Australian Rugby / RA

[Froggy]

Half, what your friend says is right, the first ingredient rugby needs is success. All the talk of grass roots, domestic comps, pathways etc is all good, but all require money, and that comes from success at the top level. Success by the Wallabies and by the Super rugby sides, particularly the Reds and the Tahs where the big audiences are, brings ground attendences, TV audiences and sponsors, and that's where the dollars come from.
Following on from that, we then need to not squander that success as we did with the 1998-2002 era, and build the pathways, grass roots involvement (subbies, juniors, public schools, lower socio-economic parts of the cities etc) and clever marketing to piggy back on that success.
However, that all takes money which comes from success at the top.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I actually like the idea (in theory) of NRL taking over the reigns of rugby australiaif they are committed promoting both games”

rugby could be successful alongside league if we worked out the scheduling better. Seems like the reds are playing similar times as the broncos etc

ive always liked what happens in USA with how they stagnate the games on weekends.

Friday - high school,
Saturday - collegiate,
Sunday - pro football….

They actually came to this scheduling agreement because of an anti-trust lawsuits and the tv networks. There’s no reason why rugby can’t be played Saturdays and league played Sundays… but I know it’s not happening! League and union are at war and don’t work in the best interests of one another (perhaps that can be worked on with a further commitment to channel 9 & out upcoming tv deal)

Cool concept but if they took a stake in Rugby it would just be to open up more avenues for player development in the NRL for further expansion. They aren't are at war with Rugby, they don't really care now there is such a difference in size and profitability. It's like a 8 year old fighting his 16 year old brother. 8 year old might land a nut shot occasionally but the 16 year old could kill him if if he wanted.

Rugby needs to just do Rugby and get back some faith from fans who have ditched it or only watch from a distance with no investment in the game. Become self sufficient and be a positive organisation. As lame as that sounds we can all sense how negativity is the first feeling when Rugby is brought up.

 

[hoggy]

Half, what your friend says is right, the first ingredient rugby needs is success. All the talk of grass roots, domestic comps, pathways etc is all good, but all require money, and that comes from success at the top level. Success by the Wallabies and by the Super rugby sides, particularly the Reds and the Tahs where the big audiences are, brings ground attendences, TV audiences and sponsors, and that's where the dollars come from.
Following on from that, we then need to not squander that success as we did with the 1998-2002 era, and build the pathways, grass roots involvement (subbies, juniors, public schools, lower socio-economic parts of the cities etc) and clever marketing to piggy back on that success.
However, that all takes money which comes from success at the top.

But that has been the exact strategy for the last 20 years, it's like going to the casino saying everything will be okay as long as I hit the jackpot today.
What happens if that top level success doesn't happen, like last Saturday your forever doubling down on the next hand. Success will always just be around the corner.
You can't have success before you first have grassroots, domestic comp & pathways

 

[Froggy]

How are you going to pay for it?
It's sounds great, but you need income to do it, and the top level is the only way to generate income.

 

[Strewthcobber]

You can't have success before you first have grassroots, domestic comp & pathways

The rise and rise of Argentinian rugby is at least challenging this kind of model

 

[half]

Half, what your friend says is right, the first ingredient rugby needs is success. All the talk of grass roots, domestic comps, pathways etc is all good, but all require money, and that comes from success at the top level. Success by the Wallabies and by the Super rugby sides, particularly the Reds and the Tahs where the big audiences are, brings ground attendences, TV audiences and sponsors, and that's where the dollars come from.
Following on from that, we then need to not squander that success as we did with the 1998-2002 era, and build the pathways, grass roots involvement (subbies, juniors, public schools, lower socio-economic parts of the cities etc) and clever marketing to piggy back on that success.
However, that all takes money which comes from success at the top.

But that has been the exact strategy for the last 20 years, it's like going to the casino saying everything will be okay as long as I hit the jackpot today.
What happens if that top level success doesn't happen, like last Saturday your forever doubling down on the next hand. Success will always just be around the corner.
You can't have success before you first have grassroots, domestic comp & pathways

Maybe I understated what he meant by decline.

My mate said, given our current position, now only four professional teams, with other codes talking about expansion a lack of success will lead to a fall across the Rugby landscape, i.e, players, quality players, crowds, ratings, media etc.

