pablo
Darby Loudon (17)
i think one of the drivers from the ARU's perspective is the already available infrasrtucture at the universities. fields, gyms, pools, rehab etc. the brumbies use anu, sydney unis facilities are apparently better than the waratahs, rugby in victoria needs a "home", etc. also the idea of alumni supporting Uni WA vs Melb Uni eg, has built in advantages, witness the strength in only 2 - 3 years of the sydney v melbourne boat race. the SA varsity comp is clearly one model being investigated. the academic requirements need careful planning.
the short answer is we need something. the ARC was great but just prohibitively expensive. we shall see what evolves
The Brumbies use University of Canberra, only displayed on their jersey but good to see the sponsirship is reaching far and wide.
this is definitely not a ploy by uni to garner all the good up and coming players. the rebels are determined to keep the homegrown talent here but need a comp that will develop them ready to step up to S15 level. local rugby here cant do that (yet) and the gap from SS, John I Dent and Premier rugby is too great.
And doesn't read that way at all........but might explain a few things in the recent ins and outs of the competition. Oooops i didn't say that did I?
It is no secret that MelbUni has a good set up but can't equate that to success (apart from the odd grade here and there). UQ and SydUni are top teams, but the UniNorths Owls and UniMelb are a long way off the playing field. Does it make sense to pump resources into Uni to develop players? Who knows? Is that going to be seen as giving one club a leg up? Or does it make sense to pump money across the board and give all clubs the opportunity to develop players?
Also heard a rumour that one of the "scholarship players" that MelbUni had attended Monash Uni......slip up or oversight, still funny if it is true.
On a serious note, the Government gave the Rebels $1m (which they matched) to pump into their gym and rehab centre at Princess Park. In my mind it makes sense to have the development players inviolved in this set up and interacting with professional players, coaches, managers as opposed to the set up at the club level.