The silence from the ARU is deafeaning, isn't it speckie?
It's a silence of three parts... one for all you Rothfuss fans
Really didn't expect to see Rothfuss get mentioned on here. I wonder how he'd write it..
"The first silence was the lack of an academy announcement; the second silence was the emptiness of the fields in the off-season; and the third silence, greatest of all, was the management-speak."
Went to a meeting with ARU tonight explaining the Academy - lists of all players in Sydney and Brisbane were put up in the screen but don't ask me to remember them all - the presentation is being sent to attendees over the next few days so I presume the lists will be public by then. Confirm Sydney players have started and Brisbane players are going through their induction over the next two days.
Lots of interesting stuff came out of the meeting. Will put together a blog article providing more info and we are hoping to have a guest on the podcast from the ARU soon to explain. Nucci was there as the Academy falls within his area - he was really good.
Is there an age limit to the Academy players?
Just the best players - no geographical or age quotas - also no requirement for players covering all positions. As they told us, if the Brisbane academy has five wingers out of the 30 they currently have, so be it. There is also no maximum number of players in the academies - main criteria is "do they have the potential to play Super Rugby". If so, they want them in the academies.