Rebels 2013

[kiap]

From 2003 to 2005 he was CEO of the ACT Brumbies, with the club winning the Super Rugby title in 2004

Seems eminently qualified.....

a student of the Shore School Sydney

..... and it looks like he's another one of the Pulveriser's mates .....

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

sounds like a great appointment. excellent rugby background and solid corporate experience.
would be surprised if he's not an ARU appointment and long term versus interim.
like it.

 

[kronic]

Anyone think Phipps being on record as saying they don't need another coach for 2014, a bit rich? Nice that he cares for Hilly etc. but he won't be at the club next year.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

i didn't mind. to be honest, that is becoming a common statement from the players and if you think to before the sharks debacle - we were looking VERY good, just lacking finish in the dying 15 minutes.
we've had three bad games out of 4 since then, but if the players can sort themselves out on the field then we can end the year with a solid back half, though a very hard back half.

i have called for hill's head before, but i will reel in my rhetoric upon reflecting on what was a solid start to the year. if they can put in good performances against the crusaders, chiefs, stormers and tahs - that changes things.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

that said i can't wait for burgess to come back, hopefully stomp on phipps at training, and take his place.
he has been useless and should consider himself very lucky, yet again, that kingi is injured.

zacker will start our next games i reckon.

 

[Torn Hammy]

Beale is reported to have said that he "can't wait to go out there this weekend and smash those c**nts!"... and he looks forward to getting back onto the field the following week...

I laughed, but maybe too soon for this thread Slim.

 

[kronic]

Dreaming if we'll perform against the Saders in Christchurch.

Stirzaker should be starting now.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

i don't know. Saders are all over the shop this year. one week winning africa, the next losing in perth. inconsistent team and potentially no carter.
beat them last year, so you can't say we aren't a chance. to be honest, without carter their backline isn't that flash - fruean i like (though he has his issues) and dagg. other than that i don't think crotty, whitelock and guilford are that flash (i think guildford is one of the most overrated wingers going around)

 

[swingpass]

media are confirming max lahiff to join rebs from london irish and richard kinghi off to france next season

 

[kronic]

Confirmation of the former, with a 2 year deal. The latter has been known for some time. It's just a matter of which club. IIRC, Racing was the likely club.

 

[en_force_er]

Here's a spotlight on locals in the Number 8 position for you:

• Nathan Palia has been starting for a winning Randwick in the SS.
• I know Pete Samu is a Randwick man too but I'm not sure on where he's playing or if he's injured (but he did the Waratahs preseason and played some games with them).
• Tala Grey is playing more than solid rugby in the Top 14 and even gets games in the starting XV on good weeks now.

What do these 3 men have in common? All Victorian bred. The first 2 are EPS quality and the 3rd in full squad and would likely make the 22.

But none of them play Rebels. Not one.

I don't understand why we as fans aren't making a bigger deal of this.

 

[swingpass]

Here's a spotlight on locals in the Number 8 position for you:

• Nathan Palia has been starting for a winning Randwick in the SS.
• I know Pete Samu is a Randwick man too but I'm not sure on where he's playing or if he's injured (but he did the Waratahs preseason and played some games with them).
• Tala Grey is playing more than solid rugby in the Top 14 and even gets games in the starting XV on good weeks now.

What do these 3 men have in common? All Victorian bred. The first 2 are EPS quality and the 3rd in full squad and would likely make the 22.


But none of them play Rebels. Not one.

I don't understand why we as fans aren't making a bigger deal of this.

as you'd be aware, this topic of victorians playing elsewhere in australia and os has been raised on the forum a number of times. the rebels have previously said that they have chased locals at other aus franchises without success, most notably christian lealiifano and john ulugia. we have to take the organisations word at that.
it seems the strategy is to develop the locals through the rising program, and connections in shute shield and john i dent comps. there have been several victorians in the oz schools and u20's in the recent past, so hopefully they will be progressing at a pace to see then in rebels colours in the next 2 - 3 years, providing of course that is what they aspire to. and personally, if i were tala grey for example, the south of france is much nicer than the south of australia. the young maka chap at toulon is another.

 

[Dumbledore]

Here's a spotlight on locals in the Number 8 position for you:

• Nathan Palia has been starting for a winning Randwick in the SS.
• I know Pete Samu is a Randwick man too but I'm not sure on where he's playing or if he's injured (but he did the Waratahs preseason and played some games with them).
• Tala Grey is playing more than solid rugby in the Top 14 and even gets games in the starting XV on good weeks now.

What do these 3 men have in common? All Victorian bred. The first 2 are EPS quality and the 3rd in full squad and would likely make the 22.

But none of them play Rebels. Not one.

I don't understand why we as fans aren't making a bigger deal of this.

Because this is professional spot and we've moved past petty provincialism? Seriously, if you're going to get into that then we should be tearing our hair out about Digby and Lilo. It's just not how sport works these days. Would I like to get young players coming through the Melbourne system? Absolutely. I don't really see the point in chasing a player down just because they once came from Melbourne though. I actually think the Rebels recruiting is starting to come good. PAE is 21, Lahiff is 23, Jones is 22, Neville and Pyle are 24, Stirzaker is 22, JOC (James O'Connor) is 22, Inman is 24, Woodward is 22. You can build a club around that - just need to hang onto them.

 

[Braveheart81]

Tala Grey might be a good player now but he'd absolutely be earning more money in France than he could playing Super Rugby and the fact that he is from Melbourne originally isn't going to put more bums on seats.

