Melbourne Rebels 2011

[Blue]

Nail - Head.

Frier is just the sort of hard working honest bloke to set up a culture around. EVen if he doesn't play a game his example and influence cannot be anything but positive for the team.

There are managerial positions for that sort of thing. I for one thought they made a mistake when they signed him. If by now it isn't clear that his days are over then when will it be? Look I hope he gets on the park but jeez he has been recovering for what seems like years now.

 

[Blue]

from http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/leftfield-rebels-mix-johns-with-dash-of-afl-to-lure-wallabies-20110216-1awmb.html

Sounds interesting, but I wonder what it really means. I think it is a positive having AFL coaches involved with kicking and high ball skills and I assume that is really all the influence that you could take from them. I suspect this is more a story to play locally and get some more interest up down here. Having said that, Somerville playing aussie rules would be a site to behold.

This is the fundamental problem rugby has. It seems the press thinks the only way to garner interest in rugby is to draw parallels / borrow from / put down / critisize / praise the other codes.

What a massive crock of shit. If it takes Andrew Fucking Johns to create interest in a new rugby franchise they are well and truly fucked. That is a BAD association. Hello? "The Great...". Piss off.

To win hearts and minds they need to win games. If they can chuck in some Glassyourgirldfriendandpissinpublicball running lines and AFL style kicks along they way then well bloody done but there is a bit more to it. Has Jamie Pandaram ever watched rugby?

 

[Gnostic]

There are managerial positions for that sort of thing. I for one thought they made a mistake when they signed him. If by now it isn't clear that his days are over then when will it be? Look I hope he gets on the park but jeez he has been recovering for what seems like years now.

Managers do not have the same standing with the players regardless of their playing prowess (past or present) simply because somebody in a management role must maintain some degree of separation. Hence the need for player leaders, and building a whole club from scratch brings special challenges.

In any event name one available Super grade (or potentially) unsigned Hooker in Oz (or from elsewhere that would be interested for the right money). I cannot think of any except maybe his Randwick team mate John Fonokalafi. I wouldn't give up hope that Adam can get over the injuries and play again he started playing with Phil Kearns at Randwick and Kearnsy was written off a few times and came back time and again.

Its only been 12 months since he was injured the second time and the injuries were significant.

 

[Bruce Ross]

In any event name one available Super grade (or potentially) unsigned Hooker in Oz (or from elsewhere that would be interested for the right money). I cannot think of any except maybe his Randwick team mate John Fonokalafi.

I'll start with two. Ben Roberts and Sam Robeson, an Under 20 representative last year.

 

[RugbyReg]

I'll throw in James Charalambous from Easts up here. Rated higher than James Hanson not too long ago.

 

[en_force_er]

Does anyone actually know Adam's injury situation? Or are we just guessing?

 

[Ash]

Perhaps Ole Avei, as well? Although, he didn't exactly cover himself in glory in his limited ITM cup appearances.

To be fair, I think Freier was well worth the gamble in my book anyway, as he was the only Aus hooker available who was proven in the S15. Very valuable, even if just passing on his experience. If Freier plays just over half the season, I think he was worth it for the Rebels, plus he will play in a way that will complement the hard workers and grafters in the Rebels pack. However, the next question is, how poorly were Freier's understudies chosen? In my book, pretty damn poorly, as a lot of the aforementioned players sound like better picks at this stage.

What has happened to Blake, BTW? Not in the Rebels A team. Picked up a knock already?

 

[en_force_er]

Perhaps Ole Avei, as well? Although, he didn't exactly cover himself in glory in his limited ITM cup appearances.

I believe he played the majority of his junior rugby locally as well.

EDIT: and by that I mean in Victoria.

 

[wobbly]

I've been considering getting a Rebels membership, but uncertainty about a possible work trip that would mean missing two games has held me back.

I found that at the trial against the Saders the ticket sellers at the ground didn"t have seating maps (rediculous) and had no idea about rugby (excusable I guess). People were not being told the difference between general admission (was only behind the sticks) and reserved (everything along the sides. Subsequently the ends of the ground were full, the side fairly empty.

But now looking at the Membership packages the pricing seems more expensive than match tickets for most of the seating sections. I've looked on the Reds, Tahs and Brumbies websites and they're memberships are consistently cheaper per game than match ticket prices.

