could imagine that the Tahs are likely interested in him, but between him not actually having a 2025 contract in place (to my knowledge) and not being a PONI like Kellaway was, they can't actually make a formal offer until they know what their other salary obligations look like.

 

[Braveheart81]

Apologies for wrong thread but it looks like the 'other' forums have been restricted/hidden? I quite enjoyed them. Any chance of them coming back?

The new management of the site has decided that they would like to limit the forums to rugby only topics primarily because some of the school related non-rugby forums cause more issues than the benefit they provide can justify.

 

[Dctarget]

Can't we just block the school ones? I enjoyed reading about Dismal's crate digging sessions in Japan, the Cricket thread or the movies one.

 

[Joe King]

It could easily be a coincidence. You could just as easily say 'the decline in the Wallabies competitiveness correlates to not having the best flyhalf in the world' which is also true. There are several other factors that have influenced the decline of the Wallabies compared to the late 90's/early 00's, a big one being the improvement of other nations (particularly NH teams).

It was a relatively short period of the time when the Wallabies were on top and it's tempting to assume any number of correlations are causal. The Wallabies have really only ever had a couple of short periods on top in the history of the sport and that's probably about the best we can hope for going forward given the advantages a few other nations have over us. It's logical to expect NZ, South Africa, England and France to all be ranked above us more often than not. They have significant advantages we'll probably never overcome (much larger playing bases and professional rugby opportunities for the latter 3, and the pick of the best athletes suited to rugby in the case of NZ and SA).

We can hope to have periods above some (and very occasionally all) of those teams, same as nations like Ireland and Argentina, but I don't think there's really any possibility of the Wallabies ever being a top 2 team consistently over a long period. And given the growth of the game globally (particularly in Europe and the Americas) the number of competitive teams is likely to increase.

Yeah agree that improvements of other teams has also been a factor. Wallabies have not kept up.

 

[Joe King]

correlation doesn't equate to causation, blaming the 'adding of teams' is a convenient factor to blame when talking about the declining interest in Super Rugby. Ignoring variables like increased competition from the likes of NRL/AFL/NRLW/AFLW/Netball/BBL/NBL/NBA/NFL which have eroded supporter bases, officiating standards, speed of play, tactics and style of teams involved are all part of it and a larger factor then then number of teams. If anything, the number of teams may have accelerated the terminal decline that Super Rugby was already in at that point.

True, surely a factor in declining interest in Super Rugby, though probably not directly linked to decline in Wallabies competitiveness.

 

[Joe King]

Genuine question for those not really interested in Super Rugby anymore. What difference would it make if the Australian Super Rugby teams were consistently competitive powerhouses, with three teams capable of winning the competition in any given year, and if it was common to have an all-Australian final? So basically, if Aussies enjoyed what Kiwis currently do?

And if it wouldn’t make any difference to you personally, what difference do you think it would make to the popularity of Super Rugby in Australia?

And add to that, if the Wallabies were as consistently competitive as the ABs are as a result of having stronger Super Rugby teams producing better players?

Because if it really would make a difference to Super Rugby and the Wallabies, it seems to me that our whole focus should be on improving the competitiveness of our Super Rugby teams. Why can’t we do that? I acknowledge that the Reds are improving, but why can’t we get our teams to consistently be the best?

Because if we can’t get our Super Rugby teams to be more competitive through whatever means: development pathways, better structures supporting them, better coaching, etc. then I find it hard to believe we are capable of ever improving the Wallabies by any other structure or system.

I admit that my main team is the Wallabies, and if the Wallabies were winning I wouldn’t care what domestic structure we had as long as it helped the Wallabies to win.

 

[Froggy]

What you say is 100% correct Joe. There is no question that if our Super rugby teams were up there and competing for the title, and the Wallabies were in the top two or three in the world, there would be way more interest, more sponsorship, better media deals, more kids playing junior rugby etc and we would be well and truly back on track.
The problem is, how do you do that? And by the tone of, arguably, a majority of posters on here, they have declared that too hard and therefore want to abandon the idea.
My concern is that if we do go purely domestic, we may build a bit more tribal loyalty, but by consistently playing at a lower level the Wallabies will become less competitive, not more, and followers of the game will be reduced to a handful of rusted on die-hards, like me and most other posters on here.

 

[Steve_Grey]

Yeah, I kind of expect Wilkin is one of the 3 rebels open to the tahs for that reason - he'd back himself over Gamble and it's far and away his best chance of getting a start and pushing his case for the wallabies, where as most of the others would still rate their chances at the other provinces. That and he has a bit more of a nsw connection than most. Maybe a window for him at the Force too, but that'd be more at 6.

Waratahs need a proper #7 IMO (not a 6.25 which Gamble plays like). Not sure if Wilkin is that or just another 6.5 type player (6.5 coined by Chris Robshaw prior English Captain, who was self professed as being neither a genuine 6 or 7).

Probably a conversation for the Waratahs thread.