Melbourne coach Rod Macqueen doesn’t expect Stirling Mortlock to become the Pied Piper of the Rebels, but is hoping he may help lure Mark Gasnier to the new Super 15 franchise.
The former Wallaby skipper signed a three-year deal last week to join Melbourne for the team’s inaugural season, bringing the number of new recruits to 10.
Queenslanders Richard Kingi and Adam Byrnes along with Welsh international No.8 Gareth Delve have also signed on in the past fortnight.
The Rebels have some promising young backs in their ranks, such as NSW’s Peter Betham and Lachie Mitchell, who is currently in the UK along with another new signing, former England Test five-eighth Danny Cipriani.
However, the scalp of former league star Gasnier, who is currently playing with French side Stade Francais, would be a coup on and off the field.
Macqueen said Melbourne offered the chance for Gasnier to learn from one of the best in Mortlock, which would help his bid to play in next year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
“From his perspective he’s got to have confidence in that he’s going to be playing alongside players like Stirling Mortlock and Danny Cipriani,” Macqueen said.
“I’m sure that would give him a lot of confidence.”
Macqueen said he believed Gasnier’s decision was still “a way off”, but the Rebels had no issue with Gasnier delaying his decision, and it wouldn’t affect the recruitment of other players despite his large playing fee.
Gasnier’s Australian manager George Mimis couldn’t be reached for comment.
Macqueen said the Rebels would continue to methodically assemble their playing list, with the squad not due to start training until October.
While the former Wallabies coach admitted he would be looking overseas for props, he said there was no shortage of candidates to play for Australia’s first privately owned franchise.
“We’re sitting back and chery-picking the players we’re after,” he said.
“We’ve got no shortage of players who want to come to the franchise, but the reality is that we’re after specific types of skills within players and also we’re after players who want to come for the right reasons.”
Justin
Roar Pro
13? You have to be able to catch, pass, read defence, draw and pass... Dell should have been a 6 and been given a license to just run around and cause havock where possible
Chris
Guest
Blacklock - last year at least - was playing club rugby in the ACT comp. Not sure how he ended up there?
JF
Guest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhLGpGZcZkI Don't know how much evading Rogers could have done here, looks like a classic hospital pass. Agree with everything else though, Lote was the best of the bunch but still did not deserve as many caps as he got.
JF
Guest
Glad to see the selection criteria for our national team is "not too bad", I'm sure Scott Staniforth was also glad that the ARU could accommodate Dell's Rugby aspirations.
Damo
Guest
Dell was OK. I asked one fellow fan at one test who was running him down. ' What is it? A black thing?' As Link said 'Wendel could play footy' I thought all of them were great. But so was Staniforth. The unluckiest Wallaby career.
True Tah
Guest
Dell great at RWC 2003 - this is rubbish, look at highlights of the final and where do you see Dell? Sure hes a big unit, but he didnt not have the positional awareness nor the agility to be a top class winger and in all reality should not have worn the wallaby jersey, unfortunately Eddy Jones and his mates in the ARU marketing department thought otherwise. Tahu didnt rip up the Australia A Comp at all - he did ok against Tonga and against the NZ Maori against two blokes who weren't the starting centres for their respective NZ Super 14 sides. Where he stood in terms of rugby centres was illustrated when the Wallabies were slaughtered at Ellis Park, and suffice to say, it was nowhere near the top. Tuqiri was probably the best winger in the world on his day, but that was not in the past few years, but Im loving seeing him ripping it up in the NRL for the mighty Tigers. Aside from Tuqiri, the best converts have been Brad Thorn, Andrew Walker and Jason Robinson.
wetyabed
Guest
Dick Crighton the only reason they got picked was because of the amount of money they got paid by the ARU. They were average at best at union and they excel at league so leave them there. If you need any proof of why they were selected check out tahu couldn't make the tahs but makes the wallabies. Rogers had trouble running and catching as he was a snatcher, he also showed his evasion was leaving him remember the pom fullback laying him out, Dell was Dell, all show no go and Lote had a go but just was an average footie player, league suits him more.
