Rebels 2018

[Mr Wobbly]

Am I the only one that thinks missing out on Wessels could be a blessing for the Rebels? I would anticipate serious group dynamic issues if he did come and brought a bunch of players with him whose sole reason for coming was because he was coach. His man management skills would have to be peerless to convince incumbent Rebels players they were all coming off the same base.
Could be wrong but certainly something to think about IMO.

I'm also not 100% on DW. Would love to know who the other three candidates are? Any clues RL?

 

[Rebels3]

The first two you mentioned are definitely worth a squad spot. Meafou could potentially develop into a better version of Skelton, he seems pretty athletic for a largish young fellow. Paisami has been pretty good but I don't think he'd be up to Supe standard for a while at least. Tupou has been pretty impressive, I loved the way he threw himself into a couple of tackles on Naiyaravoro on Sunday. Of the young guns that haven't yet played for the Rebels I really hope that McGregor gets a crack sooner rather than later. Tupai has to be worth a mention.

Yeh all are several seasons away from Super level. Not sure about any of our backrow. Don't think any of them have shamed themselves but i also haven't seen anything that would suggest they were up to the next level. At NRC level i expect players to at least a few times a match look like they can dominate or provide something the opposite number cant, eg. Naisarani at Bris City last season, Jake Gordon and Richie Hardwick.

 

[charlesalan]

There is a few things we have going for ourselves.

Talent... I know i am going to get someones back up over this, but our players u21 are the best in the country, maybe not as a team but our top 5/6 u20s i challenge someone to honestly name a combo of player more promising than on the Rebels books. Call me biased but McGregor is better than Stewart, Tuipulotu is the best centre in this bracket, Maddocks (Perese obviously aside) looks a class above the the rest in this age bracket, from a small sample size we have the best u18 player in Tupou. Uelese we all know about. The world rugby 7s young player of the year is coming onboard. Goddard is one of the better young 9s.

Will Genia is coming onboard next year in a dramatic improvement from the 9s available in previous years. Apart from McMahon we have kept the better players and largely culled the dross. Koroibete a year smarter in the technical attributes of the game. I will admit Lomax is a blow. Geoff Parling is the best 2nd rower we have had on our books potentially ever (not that the competition is that great). JGB has been on fire in the Mitre 10 cup.

Yes there is clear and obvious systematic issues but all clubs have this. Personally i think we are now caught in a spiral of negativity and boohoo'ers nation wide that we have forgotten how to even acknowledge even the smallest rays of sunshine available. Time to move forward, we all have a right to be angry (some more so than others eg. Force fans), but we don't have a right to wallow is self pity, that shit is contagious and doesn't do anyone any good.

Going forward are we stuffed???? who knows, but i think we are in a better position than we were this time last year. If it blows up in my face, so be it, but i am honestly too exhausted with Australian rugby at the moment, leaning towards a negative spin on things that i have got to start looking at anything and everything in a different manner to get the enjoyment back

Thank you Rebels3.
I agree with you about talent and I'll even go so far as to say we have had talent in the past too.
I think Nick Stirzaker was talented but his coaches and injuries let him down in the past two seasons - before that he was a potential Wallaby. Of course, Genia is a tried and true Wallaby already.

I'm not wallowing in negativity, I'm looking for the ray of sunshine, but my fear is that everyone is ok with the way things are and we are relying on a 3/4 pool of playing talent to bring us through. Keeping the same Board and senior management to repeat the errors of the past seems folly to me - a bit like getting the captain of the Titanic to take charge of the lifeboats - without a map, without food and without a full crew.

 

[Highlander35]

I thought Tupai was pretty damn excellent against the Drua, but has been comparatively subdued since.

Lovely young mix below the seniors in that 17-22 bracket (I'm including Trevor Hosea who I think is in final School year in QLD) now, they've just got to balance that development with bringing them through.

 

[Rock Lobster]

I'm also not 100% on DW. Would love to know who the other three candidates are? Any clues RL?

Sorry Mr Wobbly,got nothing at the moment.

 

[Mr Wobbly]

Sorry Mr Wobbly,got nothing at the moment.

