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Joined March 2017
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Armchair rugby tragic
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Did anyone ever expect the Tahs forwards to do well this season. When you are forced to pick up two journeyman players in Falkner and Able (with fanfare FFS, like it was a good thing) in order to beef up the pack you know things are desperate. Neither would get a showing at any other SR franchise, desperate times. Are there any decent hookers or locks coming through the NSW system ATM?
So far Dempsey, Holloway and Simmons haven’t fired a shot . Maybe Hannigan will bring some starch back into the pack. Can’t believe I just said that, desperate times.
Kurtley is having a shocker so far this year, hasn’t been in form for a couple of years now, at least he is trying though (as painful as it is to watch). He has never played well under pressure and is ill suited to the role he finds himself in this year. Agree that he should be dropped though I thinks its a bit unfair to heap everything on him as none of the other senior backs (KMH I’m pointing at you) have stood up so far this season either. Rookies are doing well though.
Too soon for doom and gloom at Waratahs?
Not convinced by all the stuff about travel etc. This sounds like a big FU about his position in Australian Rugby and the lack of money coming his way. Diplomatically handled but a FU all the same. Suspect that him playing for the rebels also had something to do with it, doesn’t seem too much in the way of club loyalty/spirit there.
Positions and preferences in the Wallabies change all the time, few players have a mortgage on a position due to changing coaching styles, preferences, form or injury. Look at the Genia/Phipps competition for 9, good and healthy even more so that there are some young bloods coming through too. Phil Waugh/George Smith too. Competition for spots is always good. I could maybe understand doing this in the 2 years after a WC not the 2 years prior.
Sean McMahon confirms his future, and it's not good news for Aussie rugby fans
I don’t get all of this Force love. Granted they wiped the floor with the Tahs, but so what? Tahs have been shit all year, not exactly a high bar.
Everyone is talking like the Force won something, they still only won 6 games this season FFS. It’s a bit like like the best and fairest award given to the kid that tries hard but nobody really expects to win. The most anyone can ever expect from the Force is winning more than they lose over a season, they didn’t even do that this year. Stay or go they they are at most an ordinary team and have no real chance or picking up a SR title in the foreseeable future. People are pissed at the Tahs and Reds (and Brumbies) because they should be doing better, everyone is praising the Force for doing marginally better, guess the bar is very very low this year. If I were at the Force I’d be embarrassed by all of this praise given that for any other club their results this season would be seen as a major failure.
Five talking points from Super Rugby Round 17
It is a straight up comment, Buildcorp have withdrawn their sponsorship therefore the ARU is in a worse financial state than it was. Said nothing about prior contributions or involvement,
Imagine the out cry on these forums if the ARU, in its current financial situation and proposing to cut a SR team, started a brand new competition mens or women, that wouldn’t be financial viable for several years, if ever. Wrong timing.
Buildcorp is playing political games which is their right. I’m afraid we will get a new board and CEO that spend the next five years frantically trying to dig us out of a hole (a hole that Buildcorp have now made deeper). Who would want that job, its a no win scenario. Fighting to just stay viable won’t provide any of the outcomes that people want.
The state of women's XVs rugby is not okay
The last line was laced with sarcasm, who would watch men’s netball beyond the few who play atm (does it even exist?).
As an aside, why do women want to play traditionally male sports, men are not reciprocating by wanting to play traditionally female sports? Think this goes a little way towards explaining the psychology of the whole thing.
The state of women's XVs rugby is not okay
Why doesn’t Buildcorp puts its money where its mouth is and offer to completely fund a women’s NRC comp for the next 5 years. No ARU input beyond some administration (which would be covered by Buildcorp) to set up the infrastructure and arrange things.
I guess it is because this would cost a lot more than the Buildcorp sponsorship.
Watched a bit of the WAFL and would love to see the profit/loss for the season. Most of the games appeared poorly attended and the ratings weren’t that good from memory. Suspect that it was a significant loss, which is OK for a first season as it helped grow the women’s side of the support.
Have no problem with a women’s competition but suspect this is a very bad time to be starting anything new given the massive financial problems (now made worse by Buildcorp) the game has.
I demand professional male netball competition to be played before all women’s games. I demand it now!, or I’m taking my money out of the game!!
The state of women's XVs rugby is not okay
I don’t think enough has been said about the broadcasters, particularly FOX Sports contribution to this situation. While admittedly the broadcast fees provide the life blood for Super Rugby, the paywall model currently in force is also to the detriment of the game. They need to adopt a NRL type model were a few games are on free to air with the rest on FOX Sports.
I know a lot of people who are interested in the games but not interested enough to fork out $100 a month. FOX may lose money to start with but growing viewership is always a good thing, for the game and I suspect for their bottom line too.
