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Raelene Castle was always going to replace Bill Pulver as rugby boss

12th December, 2017
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(AAP Image/Daniel Munoz)
Expert
12th December, 2017
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Rugby’s worst kept secret is out – Raelene Castle is the new CEO of Rugby Australia.

Even though there were over 200 applicants for the job, the Wagga-born Kiwi was odds-on.

The sporting genes are spot on – father Bruce captained the New Zealand rugby league side before becoming a selector, while mother Madeline was a four-time lawn bowls rep at the Comm Games.

The trail-blazer spent six years as CEO of Netball New Zealand, a major sport across the ditch, and the last four as the first woman CEO in the NRL with the Bulldogs at Belmore.

When she takes over from Bill Pulver early next year, Castle will be the first woman CEO of a national football code.

And she won’t be lonely at the St Leonards bunker, with half of the eight-strong board of directors women.

Ann Sherry, the CEO of Carnival Australia and an advocate for women’s rights, was the first, in 2012.

Elizabeth Broderick, a lawyer and former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, was next, in January 2016. Pip Marlow, Palmerston North-born and the managing director of Microsoft Australia, joined in February 2016.

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They’re well-credentialled, but what those qualifications have to do with rugby still escapes me. Having just half the board rugby-orientated isn’t exactly a case of horses for courses.

John Eales, arguably one of the greatest rugby internationals of all time, is the standout on the board, and Dr Brett Robinson, the deputy chairman, was the inaugural skipper of the Brumbies and won 16 Wallaby caps.

But Paul McLean, who played 31 Tests, and 100 games for Queensland, is hardly an obvious choice (although he was a player) and chairman Cameron Clyne is a bit of a rugby phantom.

Cameron Clyne

Cameron Clyne (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Like most senior sporting administrators these days, he’s a bean counter with a career in banking, but it takes plenty of research to find his rugby playing status.

As limited as it is, Clyne played for Victoria against the All Blacks and the Boks, but that’s all the info that’s surfaced.

Hardly chairmanship material. But there’s hardly anything about Rugby Australia that makes sense.

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And this is what Raelene Castle has to deal with, and it’s not a pretty sight.

Nor were the pathetic Australian Super Rugby performances last season with 0-26 against their Kiwi counterparts.

Zero wins and 26 losses? If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable.

The reason is a combination of poor coaching, poor captaincy, and a poor attitude.

None of the five Australian sides were fit enough to compete, and absolutely no excuse with every squad member a full-time professional.

To make matters worse, every one of the current board voted in favour of the Western Force being booted out of Super Rugby.

How can the board members live with themselves that a 30-plus squad was thrown on the scrapheap, having to find another place to play?

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That’s the standard of board Raelene Castle has inherited.

Thankfully she has proved to be a thick-skinned, tough competitor. She’ll need to be to survive.

But I picture Castle in a different light – as the saviour, not the survivor, of Australian rugby.

The code needs a damn good shakeup, and Raelene Castle is the right person to do just that.

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