MRRU seem to be tighter than a fish's bum when it comes to leaks

 

[Mr Wobbly]

I thought Tupai was pretty damn excellent against the Drua, but has been comparatively subdued since.

Lovely young mix below the seniors in that 17-22 bracket (I'm including Trevor Hosea who I think is in final School year in QLD) now, they've just got to balance that development with bringing them through.

I thought Tupai put in a pretty good shift on Sunday, without dominating. He earned a couple of good pilfers and defended well.

We have so many good young guys in the system it's really important that we get a HC that can bring that talent through to the next level. T.T. put together a really unbalanced roster. It isn't so much that we lack good players, most of our good players play the same few positions.

 

[oztimmay]

MRRU seem to be tighter than a fish's bum when it comes to leaks

Reckon you wait for Payto & Panda tonight. I'll bet some amber tings we will find out more about the other coaching candidates tonight.

 

[Kevin77]

What exactly does the future hold for the Rebels?
It is a club on the brink of insolvency without the Vic Gov funds , it has no head coach, it is missing about a third of its playing team, no main sponsorships and falling memberships.
So what is the Board doing that's different from what they've done in the past? Let's see, MRRU Board: Tim North, Owain Stone, Lyndsay Cattermole and Bob Dalziel. Cattermole and Dalziel were on the advisory board for Cox before he did a runner and before that they were on the Board for the VRU with Harold Mitchell. What board oversight have they contributed? Tim North and Owain Stone were both on the VRU Board that signed off on the sale to Cox and assisted with the execution of the Put Option - but what have they contributed in terms of vision for the game and growth and longevity for the club? They have a CEO who was thrown in the deep end when Cox decided to exit - and what vision does Baden have? What experience does he have in sports administration ?- well not so much, that's why he called in Rob Clarke to advise him - and now we've come full circle - Rob Clarke was the instigator of the sale of the Rebels to Cox .
What will these guys do that is going to make the Rebels a success?
Please give me something, cause it's breaking my heart

Gutted to think the Force were sacrificed for this.

 

[Killer]

Gutted to think the Force were sacrificed for this.

And according to the enquiry WA have double the number of juniors playing the game each Saturday.

 

[Ruggo]

Melbourne is such a saturated market. For all the talk about rugby as business, it amazes me how bad the business is conducted.

 

[Rebels3]

Gutted to think the Force were sacrificed for this.

I (probably we) feel sorry for you and what happened was lacking transparency and class, but please i (again probably we) am over needing to feel pity for you. Coming onto this thread and consistently flogging a dead horse to get some point/what ever it is, is just dragging people down and not helping us, you or anyone for that matter move forward in a constructive manner. No one is asking you to get over what happened, but we ask you to move forward and stop trying to get a point across through pity and negativity. Honestly i can't even read a match report without someone constantly flogging the same dead horse, over and over and over again. We ALL agree what happened sucked, but like i said before stop trying to get others to feel pity for you. I want Australian rugby to move forward with a WA team, but trying to throw anyone and everyone under the bus to achieve this isn't going to help the situation. Support us and we will support you, like i believe 95% of us have.

 

[Brumby Runner]

We will win the competition.

What? The competition to avoid the wooden spoon?

 

[oztimmay]

What? The competition to avoid the wooden spoon?

*rolls eyes* Thanks for your contribution, BR.

 

[Killer]

No Union or their supporters including the VRU and yourselves supported us or a fair process. I am no more disappointed with the VRU and 95% of their supporters than I am with any of the others.
If you really did support us and presumably a fair process I would be accepting of your comments.
I somehow doubt you would have supported a fair selection process if it had to happen.
No one is asking you to pity us, we will be back as we are now probably the strongest Team/State in the Union.
If I was a Victorian rugby supporter I would simply be embarrassed at the state of my Team and rugby in Victoria.
That could probably also go for most Australian States to varying degrees.

 

[James Pettifer]

No Union or their supporters including the VRU and yourselves supported us or a fair process. I am no more disappointed with the VRU and 95% of their supporters than I am with any of the others.
If you really did support us and presumably a fair process I would be accepting of your comments.
I somehow doubt you would have supported a fair selection process if it had to happen.
No one is asking you to pity us, we will be back as we are now probably the strongest Team/State in the Union.
If I was a Victorian rugby supporter I would simply be embarrassed at the state of my Team and rugby in Victoria.
That could probably also go for most Australian States to varying degrees.

