Rebels 2013

[Tex]

I can’t help but feel a bit bitter about Kurtley’s tenure at the Rebels. Many of the kind words wishing him a speedy recovery come across as empty platitudes that don’t wrestle with the crux of the issue. Commentators (many Sydney-based) suggest that it was his move to Melbourne that’s responsible for him going off the rails, but I recall a range of behavioural issues going back before he transferred down here. I’m left thinking it was a monumental waste of money, but most disappointing is that I’m not all that surprised.

On the club’s front, we’ve had mixed results of recruiting star players. On one hand we’ve had great service on and off the field from Yoda, Stirlo and Higgers; but Cipriani, Beale, and dare I say it O’Connor have been more disruptive than productive. Social media seems to show JOC (James O'Connor) and KB (Kurtley Beale) being fairly un-engaged with the club socially, preferring to run around with the AFL delinquents. If KB (Kurtley Beale) and Buddy Franklin move to Sydney, I can see JOC (James O'Connor) making a meaningful commitment to the Rebels, but at this stage I think our sponsor’s dollars are better invested in developing more young talent and securing blokes in line with the ethos of the club.


All the best to KB (Kurtley Beale), hopefully he can redeem himself. In the future maybe we can attach off-field performance clauses to player contracts, with positive contributions to the club and community being incentivised beyond a reliance on goodwill.

 

[swingpass]

as i said on one of the other threads, overall i am not so certain whether JOC (James O'Connor) and Beale have been worth the angst.

both at times have contributed solidly on the field but apparently off the pitch haven't been that engaged with the club. i dont for one moment believe that beale's problems began in melbourne, despite what our journalist friends in the north believe. i also wish him well but it would have been nice for him to clean up his act, stay in melbourne and regularly star for the rebels. as for JOC (James O'Connor), time to grow up and do his job.

 

[KevinO]

How many games has KB (Kurtley Beale) actually played for the Rebels? 10 in 2 years?

Going to always go down as the Biggest Waste of Money by the Rebels.

 

[en_force_er]

That being said, injury and personal meltdowns aren't easy to map.

 

[Slim 293]

I can’t help but feel a bit bitter about Kurtley’s tenure at the Rebels. Many of the kind words wishing him a speedy recovery come across as empty platitudes that don’t wrestle with the crux of the issue. Commentators (many Sydney-based) suggest that it was his move to Melbourne that’s responsible for him going off the rails, but I recall a range of behavioural issues going back before he transferred down here. I’m left thinking it was a monumental waste of money, but most disappointing is that I’m not all that surprised.

On the club’s front, we’ve had mixed results of recruiting star players. On one hand we’ve had great service on and off the field from Yoda, Stirlo and Higgers; but Cipriani, Beale, and dare I say it O’Connor have been more disruptive than productive. Social media seems to show JOC (James O'Connor) and KB (Kurtley Beale) being fairly un-engaged with the club socially, preferring to run around with the AFL delinquents. If KB (Kurtley Beale) and Buddy Franklin move to Sydney, I can see JOC (James O'Connor) making a meaningful commitment to the Rebels, but at this stage I think our sponsor’s dollars are better invested in developing more young talent and securing blokes in line with the ethos of the club.


All the best to KB (Kurtley Beale), hopefully he can redeem himself. In the future maybe we can attach off-field performance clauses to player contracts, with positive contributions to the club and community being incentivised beyond a reliance on goodwill.

I'd say it's more about the company he has kept since moving to Melbourne........

 

[Tex]

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[swingpass]

someone earlier asked how effective KB (Kurtley Beale) and JOC (James O'Connor) have been for the rebels.
by my quick calculation, since the beginning of 2012 the rebels have played 25 games, either KB (Kurtley Beale) or JOC (James O'Connor) have played in 13 for 3 wins (~23% success), both together in only 9 games for 2 wins (22%) and neither available for 3 games for 3 wins !
just putting it out there
close to where i sit at AAMI is the national coach of another australian sporting team, this person has said from virtually day one that the combination of egos and personalities would never mix and detract from the overall team performance. this from an outsider looking on.