Also some of the other teams have 2 or 4 game packages and this type of limited membership ticketing is popular with some of the AFL teams. It pulls fringe supporters in for more than a single game and they can call themselves members and the clubs can call them members. Surely this is a strategy a fledgeling club like the Rebels should be doing.

The Rebels have reported that top end memberships have sold well, but they're not doing themselves any favours with that pricing model to capture hard core bums on seats. Has someone at the Rebels cocked up?

 

[stoff]

There has been a heap of discussion on that on the Melbourne Rebels official facebook page. The management line seems to be there is additional added value to being a member, however they have also indicated that they value feedback and will review at the end of season. Personally I think they should have positioned the lower membership levels at lower rates to encourage more people to sign up. Having said that alot of the die hard support will sign up no matter what, so maybe they factored that in. Also, who knows what their stadium deal is like compared to the other teams and how that limits their ability to discount.

 

[wobbly]

Oh dear, "they value feedback and they'll review at the end of the season".

And as much as I respect MacQueen I'm not going to pay extra to get his member email each week.

What die hard support are you on about stoff, the 200 that supported them in the ARC?

 

[tranquility]

I'll throw in James Charalambous from Easts up here. Rated higher than James Hanson not too long ago.

I still rate him above James Hanson. Best unsigned hooker in the country, in my humble opinion.

 

[stoff]

What die hard support are you on about stoff, the 200 that supported them in the ARC?

I think I see where youre coming from. How can there be die hard support for a team who has only been on the park four times, and never in regular season competition? I'm talking about the people who have been waiting for this for years, many of whom probably were part of '200' who went to the ARC games. Basically the rugby fans who finally have a team to support in there own city and are getting behind it 100%.

I agree with you about the valued feedback and review BS, and hope that they do. It would be interesting to see how many of the current members wouldn't have signed up if the ticket prices had been released before the membership packages were.

 

[blues recovery]

the organisation does value member feedback and will be launching a 4 game pack after the Bumbies match for the very reasons mentioned above

 

[stoff]

I forgot about our insider. Good to hear the Rebels are hearing and responding to the fans.

 

[barbarian]

Hats off to the Rebels for that, they seem to be playing their cards very well on an admin front. Let's hope they get the on-field results to match.

 

[wobbly]

the organisation does value member feedback and will be launching a 4 game pack after the Bumbies match for the very reasons mentioned above

Great, thank you. And for the record I am one of "the rugby fans who finally have a team to support in there own city and are getting behind it 100%." I want to be counted as a member, I just don't want to feel ripped off.

Taking 4 rugny virgins with me tonight too.

Go Rebels.

 

[wobbly]

Oh fuck, just as I typed "Go Rebels" and hit submit a thunderbolt cracked behind me. Was that an omen?

Suddenly looks very ominous skies to the north.

 

[Lee Grant]

Oh fuck, just as I typed "Go Rebels" and hit submit a thunderbolt cracked behind me. Was that an omen?

More likely TPN.

 

[wobbly]

Well we started well. The 20 phase play was starting to look very MacQueenesque. I thought the halftime score flattered the Tahs a bit.

Let's face it, they dismantled us. It was a very comprehensive victory by a well drilled team with that showed ruthlessness. Typically the Tahs show that ruthlessness early season, one wonders if they'll be at ruthless at the back end of the season?

At the ground I thought out scrum was strong in the first half, but on e reply it wasn't. Unfortunately they struggled more when weeks came on to th and Sommerville moved to LH.

Robinson was handy around the paddock again but his line out throwing was still dreadful. I never understand why struggling line outs choose to throw to e back?

The locks were most disappointing as was McDonald. Delve and Lipman looked strong and effective at times but were still out muscled.

I agreed with other posters that Cordingly was the problem. Shit house service but he did do a lot of tackling. King deserves a start I reckon.

Hope Hilgendorf is ok. They missed him. Cips tried hard and tackled quite well at times but had no one to pass to a few times.

Vuna will learn from this experience. He really didn't have any space after the first 15 mins and even then not much. Barnes cut him down every time. Again shows why Australia needs barnes at 12. He moved up too fast in defense on occasions but hang back on others.

Mitchell was much improved on saders performance though still has defense positioning issues.

Rooney played ok and is a better wing option than some of the young guys.

Huxley, my least favorite Australian player, actually did ok.

Good crowd and was a pleasure to be a part of it.
Bring on the grumbles.