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Muttonbird
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10 penalties. Can't wait.
Pick The Score thread
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RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
Etihad is one of those God-forsaken 'multi' stadia just designed to kill rugby joy...perhaps I can _just_ forgive the ARU for having this game in MEL in a pre-Rebels year, but never otherwise. What has MEL ever done for rugby but sneer and neglect it, by and large. AB-Walls games should be in SYD or BNE.
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daz
Guest
Wobs 27 Blucks 24
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daz
Guest
Ever been to a game there? For an AFL/Multi sport stadiums it is far better than any other stadium of its type. The facilities are great, transport is on the door-step (or a short walk up from an ale or two at Southbank), and the seating is done in a more verticle way so that you really feel you are right on top of the action. With the roof closed, the noise and atmosphere from the fans in a sports mad city is superb. Personally, I love going to games there, regardless of the sport being played.
You mean apart from adding a Melbourne based team into the SANZAR family?
That's the spirit! How dare those non-Rugby bastards try and steal our sport. Fuck 'em all if they can't be bothered being born in Qld or NSW...
Gee RH, for someone who decries the ARU's vision in promoting the sport nationally, you seemed to have come roaring back the other way...
:nta:
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
Might be fine for AFL - big oval - I went to a cricket game there and hated it. Glad you like it. Many sports fans I know in MEL are v iffy about it.
I am delighted by the Rebels arrival, that's a totally different matter than having ABs games there. Give MEL Ireland or France or maybe an England (just), but give the ABs games to the heartland until MEL has grown into the required sophistication of a true appreciation of heaven's game. (And btw, the long-enduring Wallabies fans in the heartland deserve the best games, at least for now.) Oh, just btw, I didn't decry the ARU for 'not promoting the sport nationally', I decried them for post-2003 not promoting the sport properly. Taking on MEL in say 2004 would not at all have been one of my suggestions - too big a risk and then the 'private equity model' was completely unproven, and I still think the jury's out on whether PER/Force has worked well in a WA rugby-building and local-player-developing sense, or is just in a kind of suspended survival mode relying on imported players (what are your views being there?).
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daz
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Any G&GR Melbourne based members want right of reply here? Just let me get out the way so your punches don't hit me by accident...
Come on RH. Can we not spread the joy around? There are only so many tests in Oz each year. I would argue some show case games should be offered to non Syd/Bris crowds. Given the crowds in Melbourne regulary hit 40K+ for each game, who cares what "sophistication" or "appreciation" levels they have? Mate, plenty of people oin Syd and Bris don't get it either.
If the games in the "heartland" were regularly at full capacity I would have a certain degree of sympathy to that argument, RH. When was the last sold out game in Qld or NSW and how many times has that happened in the last few years?
I go to all Force v other Oz teams games and occasional other games. For pure tribal passion and excitement, the Perth crowds have got it covered. They don't call the Force supporters the Blue Army for nothing. Regularly sold out games, waiting periods for membership, huge merchandise sales and a half decent premier rugby comp below. The Oz2 v Pom game was sold out. Good crowds for tests. What more do you want?
And for what it is worth, I don't think the Perth crowds are terribly "sophisticated" and on the whole they don't really get the rules to the finer degree. But who cares? They are there, they support the Force and by God, they do it well. Even in a year the Force were anchored to the bottom with no hope of improvement, the crowds still came in record numbers. Can the Reds fans say the same during the dark days?
Player development is not something I know much about for the Force. I go to the games because they are there, but I don't support them and therefore, don't take any interest in who plays there or where they have come from. I think there have been 2 local lads play for the force from WA junior/seniors/S14, but I confess I am not able to speak with any authority. But, the Force are young and development from juniors to the big league takes time.
Where are the majority of Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions AFL players from? Not Syd or Brisbane. Same for the Storm in the NRL. But as Kevin Costner once said, if you build it, they will come.
Having said that, RugbyWA is making huge inroads into the sport in WA. Schools now have rugby as an option. The junior comp is thriving and the standard is fantastic (although there is a problem with juniors switching to AFL with their mates at 13/14/15).
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daz
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TheRiddler
Dave Cowper (27)
Them 27 - Us 17
mark_s
Chilla Wilson (44)
De Blacks 29, De Golds 27, with Gits missing a vbery kickable goal to proove the difference
Hugh Jarse
Rocky Elsom (76)
As there is no confirmation that we have managed to organise our own Susie the waitress to serve a meal to the AB's tonight, I'd have to say AB's 30 Wobbolies 15.
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chief
Guest
NZ 34- Aus 12
Groucho
Greg Davis (50)
Actually, the predictions are split 5050 at this point.
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