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
mattamkll, exactly right. When running with ball in league you just have to worry about hanging onto it when you get tackled. Union involves thinking about 3 big b'stards trying to plifer it from you, and presenting to your team mates while that goes on. It changes the dynamic of how you run and take the tackle significantly.
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
Davo, no one ever really remembers Blacklock. He never really took to rugby. But I'll always remember that tahs game where he chipped and chased his own kick to score. One of the best tries ever, period. Andrew Walker anyone? Still playing club rugby in Brisbane I think. Wasted talent that boy. Coulda been so much more ...
rugbyfuture
Roar Guru
May i remind all but rogers were basically kicked out of rugby. tuqiri broke the rules, dell did coke, tahu wasn't good enough and so didnt get any game time and rogers, well he was broken most of the time (too weak)
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
Pete, my mates and I called him "Poodle". As in champion show dog. Looked great at the show, but get him out on the paddock to do some work .... Actually, Dell wasn't too bad in hindsight. I just think he may have been better suited to playing at 13.
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
Ken, the depth of players not necessarily quality is the main issue. RL has 16 NRL teams, 16 U-20s teams, plus various semi-pro/pro state cup sides. Union has 4 pro sides. You do the math.
mudskipper
Guest
Col most wingers look lost at times on the field... Star gazing, flirting with the fans, flirting with the sideline or just thinking about their post game interview... it’s in their nature I guess...
Short-Blind.
Guest
Peter, years ago I was in a Newastle pub and in walks Sailor and Brad Thorn after a Broncos/Knights game. Dell was at his celebrity ego centric best but what struck me the most was just how big he was. Actually as tall but more solid than Brad Thorn. My thought then ( and it has not changed) was what type of pussy blessed with this size and strength plays on the wing? Always lacked heart and dog from my perspective. Could have been a sensational 8 if he had the heart.
Colin N
Guest
Gasnier has done ok for Stade. He's their top try-scorer and there are times when he looks absolute class, and then there are many others when he looks completely lost. There's no doubt he has the skills, but he's still taking time to adapt to the sport.
Wavell Wakefield
Guest
Peter it is alleged in England that Ugo Monye, Paul Sackey and Tom Varndell have all run sub-10.5 100 metres, but that claim was questioned by Margot Wells, the sprint coach who trains a host of players herself.
mudskipper
Guest
Gaz has been playing in france for 2 years he is worth signing... jeez he could sign with the Brumbies now Mortlock is moving on...
mudskipper
Guest
What Macqueen did ten years 13 years ago at the Brumbies when the S10 was just professional to the standards of professional players now is a completely different world of player... and I'm a Macqueen fan but people need to remember the level of play now is a lot higher... He needs to recruit wide to get what he needs. the Rebels have now got international experienced players at 2,8, 9,13 and 15. Young talent will now look at the team more favorably. All ready signed Kingi and Betham both good young players.
titus
Guest
"Tahu tore up the Aussie A comp". You should amend that to "Tahu tore up the Aussie A comp in the Tonga match". I expected better things from Tahu when he switched, given his background and footballing talent. His greatest weakness without doubt was his defence. He just couldn't get a handle on RU's defence systems. He didn't have to worry too much about Tonga's attack that day and hence he looked like a million dollars for that game.
Pete
Guest
I disagree Dell was good at the RWC. I believe his poor positional play costs us the Cup. It was no more evident than when Jason Robinson scored http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjG60StEFdQ&feature=related When there is a large overlap you don't commit two tacklers to one attacker. Anyway, Interesting that Robinson, Sailor and Rogers all feature in this try. Robinson, now he was good. The stands stood up when he got the ball. In saying that, I like Dell and I enjoyed watching "top heavy" as my mates called him. "Top heavy" because he always ran a few meters then fell over because he was so "blo*ody huge". I recall earlier when Aust played England in Melbourne. Dell scored a great try. The English fans next to me were jumping with delight. I asked why, they responded that now he had found some form, we'd pick him for the RWC squad...