Western Force 2025

[Tazzmania]

And you keep spinning the depth story. Depth is when you have multiple super rugby/international quality players in each position, not 18 year old kids.

No spin intended, realistically the Western Force never have and never will have depth in the form of multiple super rugby / international quality players due to salary cap and many other constraints, so that is just a fact of life I have got used to.

The depth I refer to is having a player or players that potentially can step in and decently fill a void as and when needed.

If you have seen or read any of my previous posts you will realise I am a half full glass person and always try and look for the positives in any given situation.

I am just grateful that I have a team to support and watch and realise what a difficult job our CEO, recruiters, coaches, front and backroom staff and others have and I appreciate that they do as best they can in the given circumstances.

 

[Mr Pilfer]

No spin intended, realistically the Western Force never have and never will have depth in the form of multiple super rugby / international quality players due to salary cap and many other constraints, so that is just a fact of life I have got used to.

The depth I refer to is having a player or players that potentially can step in and decently fill a void as and when needed.

If you have seen or read any of my previous posts you will realise I am a half full glass person and always try and look for the positives in any given situation.

I am just grateful that I have a team to support and watch and realise what a difficult job our CEO, recruiters, coaches, front and backroom staff and others have and I appreciate that they do as best they can in the given circumstances.

Yes well said, sorry just my frustration getting to me, we have had so many of these promising youngsters come through our system but don’t get much game time and then leave, it is even worse when it happens to the WA developed ones, Pugh, McDonald, Callan, Makara etc

Fingers crossed for some key signings coming up

 

[rugbyAU]

Dylan Peitsch apparently wanted to be released to go to the force but this was denied

 

[Mr Pilfer]

Dylan Peitsch apparently wanted to be released to go to the force but this was denied

This whole thing just stinks. They tried to get Rodda to go from force to tahs, then stop players coming to us.

 

[Strewthcobber]

C'mon. It's not the same. Rodda was off contract and threatening to leave Australia, Pietsch isn't. He's signed up for the Tahs for another year still

 

[dru]

C'mon. It's not the same. Rodda was off contract and threatening to leave Australia, Pietsch isn't. He's signed up for the Tahs for another year still

Not the same, but it does stink. At best it is piss-poor optics. We've just gone through a situation where the entire Rebels squad had to be accommodated. I'm actually surprised at the level of transfer to the Reds - I suspect there is an argument there that is was excessive. Though I fully understand the attractiveness with Reds lining up international opportunities c/f (say) Waratahs who had no HC and rats departing - at the time.

We have Brumbies concerned they are not getting a "fair bite of the sav", and that is from within the supposed "centralised RA" world. The Force don't even have that.

We are left with RNZ partially departing the RC for greener pastures in South Africa at the same time that RA is left without any great clarity on what the plan is for pro-rugby going forward. The only thing that has held Force together is private funding (EDIT: and internal culture) in a recent history of actual harmful and antagonistic actions from RA.

The answer of what RA should have been doing with their relationship with the Force since then is probably vexed, however "little to nothing" is unlikely to answer Force fan queries over the smell.

 

[Strewthcobber]

You want bad optics? Imagine if RA started permitting players to break their contracts to move to other Super Rugby sides, and Force/Reds/Brumbies players who just made their Wallaby debuts started doing it to move to the Tahs

 

[Wilson]

You want bad optics? Imagine if RA started permitting players to break their contracts to move to other Super Rugby sides, and Force/Reds/Brumbies players who just made their Wallaby debuts started doing it to move to the Tahs

Trades/transfers in contract have happened before - Quade to the Rebels, Hunt swapped for Hegarty between the Reds and tahs, etc.

There's a lot of information we don't have here (really just a throw line from Christy at this point), but it's not wild to suggest that it would be worth RA exploring Pietsch moving to another side when the tahs are set to have Kellaway, Jorgensen, Sua'ali'i and now Lancaster as top end back 3 players. As it stands he's unlikely to get a hell of a lot of game time on the wing for the tahs next year and if he's in the national interest that's not a good outcome, same as it wasn't for Pone this year. It's not something that can be forced on a player but when the player is willing it should be looked at.

This is part of waht centralisation/alignment is aiming for, and while the Force hacen't signed on there it's not necessery for a transfer like this to happen, only helpful. If RA were serious about bringing them in the fold, facilitating something like this would've been a good way to show it.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Didn't RA try and get Angus Crichton to the Force when he was on the outer with the Rooster but he didn't want to move there so it fell apart. Granted I don't know how serious it was but still.

Tahs have played hardball with some of their current contracted guys which has to come from McKellar and Raiwalui. Pietsch now and Gordon a couple months ago.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Didn't RA try and get Angus Crichton to the Force when he was on the outer with the Rooster but he didn't want to move there so it fell apart. Granted I don't know how serious it was but still.

Tahs have played hardball with some of their current contracted guys which has to come from McKellar and Raiwalui. Pietsch now and Gordon a couple months ago.

Gordon, at least, was well before Raiwalui and McKellar was appointed. Sounds like Schmidt had his eyes on him from the get-go.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Trades/transfers in contract have happened before - Quade to the Rebels, Hunt swapped for Hegarty between the Reds and tahs, etc.

Always when released by the contracted team though right? Slipper is another

The Tahs don't want to release Pietsch.

 

[Wilson]

Always when released by the contracted team though right? Slipper is another

The Tahs don't want to release Pietsch.

That part we don't really know, and from Christy's (admittedly throw away) line it was RA who "knocked it on the head", not the tahs saying no.

 

[Brumby Runner]

That part we don't really know, and from Christy's (admittedly throw away) line it was RA who "knocked it on the head", not the tahs saying no.

Why the distinction? Aren't they one and the same these days?

 

[Adam84]

Why the distinction? Aren't they one and the same these days?

Depends how you want to interpret this... If you choose not to draw distinctions then the Brumbies are one the same as the Waratahs.

 

[Wilson]

Why the distinction? Aren't they one and the same these days?

They are still distinct organisations in many ways. If it was just Raiwalui/McKellar (or previously Coleman) saying no then I doubt that would be phrased as RA knocking it on the head. The wording implies it's come from Horne (or his department).

Again though, this is all very much speculation based on minimal information.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Depends how you want to interpret this... If you choose not to draw distinctions then the Brumbies are one the same as the Waratahs.

I think that is precisely the end game for RA.

 

[Adam84]

I think that is precisely the end game for RA.

So you're a Waratahs fan now?

 

[Brumby Runner]

So you're a Waratahs fan now?

Wash your mouth out. Sacrilege.

Actually, I am not so down on the Tahs as I am on RA. RA is driving the agenda to strengthen the Tahs at the expense of others. The players are wanting a spot to earn their living and to get enjoyment out of their participation.

 

[Tomthumb]

C'mon. It's not the same. Rodda was off contract and threatening to leave Australia, Pietsch isn't. He's signed up for the Tahs for another year still

Problem is you had old Boffin Dan Herbert going on podcasts talking about how players would be moved around for the betterment of Australian Rugby

If these guys want to talk the big game, back it up

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Wash your mouth out. Sacrilege.

Actually, I am not so down on the Tahs as I am on RA. RA is driving the agenda to strengthen the Tahs at the expense of others. The players are wanting a spot to earn their living and to get enjoyment out of their participation.

@Marce get him some gear would ya.