His point was mostly the idea of not picking the best side because of where they play was insane, further the excuse the side has to be together for long periods of time to gel use to each other he found laughable.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Presented without comment

“Basically, I think [Cheika] just wanted to kind of test the group around being interviewed, what you’d give away,” he continued. “Because I think for him it was about how aligned are the group. And also for him, creating a shared experience. So he had this way of mixing things up in terms of prep to make it memorable and I don’t know if you can get any more memorable than kidnapping blokes and interviewing them in an interrogation environment.”

Mitchell added: “He had a group of guys who came and said ‘you’ve got to meet here’ and they’d grab you and take you into this dark room, they’d hood you and then go into a dark room. All of a sudden they take the hood off and there’s a bloke in black just talking to you with a camera.”


Ashley-Cooper continued: “Bright lights in your face. You couldn’t see anyone behind and Cheika was in the back of the room.

'They'd hood you... they'd grab you and take you into this dark room'

The stories that emerge from World Cup training camps are seldom pleasant, but few nations will be able to rival the lengths...

www.rugbypass.com

 

[Wilson]

Presented without comment

'They'd hood you... they'd grab you and take you into this dark room'

The stories that emerge from World Cup training camps are seldom pleasant, but few nations will be able to rival the lengths...

www.rugbypass.com

I'll add the comment, this shit is fucking terrible and hearing about it I'm glad he's no longer in charge. It's far from the only problem, but if we had had grown up coaches more inclined to act like professionals we would be in a better place as a code today.

 

[Tomthumb]

Presented without comment

'They'd hood you... they'd grab you and take you into this dark room'

The stories that emerge from World Cup training camps are seldom pleasant, but few nations will be able to rival the lengths...

www.rugbypass.com

Haha this does seem very Cheika. Weird dude

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

That's just bizarre, real Kamp Staaldraad vibes.

 

[Braveheart81]

This stuff sucks. It's slowly changing but didn't we get something similar out of Wales just last year?

England not too long before that?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

It's amazing what people seem to think is acceptable in the name of high performance. It's not just rugby, there was a similar furor over what the Adelaide Crows did in their pre-season camp a few years ago.

 

[Froggy]

Cheika was a strange bloke, but if you look at his overall record there are very few more successful coaches in world rugby. However, he is certainly polarising, particularly on this site.

 

[KOB1987]

This is pretty old news isn't it? I remember hearing Drew talk about it on a podcast, the GBR-Au one I think - I remember I was out spraying crops and where I was, so it would have been last spring. My guess is that Cheika/RA hired some crowd to run a session and they had an SAS (or similar) background, and he would not have been privvy to what the actual content of the session was. It doesn't read well but corporates hire these organisations as well to test out their employees.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

They do indeed and they often backfire, as it did in the case of the Crows

 

[LevitatingSocks]

It's amazing what people seem to think is acceptable in the name of high performance. It's not just rugby, there was a similar furor over what the Adelaide Crows did in their pre-season camp a few years ago.

We've all had a hardo coach who draws a bit too many parallels between military/war and sport.

Funny to see that the higher echelons of rugby aren't immune.

 

[Strewthcobber]

It's a strange workplace, but it's still these player's workplace.

I'd like to hear what Justin Harrison and RUPA have to say about it

 

[Wallaby Man]

Let’s not fall into the trap of being offended on someone else’s behalf. So far no players have complained and the ones that have mentioned it were in fits of laughter when they spoke about it.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I dare say there isn't a pro team in sports in Aus that hasn't done something like this. Same goes for the US. You just hope the group your hire for it don't do something stupid.

Even Warnie got amongst this crap

Ashes Boot Camp 2006: This time it's serious

www.theage.com.au

Celebs are lining up to get on the SAS Aus show.

They're fine.

 

[Adam84]

Yeah, I worked for an organisation that facilitated such activities for professional sporting teams; it was a specific type of training/experience designed to help with mental fortitude and test players outside of their comfort zone to identify specific traits and help them bond, it was based on special forces selection and used the same staff and environments. I worked with a number NRL teams through that period, but never the Wallabies or a Super Rugby team.

This type of training certainly isn't uncommon, like all things, though; there are quality versions and cheap imitations.