 

[blues recovery]

Unfortunately have to accept that signing both KB (Kurtley Beale) and JOC (James O'Connor) is the biggest mistake the club has made in it's history. Worse than Cipriani.
I remember when I told a mate of mine in Sydney (who happens to be a current injured Wallaby), that the Rebels were apparently going to sign the both of them, he laughed and said "good luck with that , you are going to need it".
Guess he knew something the club didn't from personal experience. He also told me how happy the Tahs players were to wave ta ta to KB (Kurtley Beale).
Funny he is now going back to where all his problems began.

 

[en_force_er]

I'd say it's more about the company he has kept since moving to Melbourne....

Franklin was born in Perth, so really it's their fault.

 

[Athilnaur]

Stormers 2012 proved to me that the Rebels sans Beale and JOC (James O'Connor) had big potential. I am not sold on the idea of losing them, but the last two games have been a very valuable wake up call for all. Very surprised and disappointed to hear suggestions JOC (James O'Connor) hasn't been pulling his weight with Rabo. Obviously there is two sides to a story and JOC (James O'Connor) is no doubt the guy the ad guys want all the time, he has seemed to me to be conscientious about media commitments of recent times.

 

[Scooter]

How many games has KB (Kurtley Beale) actually played for the Rebels? 10 in 2 years?

Going to always go down as the Biggest Waste of Money by the Rebels.

Beale has played 14 games for the Rebels.

 

[swingpass]

Beale has played 14 games for the Rebels.

4 wins in 14 games (28.6%) compared with JOC (James O'Connor) 3 wins in 19 gamed (15.8%)

 

[I like to watch]

Beale has played 14 games for the Rebels.

Cipriano has to be in the finish as well.
At least KB (Kurtley Beale) didn't lose games for them.

 

[KevinO]

4 wins in 14 games (28.6%) compared with JOC (James O'Connor) 3 wins in 19 gamed (15.8%)

Really says something about the quality of play they produced.

Danny Cipriani even managed 19 games in 1.5 season's with 5 wins.

 

[swingpass]

as i said above, JOC (James O'Connor) and KB (Kurtley Beale) have only played together for 9 games out of 25, winning just twice.
whether its the contribution each has made or possibly more about the others sitting back and expecting the champs to lead the way, dont know if this is really the case or are other things going on, alluded to by many on this forum.

 

[daz]

Hindsight is a beautiful and rose-coloured mistress.

When Beale and JOC (James O'Connor) were signed, there was a fair bit of jubilation around the place. Rightly so; we had just picked up two Wallaby stars. Yes, you remember the bit about KB (Kurtley Beale) and JOC (James O'Connor) being *ahem* world class at the time?

The number of games played for x number of wins, etc, etc is really not a very good marker. I'm quite sure JOC (James O'Connor) would have prefered to play rather than have a large rip in his liver, and KB (Kurtley Beale) probably would have chosen a bit of game time rather than having various bits of himself break/tear/get whacked.

Could the Rebels have seen the potential for KB (Kurtley Beale) to be a problem child off the field? Of course they bloody did. But they said the same thing every team says when they pick up a broken (but potentially brilliant) toy - "We are confident we can provide a safe and engaging environment to ensure we bring the best out of KB (Kurtley Beale)".

They didn't, of course. Probably no-one could have. Maybe we didn't learn enough from the Cipriani experience and from that viewpoint, I'd mark that as a mistake. But I am surely not going to beat up the Rebels manangement for that mistake. It was worth a shot.

As for JOC (James O'Connor), well, I think he will be a valuable member of the Rebels moving forward, and if we have to pay for that with a bit of princess behaviour, so be it. Maybe the clue was while we were trying to sign JOC (James O'Connor), he was talking about his brand. Ego much? Could see it from Pluto. No surprises there.

What the last 6 months has taught us, hopefully, is that we have a bright future. To quote some cheesy song lyrics "I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way". Christ, I just made myself cry with the fucking bliss of it all.

The young 'uns are doing the business for us, week in and week out. And it is fucking awesome to watch.

Now if you don't mind, I have a Japanese garden to rake while I contemplate my navel, in a Zen kinda way.

 

[en_force_er]

Hindsight is a beautiful and rose-coloured mistress.

When Beale and JOC (James O'Connor) were signed, there was a fair bit of jubilation around the place. Rightly so; we had just picked up two Wallaby stars. Yes, you remember the bit about KB (Kurtley Beale) and JOC (James O'Connor) being *ahem* world class at the time?

