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If you were a visitor to Australia from early/mid to late September, you would think the only major football codes played in this country were Australian football and rugby league. Oh, and a little of football.
Rugby union has hardly rated a mention since the Wallabies signed off against the All Blacks on Saturday 11 September. Even on that memorable night when the Wallabies managed to turn a 13-point lead into a one point heartbreaking loss, both the NRL and AFL offered up absolute crackers of their own.
In the NRL, the Roosters came back from the dead to beat the Tigers in a stunning thriller 19-15, in extra-time. The Raiders then beat the Panthers 24-22 in another nail-biter.
Down in Melbourne in the AFL, the Bulldogs hung on for a five-point win against the Sydney Swans. As I said at the time, no matter how high rugby might have raised the bar on that night, both Aussie rules and rugby league especially, not only matched it, but raised it some more in high drama.
Those arguing that the Sydney Shute Shield and Brisbane Hospitals Cup are a satisfactory third tier for Australian rugby are frankly and sadly in gaga land.
The sooner we bring back an ARC or equivalent, the better it will be for Australian rugby. It’s almost criminally negligent that the ARU has nothing to put up against the NRL, AFL and A-League in September.
And the A-League, despite its current problems, can and will get better. So the competition facing Australian rugby is intense. And it is doing itself no favours by not being visibly present in September.
Both the Shute Shield and Hospitals Cup simply don’t cut it. While they still have a valuable role to play, clearly a higher and more concentrated depth competition is required, like the ARC.
As all the footy codes are demonstrating, if you don’t have a largely national presence, you’re going to be left behind. The ARU has done wonderfully in the past five years introducing firstly the WA Force and now the Victoria (Melbourne) Rebels.
The new Super 15 is a wonderful step forward, as will also be the introduction of Argentina into an expanded Four Nations international tournament. We can also expect to see Argentine provinces/regions in the super rugby into the future.
But the domestic scene remains a blight on the landscape. The Sydney and Brisbane premier rugby clubs need to acknowledge they can no longer provide the third tier required for domestic national comp.
Like I said, they still have their place, but a national comp must be revived. I would keep the original eight teams, but replace Central Coast with North Sydney or North Harbour.
The eight ARC national club teams would be: Brisbane Tornadoes, Canberra Kookaburras, Gold Coast Aces, Melbourne Axemen, North Harbour Platters, Perth Spirit, Sydney Fleet, West Sydney Rams.
With Canberra, I have replaced the Tuggeranong Vikings (a premier rugby club) with the former rep side Kookaburras. In Melbourne, the Axemen have replaced the Rebels (now the provincial team name).
The North Harbour Platters are named after the (NSW) state animal, the platypus, which spends its time both on land and in the water, so it is appropriate to North (Sydney) Harbour residents!
If the comp goes well, Central Coast Rays, Adelaide Falcons, Newcastle Wildfires and North Queensland Brolgas can all be added at latter stages.
In the interim, I would also reprise the ARS to include Adelaide Black Falcons, Tasmania Jack Jumpers, NT Mosquitoes or Jabirus, NSW Country Cockatoos and Queensland Country Heelers.
The ARC would be played over 10 weeks from about late August to late October, concluding the week before the spring tour Wallabies head overseas.
I would initially have the comp played midweek (Wednesdays and Thursdays) at mid-level suburban grounds (eg, Concord, Millner, North Sydney, etc) to save on costs. Playing midweek would guarantee greater media exposure for the ARC, hopefully.
In the first seven weeks, all the teams would play each other once. Week 8 would see a double-up of local derbies – Brisbane v Gold Coast; North Harbour v Canberra; Sydney v West Sydney; and Melbourne v Perth.
Week 9 would see two semi-finals played, followed in week 10 by the grand final. It is a proviso of the comp that all leading players are available, barring injury/illness.
Players would be allocated roughly as they were previously (in 2007) to ensure each team is more or less on an equal footing.
I would also totally revamp secondary schoolboys rugby into metropolitan zones and country regions, with playoffs for metropolitan, country, state or territory, and national champions.
There is also the opportunity to introduce a Champions Club Cup (CCC). Based on this year’s results, the eight participants would be: from Sydney – University and Randwick; from Brisbane – University and Sunshine Coast; from Canberra – Queanbeyan and Tuggeranong; from Melbourne – Melbourne; and from Perth – Nedlands.
Previously, I had included Adelaide’s Brighton instead of Canberra’s runner-up Tuggeranong, but at this early stage that might be too much of a leg-up for the South Australians.
The eight teams might be divided into two pools as follows:
Pool A – Sydney University, Sunshine Coast, Queanbeyan, Nedlands.
Pool B – Randwick, Queensland University, Tuggeranong, Melbourne.
Each team would play three matches. The top two from each pool would progress to the semis, with the winners of the two semis meeting in the final.
So for all you folk who think I’m too negative or pessimistic about rugby, this is the positive option I offer you. So let’s see you respond positively in kind.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.