I think every state should be embarrassed about the state of rugby in their state. And that goes for WA as well. If WA rugby and the Force were so strong and were seeing significantly higher crowds then I think we would have been in a very different position but they weren't.

Seriously - look at the crowds for Super Rugby across the board. The Melbourne, Canberra and Perth crowds are tiny. And for the heartland areas of Sydney and Brisbane to only get a small number more is crazy.

I am sure that WA will return either as the Force into SuperRugby or to whatever comes next but I'm getting very tired and bored with the attacks on the Rebels, the VRU and the Rebels supporters.

And no, I am not embarrassed by my team. I am disappointed that we had a bad year last year but I don't think that the Force supporters were embarrassed about their 2016 when they only got 2 wins.

 

[Killer]

I think every state should be embarrassed about the state of rugby in their state. And that goes for WA as well. If WA rugby and the Force were so strong and were seeing significantly higher crowds then I think we would have been in a very different position but they weren't.

Seriously - look at the crowds for Super Rugby across the board. The Melbourne, Canberra and Perth crowds are tiny. And for the heartland areas of Sydney and Brisbane to only get a small number more is crazy.

I am sure that WA will return either as the Force into SuperRugby or to whatever comes next but I'm getting very tired and bored with the attacks on the Rebels, the VRU and the Rebels supporters.

And no, I am not embarrassed by my team. I am disappointed that we had a bad year last year but I don't think that the Force supporters were embarrassed about their 2016 when they only got 2 wins.

Sure no problems say what you want, just don't say that you supported and support us now. Clearly you and none of the other Unions did. If there was a fair process that was supported by all the Unions the Rebels and others would have gone long before the Force.

 

[The Mayor of Perth]

Melbourne is such a saturated market. For all the talk about rugby as business, it amazes me how bad the business is conducted.

I've been going to Melbourne often for years. Pre-2006 when I'd reply to business colleagues/clients that I was going home via Canberra to watch a Brumbies game, they didn't have a clue what I was talking about. Nothing much has changed except they now think the Storm play rugby. I was in Melbourne over the Anzac Day weekend this year and settled into my favourite cafe on the Saturday morning. The sports pages of the Herald-Sun and The Age numbered about 50 (I counted them twice at the time). There were three lines about James O'Connor's cocaine conviction in Paris. The Rebels were playing the Sharks that weekend but there was not one word written about the Rebels or Super Rugby in either paper. And Melbourne gets to keep a team.

 

[James Pettifer]

Sure no problems say what you want, just don't say that you supported and support us now. Clearly you and none of the other Unions did. If there was a fair process that was supported by all the Unions the Rebels and others would have gone long before the Force.

I completely support the Force being in SuperRugby but not at the expense of the Rebels. WTF do you expect Rebels fans to do? My number 1 goal is to have a rugby team in SuperRugby (or whatever it becomes) that I can go to the home ground and watch. Everything else is secondary.

I hope that either the Sunwolves pull out in 2019 or another South African team joins the Pro14 and the Sunwolves bugger off there and the Force can return and we can go back to having 5 teams in Australia as soon as possible.

 

[Tex]

No Union or their supporters including the VRU and yourselves supported us or a fair process. I am no more disappointed with the VRU and 95% of their supporters than I am with any of the others.
If you really did support us and presumably a fair process I would be accepting of your comments.
I somehow doubt you would have supported a fair selection process if it had to happen.
No one is asking you to pity us, we will be back as we are now probably the strongest Team/State in the Union.
If I was a Victorian rugby supporter I would simply be embarrassed at the state of my Team and rugby in Victoria.
That could probably also go for most Australian States to varying degrees.

Christ mates, take it elsewhere. You're right to be filthy because you got shafted. But let us chat about our team without every fourth message, many from no-avatar new members, re-prosecuting old dead arguments.

There are about three threads on the board solely designed to whale on the ARU. Please use them, not the Rebels thread.

Killer - sorry to quote you directly, I'm on the phone and your post is just one of many.

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