National Rugby Championship 2014

[Highlander35]

Be careful there Neville and some of the boys are Manly.

Sorry, was meaning to say the uni boys, and Neville (north harbor) and Weeks (QLD), rather than uni boys such as Neville and Weeks.

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[Dave Beat]

Sorry, was meaning to say the uni boys, and Neville (north harbor) and Weeks (QLD), rather than uni boys such as Neville and Weeks.

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Thought as much,
Yeah I know, don't Uni try to lay claim to all sorts of players , next they'll want Buddy Franklin.

 

[Braveheart81]

This is true. For the rebels, it would be unreasonable to expect Ellison, Horie, Sau, Woodward, Smith, Fuglistaller, Sexton, Veianu and Lahiff to go elsewhere, but what if some of them aren't in the top 16 they want to retain? Will they be forced to leave?

Obviously some, (thinking the Sydney UnI boys, Weeks, Neville etc.) Would be more or less willing to go home, but what if they'd rather stay?

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Surely Horie and Sau won't play NRC and will return to Japan.

 

[GaffaCHinO]

Don't envy the ARU's challenge in spreading the talent. Do it arbitrarily and there will likely be a lot of very pissed off senior Super players around the place. IMO the only solution would be for the respective NRC teams to name the 16 Super players they want to retain and let the remainder negotiate with teams of their choice for a spot. If they can't come to a suitable arrangement, they stay where they are and take their chances of getting a game.

And what of the overseas players? Wouldn't those who have no Wallabies' aspirations be more inclined to return to their home countries to play ITM or Currie Cup rather than be arbitrarily relocated to another team in Aus perhaps thousands of kms away with whom they have no connection and probably no desire to play?

In the case of the players who are here on development contract (Ebersohn, Haywood ect) they aren’t able to leave aus and play in the other comps as they will loose there residency just like Speight so they will be apart of this comp no doubt. Others like Alby and Steenkamp will most likely return home to play in the ITM or Currie cup.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Anybody talks about a Sydney origin player playing for Canberra, Perth or Melbourne and everybody is up in arms but absolutely nobody is worried about Luke Morahan being proposed as staying in Perth for it despite playing plenty of club rugby in QLD for years. Interesting.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Sorry, was meaning to say the uni boys, and Neville (north harbor) and Weeks (QLD), rather than uni boys such as Neville and Weeks.

If ever there was a player with zero affinity for Queensland it is Laurie Weeks. A principal reason why he left the Reds was because they wouldn't let him play club with Sydney Uni. I wouldn't be surprised if he has "Sydney" tattooed on one cheek and "Uni" on the other.
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[the coach]

Look in regards to Wallaby distribution I can't give you the facts but the ARU are in talks with RUPA and it will be sorted. Players will have a say in where they want to be put. Just a rough wallabies squad delegation could look something like this;

QLD (Apologies don't know player clubs)
Country & City:
Slipper, Horwill, Simmons, Gill, Cooper
Fainga'a, Schatz, Genia, Harris, Kurindrani (UQ)

NSW
West Syd:
Robinson, TPN, White (Eastwood)

North Syd:
Hooper, Palu, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Fardy (Warringah), Sio (Norths ?)

Syd Stars:
Ryan, Betham, Folau

Country:
Kepu, Douglas, Beale

VIC
Pyle, Higgers, Burgess

ACT
Alexander, Moore, Speight, To'omua, Leali'ifano

WA
McCalman, Cummins

A lot of the brumby Wallaby contingent will probably associate to junior clubs in NSW or Qld to even it out. But that's about 4-5 Wallabies per side.

This could get complicated!
Take Nick Cummins for example:
born in Port Macquarie
raised in Brisbane and rep'd for Qld schoolboys
moved to Sydney and played Colts and Grade at Randwick
signed a 2 year deal with the Force and moved to Southern Districts

He's got links all over the place

 

[Pfitzy]

From memory Randwick was a key player in the destabilisation of the ARC as well, I tend to remember that one of their board members(a former wallaby) was a very vocal opponent of the competition.

Poidevin too - he was raving on that club rugby produced enough Wallabies and that any national competition should feature Uni front and centre. Ignoring the fact that Uni's hoovering up of all the best talent made the whole thing a farce anyway. More than a few of those players got found out at Super or Test level while others struggled away in darkness before recognition came via other channels.

Anyway, let Izzy NOT play for the Stars instead of NOT playing for the Rams. He'll be the face of the competition anyway which benefits Western Sydney regardless.

So David Mortimer can put a thin coat of oil on it and shove it up his arse.

I don't give a flying fuck who exactly plays for the Rams as long as there are pathways for local players, the competition is capable of being balanced, and does enough to warrant its next season. The last item would be an immediate improvement on the last time we tried this.

Rule changes I'm considering: piss off any stupid technical piece of crap that has no relevance to a fast moving game. I'm a forward, so I love a good set piece, but this needs to be marketable and prepare players for Super Rugby.