The number of games played for x number of wins, etc, etc is really not a very good marker. I'm quite sure JOC (James O'Connor) would have prefered to play rather than have a large rip in his liver, and KB (Kurtley Beale) probably would have chosen a bit of game time rather than having various bits of himself break/tear/get whacked.

Could the Rebels have seen the potential for KB (Kurtley Beale) to be a problem child off the field? Of course they bloody did. But they said the same thing every team says when they pick up a broken (but potentially brilliant) toy - "We are confident we can provide a safe and engaging environment to ensure we bring the best out of KB (Kurtley Beale)".

They didn't, of course. Probably no-one could have. Maybe we didn't learn enough from the Cipriani experience and from that viewpoint, I'd mark that as a mistake. But I am surely not going to beat up the Rebels manangement for that mistake. It was worth a shot.

As for JOC (James O'Connor), well, I think he will be a valuable member of the Rebels moving forward, and if we have to pay for that with a bit of princess behaviour, so be it. Maybe the clue was while we were trying to sign JOC (James O'Connor), he was talking about his brand. Ego much? Could see it from Pluto. No surprises there.

What the last 6 months has taught us, hopefully, is that we have a bright future. To quote some cheesy song lyrics "I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way". Christ, I just made myself cry with the fucking bliss of it all.

The young 'uns are doing the business for us, week in and week out. And it is fucking awesome to watch.

Now if you don't mind, I have a Japanese garden to rake while I contemplate my navel, in a Zen kinda way.

A-men and a half.

I'll add to that, the Eastern Suburbs kids (where most of the rugby schools, clubs, and thus arguably Victoria's rugby future is) don't talk about Beale or Higgers or how Hegarty is surprisingly solid after the game.

The talk about JOC (James O'Connor), how he was outside the stadium taking photos or the cheeky dummy he pulled. It's crap we're not getting good performances out of him and I think he's a 15 for us rather than a 10 (though Woodward's form has something to say about that).

Bottom line, he's a poster boy and a half. I can only think of a handful of world wide players who could fill the poster boy position as well as he can.

 

[Highlander35]

I still think that we should be playing JOC (James O'Connor) at Inside Center, but whatever, he got steamrolled by McCabe, and will never play 12 again.

 

[Dumbledore]

I still think that we should be playing JOC (James O'Connor) at Inside Center, but whatever, he got steamrolled by McCabe, and will never play 12 again.

Next season I reckon.

 

[daz]

A-men and a half.

I'll add to that, the Eastern Suburbs kids (where most of the rugby schools, clubs, and thus arguably Victoria's rugby future is) don't talk about Beale or Higgers or how Hegarty is surprisingly solid after the game.

The talk about JOC (James O'Connor), how he was outside the stadium taking photos or the cheeky dummy he pulled. It's crap we're not getting good performances out of him and I think he's a 15 for us rather than a 10 (though Woodward's form has something to say about that).

Bottom line, he's a poster boy and a half. I can only think of a handful of world wide players who could fill the poster boy position as well as he can.

I'll throw a theory at you to explain your comment: It is very telling that Rory Sidey (12) and Mitch Inman (13) have a lot of experience playing alongside JOC (James O'Connor) (10) from the Force days, yet both of those guys have had (arguably) the best games of their careers in the last few weeks playing with Hegarty as 10.

My theory is that while JOC (James O'Connor) is clearly exceptionally talented, he tends to expect the players around him should also be at the same level. QC (Quade Cooper) has the same mindset. Clearly that is not the case.

Watch both JOC (James O'Connor) and QC (Quade Cooper) when they throw a "special" pass and it doesn't come off because the receiver wasn't expecting it. You can see it on their faces like a thought bubble - "Ah FFS! Come on you knob, why weren't you ready?"

Hegarty on the other hand, seems more of a fit with the Rebels at 10 for the very simple reason that he plays to the basics and the players around him can respond to that. I don't mean he is not talented, but that he suits his game to the "team". Do the basics well and the rewards will come. The Rebels are not an 'x' factor team.

Anyway, just a theory. Like many things I have said, it could be absolute poppycock.