Mortlock dumped as captain

[Pfitzy]

You've got to applaud Spiro for at least writing down his opinion rather than a party line.

His point about players screwing the ARU out of money is right on the money for me

 

[Sully]

I'm not sure what Greg Growden is trying to achieve with these disunity articles? If he is a rugby fan he is not doing the Australian rugby fan any favours by filling the newspapers with gossip of dissent. I wonder if Deans got up his nose at sometime and he is trying to destabilise the Australian coach. If it worked, and I don't think it will, it would be a nightmare for Rugby in this country. It is already falling in popularity and changing horses mid race would do nothing to help it.

Punters are not going to show up to or watch on TV games that they know there is a better than even chance we will lose.There will certainly be a few twisted individuals who love too torture themselves week after week year after year but even these psychos wonder why they do it eventually. I mean The Reds have had a bad run but imagine supporting Souths in the NRL that's a real Psychosis.

But I have Lee Granted. Greg Growden has to decide if he is helping or hindering. Does he want to build the game he loves or wants to run the gossip section at Rugbyheaven. Because I for one am not really that interested in he said she said articles and would be a lot more upset if leading players were not upset about not being picked for official leadership roles.

 

[Newb]

damn, sully, that's well said. i can see an article or two about stirlo not being properly informed because he honestly should have been and he deserves a bit of sympathy. but the drumming up is entirely pessimistic and i'd like to see it end as well. if the players have truely moved on (and it's beginning to sound as though they have) then shut up about it already! rugby times are slow but G&GR have managed to keep interesting bits on the frontpage. and there's something to be said for these kind of things being dealt with in-house where it really matters. this airing of dirty laundry that may not even be dirty at all is tiresome.

 

[Newb]

after noddy's frontpage post, i decided to take a look at the 1984 grand slam tour since i know next to nothing about it. the wikipedia page has pretty good info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Australia_rugby_union_tour_of_Britain_and_Ireland

a match every bloody 3 days for 2 months? fark that's remarkable.

anyways, the reason i'm posting this is they discuss the selection of andrew slack (a centre) as captain of the tour, which i think is relevant to the topic.

... so Andrew Slack took up the tour captaincy. Howell reports that he was a popular captain, a calm organiser both on and off the field. Quiet thoughtful and intelligent but also able to pull out his guitar and bring everyone together with a few songs. Ella (previous captain) is also quoted "Slacky was probably the only person who could have handled the captaincy in the British Isles. Every team needs a cornerstone and Slacky was it. We all had lots of respect for him....[on-field] his role was to settle the play down, be the link man. Not be happy-go-lucky or adventurous. Slack did it to perfection and always seemed to be there when he was wanted."

sound a bit like rocky? perhaps. i guess we'll see how it plays out, but i think ella's words are a perfect description of what is needed from a successful wallaby captain.

 

[fatprop]

When was the last time Growden said something insightful about the game of rugby.

His articles appear to be created by calling various Sydney club and/or NSWRU board "blazers" listening to and then reporting their whinges and gossip about who got pissed and then reviewing the pies.