Another rule change: I get to oversee the performance of refs, particularly around use of yellow card. This is the Grow Some Balls edict, wherein a ref must be willing to recognise and punish a professional foul when it happens.

 

[saulih]

Not sure where I read the suggestion to trial putting more ref's on the field. This would only end up in a dog's breakfast of inconsistent rule interpretation.

A friend of mine who has been a senior soccer ref here in the US went through a trial of having more than one ref on the field, and they found it was a terrible experience. Different rule interpretations, one ref thinking the other would make a call, one ref having dominating the call with the politics and all.

...and that is in soccer where the law book is probably a fourth the size of union.

For the most part I think the expanded role of the TMO has helped the officiating part of the game, and the ref's have by and large doing a decent job of calling a 'consistent interpretation' of the laws - which is what the players want. Put two of them on the field and that consistency takes a backward step.

That's my view on it anyway...

 

[Pfitzy]

For the most part I think the expanded role of the TMO has helped the officiating part of the game, and the ref's have by and large doing a decent job of calling a 'consistent interpretation' of the laws - which is what the players want. Put two of them on the field and that consistency takes a backward step.

That's my view on it anyway.

You're right generally speaking, but the issue is when a ref will tell a perfectly capable AR that he doesn't want certain things done.

As a qualified AR, I get stuck into the players on both sides early, and give the ref feedback during breaks. Some of them don't even want to know, and while that is less prevalent in the top ranks, it still happens quite a lot.

And you're spot on with the two refs thing - both will hesitate more for fear that the other has spotted something they haven't. It needs to be very clear cut that one has ruck duty while one has offside line etc.

 

[Tomikin]

On a lighter know could we see an NRC All Stars VS the Wallabies or say the Barbarians (as they are a throw together team)

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[Pfitzy]

On a lighter know could we see an NRC All Stars VS the Wallabies or say the Barbarians (as they are a throw together team)

The ABs play a Heartland team as a trial I think.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Seems about as likely as the Possibles vs Probables which was quickly scuttled by RUPA a few years back.

 

[Ranga]

With regard to the Perth, Melbource and Canberra teams who will have more Super Rugby players then spots available, would a model like the below work for the player allocation?

1. Any Local players - stay
2. Any o/s players the Super Club has bought to Australia that are staying for NRC - stay
3. Fill the remaining allocation of 16 with any selection of remaining Super Rugby squad
4. The rest into the pot with enough time for them to sort their spot with one of the Qld or NSW teams

If the super squad contained 4 locals, and 4 overseas players who were staying, you could keep any 8 players without justification. You could pick your best available pack or just your best 8 players. Whatever suited the team you wanted to build.

 

[saulih]

On the subject of team names, are we just presuming that the country teams of QLD and NSW will not adopt the Cockatoos/Heelers monikers? Have I missed some official word on this? I get the fact that by nature they are different - being origin based compared to rep based. Does this preclude an alignment between the NRC teams and the rep sides that we have had until now?

I think I am confused on whether the NRC teams are the birthing of wholly separate franchise unions that need their own identity or are they more like rep sides?

 

[Train Without a Station]

You've got to consider RUPA have been very accommodating. They have allowed all Super Rugby Contracted players to play additional games for no additional pay.

Are they going to be so accommodating when that player has to organise a 3 month lease in another city?

 

[Quick Hands]

The RUPA have maybe just realised that they had it too good for a while and that until the game starts earning money, there will be less and less available for wages.

You can only pay wages from your profits (year 11 economics circa 1980)

 

[Train Without a Station]

Exactly right QH. If the game runs into the ground there will be no RUPA. But surely RUPA whilst understanding the benefit for the code and players as a whole are happy to encourage it with no financial gain for the player, but if it comes at a cost to current players things would change.

 

[TOCC]

Not sure where I read the suggestion to trial putting more ref's on the field. This would only end up in a dog's breakfast of inconsistent rule interpretation.

A friend of mine who has been a senior soccer ref here in the US went through a trial of having more than one ref on the field, and they found it was a terrible experience. Different rule interpretations, one ref thinking the other would make a call, one ref having dominating the call with the politics and all.

.and that is in soccer where the law book is probably a fourth the size of union.

For the most part I think the expanded role of the TMO has helped the officiating part of the game, and the ref's have by and large doing a decent job of calling a 'consistent interpretation' of the laws - which is what the players want. Put two of them on the field and that consistency takes a backward step.
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Yes but the technical aspect of Soccer is significantly different as well, i think the two referee systems works quite well in rugby league and i think a similar approach could be used for rugby union.

I don't like the expanded role of the TMO, it slows the game down when referees refer to the TMO, the decisions need to be quick and on the spot so teams who have the advantage or momentum can maintain it.

 

[Bruce Ross]

You can only pay wages from your profits (year 11 economics circa 1980)

My involvement in the vastly overrated discipline of economics goes back over half a century, but I confess I have not previously encountered the principle you espouse, QH. Were it so, at any one time there would be a veritable army of unpaid workers.

Perhaps you were not paying attention in that particular period. Perfectly understandable. Distractions abound in Year 11.
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