Michael Cheika needs to be his own man

Good luck Wallabies! All Blacks will be on rampage. Wallabies come back on second half but will be too late as they haven't play much rugby in last 4-6 weeks.

Michael, Michael, Michael, take a chill pill and focus on your team ....You dont have to explain yourself on this site - do it on the field... ...

Calm down Michael ... how can you have time for this?

Jeez, AOTR, are you either an ARU employee, paid social media scribe, family/friend of Cheika or Cheika? Personally, I don't buy into his game style, his leadership, nor strategy in team selection. I have watched and listened to him for a while now and I don't believe he delivers on what he preaches and he is becoming very political. Why? He knows he is out of his league, smashed against England, will be smashed against NZ and players, including young up and coming Wallabies are leaving our shores at enormous numbers and the largest I can remember, why? They must have lost faith with where the game is going at his level...No one wants to have this conversation....we keep pointing the blame at the ARU, no let's be clear the players hardly deal with HQ, they deal with the Head Coach - Cheika will be diabolical for Rugby at this level, clear his desk! He is a Club Coach at best.

@ Boz the Younger, "Social Justice issue"???? Please explain.

Meh, there is always somebody with their hand out nowdays and trying to make it out to be some sort of social justice issue is par the course. Nothing to see here.

@twas, You are talking common sense about what the NSWRU should be doing, I dont think the SRU exists any more. As $ NIL was given to club rugby by who ever in 2015, I have gone back to earlier NSW Annual Reports for clarification. In 2011 the NSWRU received from ARU $1.27M, Waratahs $1.17M + other income. They funded Premier Rugby $1.509M, Country Rugby $222K, Youth $345K, Suburban $263K. After other Income & Expenses they made a surplus of $225K. So therefore in 2011 Premier Rugby (Shute Shield) was funded by NSWRU not the ARU.

@ Boz the Younger, Thank god Australia is a democracy.

Concerned Supporter why would the ARU be giving anything to club rugby? That's what the NSWRU and SRU are for. The NSWRU had $6.2M in revenue in 2015 with no professional arm to fund. $300,000 of that was sponsorship and premier rugby takings. The rest was the Waratahs licence fee, grants, ARU Grants, National Participation Fee revenue, rental income and other income. They reported a loss in 2015 due to increasing their community rugby expenditure by $3M. If you think the ARU should be directly funding club rugby, what exactly do you think the NSWRU and SRU are there for? I'd imagine with the ARU directly funding the state unions which also run for profits, I'd imagine they should be seen to be managing the elite game, as each state has their own state union to manage the lower levels of the game. Otherwise why don't we save the money and get rid of the state unions?

the way Cheika has gone about getting euro based players is bound to make aussy players unpopular. Toulon was not happy with the things that happened with Cooper and then Giteau. bath was not happy regarding Houston, the move to auzzy coming mid-season , at a time it was an unnecessary distraction for the club. now Bordeaux are upset about AAC , not to mention Kepu. one reason new zealanders and to a high extent saffers are attractive to euro clubs is the almost guranteed presence throughout the season. with all that is happening with auzzy players, they just may not get contracts. or worse, clubs will make players retire from tests. “who wishes to fight must first count the cost” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Nah actually, I'm cool with them being elitist if that is what you want to call directing my ticket and Fox fees towards developing teams that I actually want to watch. Wallabies not wannabies, that should be the ARU's motto as far as I am concerned. Thanks for letting me know that no money was wasted on club rugby though, good to hear.

@Boz the Younger, The ARU is CUSTODIAN of all rugby in Australia, not only as you put it "elite" Wallabies,Super Rugby, NRC, 7's, Game on school rugby, Womens Rugby .Club Rugby Country Rugby etc. Please be advised that the ARU gave $NIL to Club Rugby in 2014,2015 and 2016.There has been no money "thrown" at them. You say "That strongly suggests to me that non-elite club rugby doesn’t rate in the ARU’s list of priorities, nor should it in my opinion. The ARU is rightly using the revenue it makes from fans who want to watch successful Wallabies and Super Rugby teams and who have no interest in watching club games. People from the ARU would want to seem to be NON ELITIST and have no list of priorities,I would think. Dont you?

Well worth buying a ticket

Just for my own curiosity I did actually take a look at that annual report. Page 7 of the financial report at the back shows that the ARU put $2.3 million of it's $88 million expenditure in that financial year into community rugby, that is 2.6%, and there has been a heavy emphasis on growing the game in non-traditional areas such as 7s, Indigenous, Pasifika and women's rugby, so suspect a fair chunk of that money goes there. The other 97.4% of expenditure goes into running the ARU and elite development and teams. That strongly suggests to me that non-elite club rugby doesn't rate in the ARU's list of priorities, nor should it in my opinion. The ARU is rightly using the revenue it makes from fans who want to watch successful Wallabies and Super Rugby teams and who have no interest in watching club games. It isn't up to those fans to subsidise what amounts to a hobby for a bunch of blokes who aren't good enough to make an elite squad.

"My opinion of why the ARU made a net loss in 2015 is easy. Shortened season." That is a well established fact. Unions worldwide basically run on a four year revenue cycle, with losses resulting from shortened seasons associated with the RWC being recouped in the remaining three years. Another reason why squealing clubbies who expect to have money thrown at them can't have their way, the ARU can't afford it.

Yes you are comparing FTA, but one of those that you are comparing is simultaneously broadcast on Pay TV, which is a superior product, meaning those that have both would watch the Pay TV broadcast, which your comparison doesn't consider. Channel 7 pays to attract the prime time market that does not have Pay TV. Specifically in WA, SA and Vic where Foxtel subscriptions rates are lower. Match Day Revenue was down because the ARU only saw the revenue from 5 tests, not the usual 14. Sponsorship was down because their sponsors only got the benefit of the 5 tests, not the 14. They did not receive the match day revenue for RWC games like they do for normal away Rugby Championship and EOYT matches. Indeed RWC years could send them insolvent. Why do you think unions like the ARU and NSRU are rallying for a bigger piece of the pie? Because they give up much more than they get out of it seemingly.

"Read the report and then come back if your game. You have had a shocker." Nah, it sounds to me like you are leaving the intelligent exchange of views zone and barrelling into the internet chest-beating ether, so I will leave you to it. Enjoy your whinging about how hard done by club rugby is, it won't make any difference but it has been mildly amusing to watch.

@Boz the Younger You said "The ARU’s primary job is to develop elite rugby in Australia" You are miles out of touch, for your homework I suggest you read the ARU 2015 Annual Report. Here are the links to it. https://issuu.com/australianrugbyunion/docs/aru_web?e=24291087/34741796. Read the report and then come back if your game. You have had a shocker.

@Twas, I am comparing free to air TV in NSW - Club Rugby v AFL. If Foxtel was that successful , why does Channel 7 pay multi millions to televise a certain no of games each week? You say correctly that "Their broadcasting revenue was reduced from $26M in 2014 to $18M in 2015. Match Day Revenue from $32M to $12M. Sponsorships from $28M to $21M. So there is a total of $35M in revenue that’s lost due to a RWC year. They are given a $19M grant to compensate for that, leaving them $16M in the hole." But why would Sponsorships be down $7 M? Match Day Revenue $16M? World Cup Years could send the ARU insolvent. Actually in 2015 their Liabilities were $25.9M their Assets were $24.7M a deficiency of $1.2 M Maybe they were insolvent.in 2015.

Good points TWAS.