The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

The annual Rugby Christmas wish list

24th December, 2017
Advertisement
Kurtley Beale of the Wallabies during the Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, October 21, 2017. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Expert
24th December, 2017
104
3621 Reads

Listen, Santa, we need to talk. I was pretty good in 2016 and remain confident having re-read the wish list from last year that I wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable.

So what gives, Santa? What on earth did I do in 2017 to deserve one dud delivery after the next? And why did you keep it up for so long? I mean, an ordinary Super Rugby season was bad enough, but carrying that through to the Wallabies, too? And then extending that right through to the last Test of the year?

That was harsh, Santa, real harsh. Harsh enough to make me question your motives.

But when it comes to rugby, Santa, I remain an optimist. And I also believe that people deserve a second chance, mostly.

So with all that in mind, Santa, and again underlining my willingness to forgive you for what still feels like a vindictive series of deliveries, I reiterate my ‘good boy’ status throughout 2017 by once again excitedly presenting the annual Christmas rugby wish list.

[latest_videos_strip category=”rugby” name=”Rugby”]

Can we start with SANZAAR? Now that they’ve made the decision that threw domestic rugby in two of their major partners into complete turmoil in 2017, I’d really like SANZAAR to make Super Rugby the best-marketed and most-promoted sporting competition on the face of the earth in 2018.

Yes, I know SANZAAR is an administrative body of the four-member unions. But that body is also a collective – a rugby co-operative, if you like – to ensure that Southern Hemisphere rugby is the strongest it can be, comprising competitions envied around the world and desirable for commercial sponsors and players alike.

Advertisement

SANZAAR, as that collective, need to return Super Rugby to its former glory. The format changes have been made, and now the member units need to rebuild the value of the competition in this new format so that the next round of broadcast negotiations can commence from a position of strength.

This has to be SANZAAR’s biggest priority in 2018, and thus it assumes top spot on the wish list. Indeed if all other wishes need to be sacrificed – bar the one at the end about putts dropping, obviously – then that’s a sacrifice I’m prepared to make.

(AP Photo/Phil Magakoe)

I would like the other member unions to kindly request that South Africa lay their cards out on the table.

Regardless of whether those cards indicate a desire for the remaining sides to follow the Kings and Cheetahs and play in the north or indeed to remain in Super Rugby, this needs to be known sooner rather than later. Not just so that the member unions know what the competition is going to look like beyond 2020, but so that negotiations for the next broadcast deal can be undertaken with no lingering doubt whatsoever.

Locally, obviously, I’d really like the Australian sides to well in 2018. It’d be great if all four teams can be either in the top eight or just on the fringe of the finals by season’s end. No more three sides in the bottom five this season, please.

While the Brumbies and Rebels look strong on paper going into next season, I’d like that perceived paper strength to play out for real. And I’d like the Waratahs to play as well as that roster of players should and the Reds’ decision to back youth to reap immediate awards. And if an Australian side holds the trophy up at season’s end, that’d be bloody tops, too.

Advertisement

I want Australian sides to beat New Zealand sides. In fact I want Australian sides to be unbeaten at home and for teams entering through customs to know that there are no such things as easy points on Australian soil.

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

I’d love for all the talk about competition format to stop dead. The game’s gone through more than enough in the last few seasons, and SANZAAR just cannot let this narrative continue.

I’d love for the June series against Ireland to be every bit as good as we all hope it will be. And I’d love for the honchos at ABC Grandstand to make this phone call a month out: “Brett, we’d really like if you could sit on the sideline for us for all three Tests…”

Yes, I will, for the record.

I’m hoping this is the year for the Wallabies and the Bledisloe to reunite. Not just because it’s overdue, but because it’d be a really tough ask with only one home game.

And I hope the Rugby Championship of 2018 is more than just a race for second place. I want the All Blacks to have a tough year – not by letting their standards slip but by the Wallabies, Springboks, and Pumas lifting theirs.

Advertisement

I want the Wallabies to finish the year with a strong Spring Tour performance that confirms an upwards trend, not a stuttering finish that confirms worst fears of regression.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

I hope the NRC has yet another cracking time of it and that for the fourth consecutive season we find ourselves saying, “We’ve enjoyed the best year of the competition yet”. I hope the rugby remains great, the sponsors flood in, the coverage increases in all formats, that more games are broadcast and that any that aren’t are the easiest they’ve ever been to watch. And I hope we have another new winner. One from NSW would great and might finally bring the much-needed engagement from the Waratahs and NSW Rugby.

I really want Rugby Australia to reiterate their commitment to developing the game in Western Australia. I want rugby fans in the west to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and I want the game over there continues to flourish at all levels of involvement.

And I hope that I’m busier than ever across the rugby season because there are so many good stories to tell, not just because of the continuation of an ongoing saga of some sort.

To finish with yet again, Santa, could you do something to help those knee-trembling five-foot putts to drop? The new ‘rocket-booster’ putter (as my daughter calls it) is a wonderful start, but let’s go on with now, Okay? Thanks in advance.

A very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Rugby Year to Roarers new and old. My humble thanks to all of you for reading along this year, and for (hopefully) coming back again in 2018.

Advertisement

The comments and questions, interactions, debates of varying logical degree, insights, conversations, banter, education, nonsense and laughs make it all worthwhile.

close