Olympic 7's

[Adam84]

Rugby Australia (RA) has detailed the sanctions while also promising to pay for the damage in a player's room at the athletes' village in Tokyo.

"The investigation found that a number of members of the team were drinking excessive amounts of alcohol on JAL 51, while also being disruptive to cabin crew and other passengers onboard the flight," RA said in a statement on Thursday.

"All members of men's rugby sevens team have been reprimanded for this behaviour.

"Certain team members will also undergo education and counselling sessions regarding behaviour and alcohol consumption."

"Whilst we acknowledge the disappointment experienced through their Olympic campaign as well as the challenging environment all athletes have had to deal with since the start of the pandemic, this is not an excuse for this behaviour," RA chief executive Andy Marinos said.

"Rugby Australia has a zero-tolerance approach towards poor behaviour and expects the highest standards of conduct at all times.

"It is without doubt that this will have a bearing on how we look at the sevens environment going forward."

 

[Quick Hands]

For a program which is trying to prove its value and remain in existence, behavioural incidents indicating poor culture and discipline aren’t exactly an endorsement for retaining what exists are they.

But as i said in the first post barbarian.. lets wait and see what comes of the investigation!

Although the same culture seems to have permeated the Wallabies with 3 players stood down for similar behaviour.

Culture starts at the top and develops over time. Australian rugby has had a culture of entitlement and non-accountability from board level down for some time. If administration won't accept responsibility for the parlous state of the game, is it any surprise that this sort of culture has developed? Look around at any sport and you'll see examples of clubs/franchises with poor culture and without exception you'll be able to trace it back to the top.

 

[eastman]

How much funding comes from World Rugby and AOC for the 7’s program?

But yes i agree they could structure it towards the 20s a bit, re-engage the program as a development tool again, because paying above average club players a professional salary when the majority wont progress any higher isn’t delivering results. A few career players like Longbottom and Ed Jenkins style, surrounded by players surged as required.
And whilst that may sound incredibly harsh towards the players, lets be honest it is the truth.

It's worth noting that these are hardly professional salaries (or at least at they lower end of the spectrum) - the average squad member would probably be on less than 100k and that was before COVID and amendments to the CBA.

But the return on investment does need to be questioned especially for men; the sport is never going to generate a significant commercial return, so if we're not winning medals to raise the profile or using it as a pipeline of XV professional talent- where's the value?

 

[Quick Hands]

It's worth noting that these are hardly professional salaries (or at least at they lower end of the spectrum) - the average squad member would probably be on less than 100k and that was before COVID and amendments to the CBA.

But the return on investment does need to be questioned especially for men; the sport is never going to generate a significant commercial return, so if we're not winning medals to raise the profile or using it as a pipeline of XV professional talent- where's the value?

Especially when at least two members of the squad openly said that they were using the Olympic 7s as a trial for an NRL contract.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/miller...-olympian-back-to-league-20210717-p58ak9.html

 

[Adam84]

I think a review is required irregardless, the world has changed in the past 18 months. Even the landscape for women’s sport in Australia has shifted significantly, NRLW and AFLW are now offering full-time contracts and competing for the same female athlete. Failure to achieve a medal at the Olympics could have an impact on AOC funding going forward as well.

 

[Quick Hands]

I think a review is required irregardless, the world has changed in the past 18 months. Even the landscape for women’s sport in Australia has shifted significantly, NRLW and AFLW are now offering full-time contracts and competing for the same female athlete. Failure to achieve a medal at the Olympics could have an impact on AOC funding going forward as well.

Agree, but alas the time to be doing this stuff was after Rio with a gold medal in our cabinet instead of playing catch-up now.

 

[PhilClinton]

Specifically regarding the womens side - I think the management failed to grasp that brilliance of the Rio side was more a lightning in a bottle type scenario rather than being indicative of the skill level which would be ongoing throughout the ranks.

The nucleus of that side had been playing together in 7s tournaments for some time and even in some other sports as juniors. They were in sync with each other. After that gold medal the 7s program seemed to think there would be another 50 Green's, Caslick's etc walking through the door.

 

[I like to watch]

Especially when at least two members of the squad openly said that they were using the Olympic 7s as a trial for an NRL contract.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/miller...-olympian-back-to-league-20210717-p58ak9.html

Geez, Miller talks himself up as a ball player, IMO his value add is only as a ball runner.
He runs a good hard line.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

Geez, Miller talks himself up as a ball player, IMO his value add is only as a ball runner.
He runs a good hard line.

Gilchrist has also offered them all gigs already.

 

[I like to watch]

Burn the joint down, and start again….

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/rugby-a...g-players-drunken-antics-plane-052328172.html

 

[RugbyReg]

Burn the joint down, and start again….

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/rugby-a...g-players-drunken-antics-plane-052328172.html

I hope those quotes aren’t legit. Embarrassing

 

[PhilClinton]

Fox Sports have come out and unsurprisingly given the Rugby 7s teams their only 'F grade' of the Olympics.

I would have thought the Opals gameplay and the Cambage situation should have brought down the overall basketball score to lower than A- as well, but that Boomers bronze was pretty special.

Tokyo Olympics 2021: Australia, medals, news, analysis, Emma McKeon, tally, (foxsports.com.au)

 

[Wilson]

Fox Sports have come out and unsurprisingly given the Rugby 7s teams their only 'F grade' of the Olympics.

I would have thought the Opals gameplay and the Cambage situation should have brought down the overall basketball score to lower than A- as well, but that Boomers bronze was pretty special.

Tokyo Olympics 2021: Australia, medals, news, analysis, Emma McKeon, tally, (foxsports.com.au)

They also gave Mountain Biking an F. I don't know how much I agree with these sort of graded reviews for the various Olympic sports but if they're being done I can't really argue with that for the combined 7's teams.

 

[Rob42]

Fox Sports have come out and unsurprisingly given the Rugby 7s teams their only 'F grade' of the Olympics.

I would have thought the Opals gameplay and the Cambage situation should have brought down the overall basketball score to lower than A- as well, but that Boomers bronze was pretty special.

Tokyo Olympics 2021: Australia, medals, news, analysis, Emma McKeon, tally, (foxsports.com.au)

Hell hath no fury like a FoxSports scorned, it seems.

Those performances in the 7s can't have been a surprise to anyone. The men lost three games to the eventual three medalists, yes? I was pretty disappointed when they lost to Argentina, but it turned out those Argies were red-hot.

 

[I like to watch]

Yeah we lost to 3 medalists, but that’s misleading.
We also to a depleted South Africa.
had we drawn USA or Great Britain, they would have beaten us as well