Left-field Rebels mix Johns with dash of AFL to lure Wallabies
Jamie Pandaram
February 17, 2011
MELBOURNE plan to unleash a radical ''hybrid'' form of rugby tomorrow, borrowing heavily from tactics used in Australian football and rugby league in a bid to lure more Wallabies stars to the new team.
The Rebels have held secret training sessions with the coaching staff of Carlton's AFL team, while rugby league great Andrew Johns has been coaching the midfield players on running lines specific to the 13-man code for tomorrow night's Super Rugby opener against NSW.
While this new brand of rugby might also help in luring young league and AFL stars to switch, Rebels chief executive Ross Oakley said the club was determined to sign a number of off-contract Wallabies stars by the end of the season.
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''I would like to think we can excite some Wallaby types, and if our style of play can be developed relatively quickly, and players see us playing a new style of rugby, there maybe some real attraction there,'' Oakley told the Herald.
''We will be looking at Wallaby-type players, that is no secret, and if that is to happen in the next five months, we need to work out where these players come from and get them interested in that we're doing. We're going to play an entertaining brand of rugby. [Coach] Rod Macqueen is a very strong innovator.
''We will be taking parts of Australian football, parts of rugby league, and incorporating it into our game. It will be a hybrid union mix that will incorporate strengths of the other two codes.
''We recently had the full Carlton coaching squad coaching our side, and they also had them play a full game of AFL. There are some tactics that we have talked about and drawn from Australian football that will be significant plans for us, and the Carlton coaching squad have spent time with us teaching us techniques. I think there will be aspects of our game that are brand new. There's certainly some excitement among our established players over what we're doing. I think rugby aficionados will think, 'That's interesting.'''
The Rebels' midfielders have also been surprised by Johns's league slant in their game plans. Inside-centre Cooper Vuna, a former Newcastle Knights teammate of Johns, said: ''He has been directing the ball players and getting us to run lines that we used to in league, and letting the players know where they need to be for plays he was doing when he was at the Knights. It's basically the same as what he was doing with us when we were playing in Newcastle.''
Waratahs coach Chris Hickey was not quivering at the revelation last night. ''If they want to play AFL or league that's fine; we're turning up to play rugby,'' Hickey said.
Star Rebels recruit Danny Cipriani, who Johns spent much time with during the pre-season, has been left on the bench amid reports the team is concerned about his attitude. Former Western Force player James Hilgendorf will start at No.10 and Julian Huxley at fullback - Cipriani's secondary position. But Oakley brushed off concerns about the former England playmaker.
''It is not easy, certainly not when you've come from a background where he has been the star player and everything is laid at his feet,'' Oakley said. ''He has tremendous potential, and I would expect he will turn this competition on its ear when he finds his place. I don't thinks it's too far away - he can set a game alight in a moment of football.''
The Rebels are hoping for a sellout at AAMI Park tomorrow, where the sides will battle in the inaugural match for the Weary Dunlop Shield. Despite the overwhelming dominance of AFL in the state, Melbourne have had little problem securing support from the big end of town, with Victorian Premier Ted Bailleu signing on as a club patron.
And as for pinching a few AFL stars, Oakley said: ''We have got a few rugby league players … who knows? We have had a look at the Carlton players, we definitely have different physiques. … but I reckon we would give Chris Judd a game tomorrow.''
