Kyle Godwin and the future of the Force

I would love to see this backline...for excitement value!!!! 9 Genia 10 Toomua 11 Folau 12 Godwin 13 Sautia 14 Speight 15 Mogg

Elisha, Better late than never, but as a Force supporter I have to comment! 1. Marquee players - yes, the Force needs about 7 of them to compete, otherwise they always will be just a feeder team to Tahs and Red's - but perhaps that's exactly what the Old Boys network wants? WA will never have the structures or players that the Tahs or Reds have. 2. Grass roots investment - although WA will never get near the structures or player numbers of Tahs and Reds, they have to get as close as possible to compete. When will this happen exactly? They need the money now. 3. Academy - again, how can the Force compete if they have to fly in a substitute player the night before a game for the east coast? 4. Salary cap - abolish it like NZ and SA. Most of the players come from the east coast. If you're getting the same money to play on the east coast (where your friends and family are), why would you go to the west coast? Unless you're a fringe or up and comer - and thus the Force becomes a feeder team again. Bill Pulver made noises about helping the Force earlier this year, but what has actually happened? Even the Leaguies and the AFL realised they would have to make the fringe teams in satellite cities successful (see Melbourne Rebels, West Coast Eagles, Sydney Swans etc) for them to survive. If the Force don't get help and start winning, then the east coast teams won't have their feeder team for much longer. Over to you Bill - the choice is yours.

What reminds you of giteau exactly?

they are getting prior & holmes from the brumbies next year which should be a very good combination of inside backs.

This has always concerned me. Why does Foley look disappointed when Eales kicks the penalty to win the Bledisloe in 2000. See 3:00 http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=nRLB7gjoy4g&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DnRLB7gjoy4g

Luke Burton in the Under 20's is a Perth boy and looks a fair talent. He is 10 or 12.

Few players in the under 20's team with some real talent as well.

Here are the players that I am excited about for the future Sio Alo Emile Siliva Skelton L Jones McCaffrey Frisby Holmes Godwin Kundrani F Sautia English Woodward This isn't a team of the future, just the ones that I think have potential for a big future.

Kyle Godwin, another player lost to Zimbabwean rugby. Only joking, but imagine if all those guys eligible to play for Zimbabwe did, they'd certainly be getting in ahead of Namibia for that African spot to the World Cup, Tendai Mtwawira, Brian Mujati, David Pocock, David Denton, Kyle Godwin, Tonderai Chavhanga, Takudzwa Ngwenya. But back to the topic at hand. What I find incredible is how strong the fan base is, even considering how poorly the Force have done over the past 3-4 years. I can imagine if they started faring better, they could be filling out the NIB for every game and could warrant moving to the Subiaco Oval for the big matches. Player wise, an emphasis on Australian players must always be the case, as their main purview is to help the national team, but if they are looking to supplement that, then I would agree with looking to Argentina, so say someone like Manuel Montero, the big Las Pampas and international wing, but the other place they should be looking is the Pacific Islands. There are a lot of very talented individuals on those islands, who, if put into a decent infrastructure, have the potential to really thrive.

If these spots are 'development spots' as opposed to import positions then let's call them by their true name ... It's poaching pure and simple - why would Argentina or NZ, SA or anywhere else be happy sending their players off - knowing full well that they are purely being targeted to bump up Aust availability numbers ... It is a shocking policy and I hope the other SANZAR partners put pressure on to stop it

I thought Foley was a panic signing as coach. Can they afford to pay him out? Their squad actually has some good players in it and they have recruited well for next season. The Force are better off going down the Brumbies route and develop a young squad, give them proper game plans and structures. It was their club players that stood up against the Lions rather then their old heads.

I played Rugby in high school at Aquinas College, played with Zack Holmes (same age) and watched Kyle play 2 years below me. Both are great blokes. Its great to see these two guys will be playing along side each other next year, I hope like mentioned above this is a way to attract more boys from Perth to play along side these guys. Playing with Zack I always thought he would make the wallabies, funny to see Kyle will probably get his opportunity first. GO THE FORCE!!

I was more saying that by 2016 Godwin will be 24. Time for development is over at that point. You won't see huge leaps forward after that, more just incremental improvements.

The only way forward for these teams is to develop their only talent so that they have a "production line" as the Reds have. Not to mention the whole point is to grow the game and talent pool for the Wallabies.

WCR, that's great to hear. It would be really good to see a team from WA that is strongly made up of locally developed players, and hopefully once they start getting the results it will help to retain players in the West. Have to say that I enjoy watching Godwin play, he is certainly an emerging talent and I am very pleased to see the Force retain him.

Firstly, we have to look at the coach, Jake White inherited a team going backwards and he turned that around in a season and his second is even more promising! The Force need to search the world for a Head Coach that has real credentials, Mallet would be a good beginning, Henry, make him an offer he cannot refuse, Foley needs to be let go, his policy re the Lions revealed a part of Foley that needs to be excorcised. By all means have a 7 player import as part of bringing in talent, it works in France, but if you look at who they have on their roster they have good men, so back we go to the coach, he needs to bring out the best in his charges week in week out, you have to be Mandrake! Let's face it, Super rugby is demanding and it's all about higher order thinking and being able to maintain it week in week out! Cheika has worked tirelessly with a team of internationals to try to change how they approach the culture he is trying to imprint on the Tahs, I thought that the baby Tahs against the Force embraced it better than the veterans who are in Wallaby camp, Cheika's report card for year 1 is 50%plus or minus a couple that should have gone his way except for that missing ingredient, higher order thinking, which is essential!

If they actually wanted to address it, I don't know that it needs to be that complicated. There are 35 wallabies (say) on top-ups. So of that total top-up pool, have 200k per player determined by the Super sides. The ARU does their top-ups, then each Super side has $1.4M to decide which players matter to them. They can give up to $200k to any current topped up Wallaby and up to $100k to any player that has played for the Wallabies in the last 3 years. If that doesn't redistribute players such that a couple of teams remain with unallocated budget, it may then be spent on academy wages to expand and train the next generation. It is not heavy-handed, it doesn't force anyone to move if they don't want to, but it would certainly have the effect of spreading out the talent a bit. All the money still goes to topping up potential Wallabies unless they choose otherwise, but it definately all goes to paying professional players per the revenue sharing agreements.

Community Rugby in WA has been growing no only in terms of numbers but also in terms of quality. Godwin will be joined by a number of born and bred local boys to go alongside the list of names already mentioned in the next few seasons. He's the vanguard of a generation of young footballers that will be proud to represent their home. Having spent time in WA, they are very parochial regarding where the hail from. It wouldn't be surprising to see the crowds actually grow as the numbers of locals grow in the Force ranks. Also, I've been singing this kids praises for about three years now. Always great to be proven right.:D

I find it hard to see anyone develop under Foley.

Cheika has made a huge commitment to the Shute Shield, selecting many fringe players. Think it's a great idea, creating more competition for players and positions.