Every year It gets harder and harder to justify keeping the subscription, particularly as the rest of FOXs content is pretty ordinary. Don’t get me started on the fact that FOX only televised half the NRC, the other half being behind another paywall.
The ARU must reverse their decision to cut an Australian team
Except for Speight, the Brumbies backs havn’t looked like scoring all season. Good forward pack (for an Australian team), which got them over the line against the Tahs but the backs look ordinary (have for a few seasons too) and can’t just rely on Seight picking off some piss weak defense (thank the stars that Simone has been dropped). To be honest, Brumbies being the best team in Australia atm is very depressing, they really aren’t that good this year.
If an Aussie team is cut, the Brumbies should be the last to go
Agree completely with the first you points you made, the Brumbies have been much better at identifying and developing players. As a Canberran for the last 9 years I suspect it has something to do with the fact that there is absolutely nothing to do here other than train (no distractions what so ever). Get good enough and you can move to a team in a location that you may actually want to live in (Joke?).
So your proposal or argument is that if it came down to the a decision between the Brumbies and the Waratahs you would keep the Brumbies. Could end up with a great team that nobody watches, nobody except a handful of Canberrrans support (no Waratahs supporter would ever support the Brumbies) and who would end up not having much of a player base because it would lead to the slow (faster) demise of rugby in the rest of NSW, particularly Sydney, were despite the odd Canberra bread great (years ago too) the majority of the Brumbies players come from.
Not to mention the financial position of the Brumbies.
I applaud the emotion and angst that went into your article but there’s not much logic there. Probably have egg on my face but isn’t it a bit too early in the season to declare the Brumbies the best of 2017?. They didn’t play very well last week and were lucky that the Tahs just happened to be that much worse.
If an Aussie team is cut, the Brumbies should be the last to go
It doesn’t. Just saying that the ACT does not produce the majority of its players at a grass root level. The Brumbies have always been good at spotting talent (mainly in the Sydeny Club comp), something that the Tahs seem to suck at.
Knives out for the Brumbies: Et tu, Bill Pulver?
It would be a complete shame to see the Brumbies go, that being said I can see the sense. Canberra is a small market, small transient population (350K half of which are there for work rather than by choice) and rather fickle when it comes to supporting its teams. A good proportion of the population comes from AFL dominated staes, hence the popularity of AFL here.
It could also be argued that while the Brumbies have been very good at developing players, the majority of the players on the mentioned honour roll are NSW and QLD bred. The club competition in Canberra is certainly a step down from the club comps in Sydney and Brisbane and the majority of players that end up at the Brumbs come from these two comps.
Getting rid of the Brumbies won’t influence the pathways for southern NSW players as much as getting rid of the Force would for WA players. Melbourne, well that’s a different question, I don’t think that rugby will ever get a decent foothold down there. NRL has been in Melbourne for awhile and the Storm have been very successful but the team is still made up primarily of interstate players.
Knives out for the Brumbies: Et tu, Bill Pulver?
Poor game from the Tahs. Depth is a real issue with the subs contributing little. Doesn’t seem to be core of decent but not outstanding Super rugby players. The big names are all trying to do it themselves and the rest are Shute Shield players way out of their depth. Hegarty and Simone are not up to super rugby standard, Phipps needs to go back to club rugby for a spell, Wells and McDulling were very ordinary (can they tackle?),
Poor all round game. Don’t rate them against the Brumbies next week. Going to be a long season.
How can the state with the largest player base have such a poor squad? Are all the big names sucking up the money or is it just piss poor recruitment?
Sharks vs Waratahs: Super Rugby live scores, blog
I’m on the fence when it comes to cutting an Aussie team.
Yes the introduction of additional Aussie teams has seen our win percentage decrease over time, During the 11-16 period we also won the comp twice. What does our win percentage look like if we take out the Force and Rebels and look only at the core rugby strongholds NSW, QLD and ACT?
Winning is a habit: Australia needs to learn the New Zealand way
Well that game was a tick for the 4 Aussie team camp.
Can’t name a player (except maybe Jordy Reid) that could hold their head up after that game. Was Hodge a Wallaby last year?
Highlights: Rebels rocked in 71-6 loss to Hurricanes
I’m sure it’s just Berry’s unconscious anti Waratah bias kicking in with Dempsey playing for the Scotish. You know that feeling every Tahs fan gets when he pops up in the middle, we ain’t getting the rub of the green today.
Hate to say it though, he did get this one legally correct.
Six Nations: Late penalty decides England-Wales thriller, Aussie ref in strife after denying Scots winning try against France