More Victorian bred Super Rugby players are going to help grow the game in Victoria (because young players will see that they can make it coming from a non-traditional rugby state) but I don't think them playing for the Rebels is going to make much difference.

More people aren't going to start attending Rebels games because there are a couple of Victorian bred players in the squad.

 

[James Buchanan]

More Victorian bred Super Rugby players are going to help grow the game in Victoria (because young players will see that they can make it coming from a non-traditional rugby state) but I don't think them playing for the Rebels is going to make much difference.

At the same time, the better way to do that is to provide definite pathways to the elite which the Rebels at least appear to be doing. Bringing back someone who has made it from another province isn't going to make the kids think that they can make it at the highest level any more than they already are.

 

[Braveheart81]

At the same time, the better way to do that is to provide definite pathways to the elite which the Rebels at least appear to be doing. Bringing back someone who has made it from another province isn't going to make the kids think that they can make it at the highest level any more than they already are.

I absolutely agree. Having as many Victorian players in the Rebel Rising program will help junior development.

That is also a likely scenario as not many people will be willing to move interstate for the relatively small amount of money and opportunity offered by something like that (relative to playing club rugby in Sydney or Brisbane for exmaple).

 

[en_force_er]

I'm not saying you guys don't raise intellegent points but I'm far some a conspiracy theorist or one eyed.

I feel like your comments reek of acceptance. Sure, the Rebels do have programs in place to develope locals. Good programs, that seem to be turning out good players. I don't have a problem with these programs or the coaches within them.

My point is, they're not backing these players in a way reminiscent of what ACT or even WA do.

as you'd be aware, this topic of victorians playing elsewhere in australia and os has been raised on the forum a number of times. the rebels have previously said that they have chased locals at other aus franchises without success, most notably christian lealiifano and john ulugia. we have to take the organisations word at that.
it seems the strategy is to develop the locals through the rising program, and connections in shute shield and john i dent comps. there have been several victorians in the oz schools and u20's in the recent past, so hopefully they will be progressing at a pace to see then in rebels colours in the next 2 - 3 years, providing of course that is what they aspire to. and personally, if i were tala grey for example, the south of france is much nicer than the south of australia. the young maka chap at toulon is another.

I haven't listed any established individuals on purpose, I'm not expecting them to spent KB (Kurtley Beale)'s salary on hiring Lilo or Taps. I'm proposing with throw some EPS contracts in a local direction.

Chasing an Vic player like Digby, Taps, Lilo, Uglia, etc. who has established himself as a professional with a house/life etc. in another city is very very different to luring a young former Oz 7s players who's cutting his teeth in France or a Shute Shield player back to Victoria.

There had been at least 2 (possibly 3) WA players freshly capped in full Super Rugby games by year 3 of their franchise (Longbottom and DHP).

Of the 60 or so players picked up by the Rebels in some professional capacity there has been 1 Victorian appear in a trial game (not officially contracted in any capacity) and 1 in full games (previously capped by Queensland). Basically, we have backed no fresh local talent at Super Rugby level and we started building this team 4 years ago and it's our 3rd playing season.

I think to say more could be done is an understatement.

Because this is professional spot and we've moved past petty provincialism? Seriously, if you're going to get into that then we should be tearing our hair out about Digby and Lilo. It's just not how sport works these days. Would I like to get young players coming through the Melbourne system? Absolutely. I don't really see the point in chasing a player down just because they once came from Melbourne though. I actually think the Rebels recruiting is starting to come good. PAE is 21, Lahiff is 23, Jones is 22, Neville and Pyle are 24, Stirzaker is 22, JOC (James O'Connor) is 22, Inman is 24, Woodward is 22. You can build a club around that - just need to hang onto them.

I understand sport is a business but there's a line between "petty provincialism" and what we're doing now.

If you noticed I listed no established players, nobody was begging for Taps to come home but I was saying let's look at young blokes who could enter our program. I listed 3 number 8s as an example of blokes who would be genuine possibilities in a particular position.

Plus, it's a bit strange to bring up the lack of provincialism point then list a bunch of young guns who by the same logic will move on in a couple of short seasons to greener business opportunities.

 

[Dumbledore]

At the same time, the better way to do that is to provide definite pathways to the elite which the Rebels at least appear to be doing. Bringing back someone who has made it from another province isn't going to make the kids think that they can make it at the highest level any more than they already are.

Bingo. It's where a draft would really help developing teams like the Rebels and the Force.

 

[en_force_er]

Tala Grey might be a good player now but he'd absolutely be earning more money in France than he could playing Super Rugby and the fact that he is from Melbourne originally isn't going to put more bums on seats.

More Victorian bred Super Rugby players are going to help grow the game in Victoria (because young players will see that they can make it coming from a non-traditional rugby state) but I don't think them playing for the Rebels is going to make much difference.

More people aren't going to start attending Rebels games because there are a couple of Victorian bred players in the squad.

Tala was just one example, but yes you are right about him. Though, home + new experiences + wallaby potential brings people home (Fotu is a good example).

Whilst I don't think that a Vic local junior playing Rebels has a connection to the number of fans or direct profits it has an effect on the engagement of those fans.

You'd be familiar with the buzz around a club when a Rebels player is playing for your 1s? Imagine if the bloke who played your kid all through juniors suited up for the Rebels? Same thing but even better. It's about COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.

What will improve fan engagement more? Youtube videos or a Rebel who played at your club from age 8?

 

[en_force_er]

On a different subject:

Fainga'a signed with Rebels

He said it's pen to paper stuff.