The waste of talent that is the Western Force
Roar Pro
By Greg Russell, 2 May 2009 Greg Russell is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Drew Mitchell, John Mitchell, Matt Giteau, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Western Force
Drew Mitchell of the Western Force moves into attack during the Rugby match against The Blues in Perth, Friday, Feb. 13, 2009. AAP Image/Tony McDonough
First Matt Giteau, now Drew Mitchell. Both are leaving leaving the Western Force at the end of this season. According to Mitchell his recently announced move to New South Wales is not about money. Rather, it’s about being nearer his family in Queensland and it’s about the opportunity to win a Super 14 title.
Come again?
The Western Force have won all three encounters against Australian opposition this year, an achievement made all the more meritorious by two of these wins being achieved away from home in Sydney and Canberra.
Indeed, the Force are the highest placed of the Australian teams in this year’s Super 14, and but for a Normanesque choke against the Hurricanes, they would be in the top 4, and therefore would have a decent shot at what is a very open title this year.
Unquestionably their (full-strength) backline is the best in Australian rugby.
We already knew they had two amazing young talents in the form of David Pocock and James O’Connor.
Then in the recent 55-14 thrashing of the Lions young Sam Wykes was fully revealed to the rugby world. I had heard this (massive) kid had talent, but who honestly knew he was that good? Has there ever been a better game of running rugby from an Australian second-rower?
For that matter, one would have to go back to the Brumbies in their heyday – which is quite a few years ago now – to find an Australian team putting on a performance of running rugby like the Force’s against the Lions.
Even in its dreams, NSW has never played as spectacularly as this.
And yet Drew Mitchell says that he is going to NSW in order to have a shot at a Super 14 title?
Don’t get me wrong, NSW has a very solid side. But Blind Freddie can see that they lack the magic dust that is additionally needed in order to win the Super 14.
OK, OK, NSW has contested two of the last 4 finals. But the point is that they lost those finals, they never really looked like winning them, and that was even with the services of Mat Rogers, Dan Vickerman and Rocky Elsom, who do have a bit of magic about them. Now these three are gone, and the volumes of angst from NSW supporters on this website suggests that fans are far from convinced that there is any magic on the way.
If there is any Australian team that presently looks like it might have the magic to win a Super 14 title, it surely is the Force. Indeed, throw in a high quality prop and they might already be there.
But with the departures of Giteau, Mitchell and possibly other quality players, it unfortunately looks as though this golden opportunity will be lost.
Undoubtedly this is the chickens coming home to roost, what with snake-oil peddlers offering players Monopoly money, with a succession of troubled CEOs, with fisticuffs and other discipline problems off the field, and with a coach rumoured to be highly unpopular with his charges.
However, I still find it a tremendous pity that a beautiful and great team in the making looks like it will disintegrate before it has amounted to anything.
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- Explore:
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Knives Out said | May 2nd 2009 @ 4:40am | Report comment
Good ol’ Australian hyperbole.
pothale said | May 2nd 2009 @ 7:23am | Report comment
The Force are dead – they just don’t know it yet. Under-resouced, unattractive, and uninteresting.
Who Needs Melon said | May 2nd 2009 @ 7:36am | Report comment
KO. Fair call.
Now for 5 bonus points, which in the above article is the best illustration of hyperbole?
A) “But for a Normanesque choke against the Hurricanes, they would be in the top 4, and therefore would have a decent shot at what is a very open title this year.”
B) “Unquestionably their (full-strength) backline is the best in Australian rugby.”
C) “We already knew they had two amazing young talents in the form of David Pocock and James O’Connor.”
D) “Then in the recent 55-14 thrashing of the Lions young Sam Wykes was fully revealed to the rugby world. I had heard this (massive) kid had talent, but who honestly knew he was that good? Has there ever been a better game of running rugby from an Australian second-rower?”
E) “For that matter, one would have to go back to the Brumbies in their heyday – which is quite a few years ago now – to find an Australian team putting on a performance of running rugby like the Force’s against the Lions.”
F) “Even in its dreams, NSW has never played as spectacularly as this.”
G) “If there is any Australian team that presently looks like it might have the magic to win a Super 14 title, it surely is the Force. Indeed, throw in a high quality prop and they might already be there.”
My personal choice is D.
Who Needs Melon said | May 2nd 2009 @ 7:40am | Report comment
Having said that, I have to agree with the main point of the article which is that there are reasons for people moving that rate well above “closeness to family” and “chance to win Super title”.
Knives Out said | May 2nd 2009 @ 8:21am | Report comment
Melon,
I think that B is true in terms of talent and potential, but I don’t think the Force have played to a standard to justify that accolade. The other comments would make baby Jesus cry – although I do respect O’Connor and Pocock. Bizarrely, The title of the article is never actually explored in the main content.
I recall the Stormers whopping the Lions 56-18 (or something similar). Does that mean anything? No. One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
Call me cynical but if Wykes is so energetic and vibrant in the loose is he doing his work in the tight? Incidentally, I do have some memories of David Giffen being pretty nifty with the ball in hand, throwing behind the back passes etc.
I’ve been really, really unimpressed with the Force this year, especially the backline. Although the NSW game today wasn’t great it did illustrate the old truism that a team with good set pieces can go as far as they want to in any competition. How can a team that is severely lacking in this aspect, and that has only won 9 or 10 home games in four seasons, be labelled a title prospect?
Greg Truman said | May 2nd 2009 @ 9:06am | Report comment
Unfortunately they’re undercooked in the tight five and lack depth outside the first XV. A couple of mongrel boofheads and a few game changers off the bench and they’d be contenders. Hope to see them flourish. Despite all the noisy conflict, they
present as an efficiently coached team.
Albert Ross said | May 2nd 2009 @ 9:36am | Report comment
I read somewhere that following the demise of Firepower and other sponsors the days of the Fox Sports franchise currently known as the Western Force were numbered.
Is this true?
Craig said | May 2nd 2009 @ 9:57am | Report comment
“Has there ever been a better game of running rugby from an Australian second-rower?”
Super 14 final 2004 Brumbies vs Crusaders: Radike Samo. game over…
Harry said | May 2nd 2009 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Greg I wouldn’t say waste of talent, I think many of the players have developed eg. Mitchell, Cummins, Giteau (yes him, he is now the complete package), Cross, Shepherd, Brown, Pocock, Hockings, Hodgson have all come on a great deal under what is a professional setup. The weakness all along has been a lack of forward starch, particualrly in the front row (ironically, last weeks front row of Hardy, McIssac and the Kiwi tighthead was finally probably the expereinced hard heads they needed from day 1).
The Force will survive but the next year or so might be difficult as the chequebook has dried up. Wait for global commodity demand to pick up again to fill WA corporate coffers, a rectangular stadium and the upcoming pop of the French salary bubble (I’m told by reliable sources its coming) and the Force will again live up to their name.
Disappointing they will just miss out on the semi’s, but that was a really bad choke against the Canes, a truly defining moment for both teams in season 09.
Be interesting to see how they go next year – they might well prosper with lower expectations.
wallythefly said | May 2nd 2009 @ 1:03pm | Report comment
People are going on about the end of the Force. We all have to slap ourselves and realise that the Force are absolutely essentail to the promotion of the sport in non-traditional areas in Australia. Ok, talk about crowds, performance etc but let’s work out ways to keep them strong rather than just saying how they won’t last two more seasons.