Rebels coach eyes Super finals in 2013
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Melbourne Rebels coach Damien Hill says he’d be disappointed with anything less than Super Rugby finals football next season.
The Rebels, playing in their second season, finished with four wins and almost toppled the competition front-runners, the Stormers, in their last-round match in Cape Town.
Speaking at their end-of-season awards, Hill said he expected more next season.
The Rebels have recruited Wallabies backrower Scott Higginbotham from Queensland to join fellow Test stars James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale.
“I’d be disappointed if we weren’t competing in finals football next year and I think a lot of people at the club would be but it’s easy to say that sort of stuff,” Hill said.
“I will be disappointed if we don’t compete.”
While they only managed one extra win in 2012, Hill said there were some notable improvements on their debut season.
“If you look at the stats there, the fact that we scored over 80 points more than last year and we conceded on average one try less than last year and finished in seven games within a nine-point band.
“There’s enough to think we’re heading in the right direction but we need to convert a number of those games into wins.”
Welshman Gareth Delve won the Rebels’ highest honour at their end of season awards after backing out of a French deal so he could remain at the fledgling club for a third year.
Delve was set to play with Toulon but managed to negotiate terms to stay in Melbourne.
Delve won the Rod Macqueen Pursuit of Excellence award in their ceremony at Crown Casino in Melbourne.
The popular 29-year-old, who was called into the Welsh squad for the recent tour of Australia, also won the People’s Choice award.
Retiring Wallabies hooker Adam Freier won an award for the player that best engages in all aspects of the community, schools, clubs, charity, and business programme, while Mark Gerrard won the try of the year and Cadeyrn Neville, who was called into the Test squad in his debut season, was the rookie of the year.
As well as Freier, the club bade farewell to retirees skipper Stirling Mortlock, Al Campbell and Michael Lipman while a number of other players – Adam Byrnes (Russia), Tom Chamberlain (New Zealand), Mark Gerrard (Japan), Julian Huxley (France) and James Hilgendorf – are departing.
© AAP 2013
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The Crowd Says (6) | Page 1 of Comments
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July 20th 2012 @ 3:34am
enforcer said | July 20th 2012 @ 3:34am | Report comment
This article takes its quotes wildly out of context.
Hill was baited and said that he didn’t want to say anything he’d regret but yes, he’d be disappointed if they didn’t play finals.
July 20th 2012 @ 8:02am
mania said | July 20th 2012 @ 8:02am | Report comment
what kind of coach wouldnt be aiming to win the finals? duh
this is a case of the media making a mountain of a molehill
July 20th 2012 @ 8:37am
B-Rock said | July 20th 2012 @ 8:37am | Report comment
True, but you would like to see the Rebels working harder to improve their biggest weaknesses – the pack and defence so he can say, yes we expect to make the finals because of x, y or z, rather than just hoping.
July 20th 2012 @ 7:48am
B-Rock said | July 20th 2012 @ 7:48am | Report comment
Defensively, the rebels will continue to be a long way off the pace next yr
They will be competitive in attack but still lack depth… unfortunately they will finish somewhere in the bottom 5 again next yr IMO
July 20th 2012 @ 5:27pm
Carnivean said | July 20th 2012 @ 5:27pm | Report comment
Their front row will be their weakest point. Their locks are good and improving, their back row will be servicable, their halves could be outstanding, and their backs have some potency.
The biggest problem they’ve had with defense has been their inability to mount offense. They’ve been caught behind the game line far too much and been forced to kick, leaving them to defend. The more they’re able to attack with pressure, the less they’ll have to defend, and the more belief they’ll have to defend with. A fit Beale at 10, or possibly a combination of JOC and KB, will have them rather more competetive than these last 2 years.
They’ll probably end up like the Cheetahs. Flashy, occasionally brilliant, but unable to topple the powers in their conference consistently enough to make the finals.
July 20th 2012 @ 10:44pm
hog said | July 20th 2012 @ 10:44pm | Report comment
It may help if they can get Beale and Oconner on the field for more than a couple of games