Stability and better on-field performances will be the key measures of success for new Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle, who will meet with Wallabies coach Michael Cheika on Tuesday.
Castle, who started in the job on Monday, is looking to build relationships after a challenging 2017 for Australian rugby in which the Western Force were culled from Super Rugby.
“Things have been really tough with the Super Rugby having to move a team on, down to the four teams, so there’s no doubt we need to see a better performance in Super Rugby this year,” Castle said.
Asked how she would measure success in her first year, Castle said “some stability that people can see across the performance of the Wallabies, community engagement, making sure that we’ve got some strong commercial programs in place.”
She met Cheika for an hour before she accepted the role and had a two-hour meeting with him scheduled for her second day in charge.
“The relationship between the CEO and the coach is incredibly important,” Castle said.
“It’s about making sure that we find an engagement that works really well and that we can help each other and work closely together.
“At the moment I’m really at an information gathering stage because it is very early days.
“I describe it as like drinking out of the fire hydrant – it comes at you really quickly and you only grab a little bit of it, so that’s going to be important to make sure I get those key pieces of feedback.”
Castle has been briefed on the situation regarding Wallabies’ back Karmichael Hunt, who was stood down by RA and the Queensland rugby union while they await more information from police who charged him with two counts of drug possession late last year.
“Until we really get the final feedback from the police and also from the court date which is late January, we really can’t do any more until then,” Castle said.
Asked about her approach to drug-related issues Castle said “the reality is for young athletes there’s a chance to make a mistake and be forgiven for that.
“But if you keep making mistakes that makes the conversation much more challenging.”
Castle said she hadn’t yet spoken to Andrew Forrest, who wants to start an Indo-Pacific competition in 2019, though RA representatives had been in contact with the billionaire businessman.
“We’ve had constant and consistent dialogue and a lot of it has been fantastic,” she said.
She felt Super Rugby needed to provide an entertainment experience, not just an onfield product, and wants to stem the flow of youngsters to rugby league and increase the amount of female and indigenous players.
She said sabbaticals could be a good thing and expected people would see their value when backrow star David Pocock returned to Australia this year.
Di Buckley
Guest
Hi Raelene, A good announcement re responsible use of social media. But please spell check in future - 'receive' Regards Di
GusTee
Roar Pro
With Clyne in the Chair there will never be stability.
Bakkies
Guest
The RA also have three officer positions to fill. CFO, COO and Legal Counsel. Day and Hawkins haven't been hauled in for answers since their resignations.
jack
Roar Rookie
The Board is still short two Directors following Stooke and Broderick 's resignations, so stability would mean to replace them with Clyne clones but that would be disastrous imo we need Board members who will work to support the RA Constitution, grow and develop Rugby within Australia , that sort of thing
jack
Roar Rookie
yes, she should have opened with a frank acknowledgement of the results of the Senate Inquiry report and a response to those recommendations and also a comment re the ASIC investigation - would have been more appropriate than talking about players taking sabbaticals
In brief
Guest
Passion is so refreshing to see - the last thing we need is a return to the beige days
In brief
Guest
Stability is the last thing we need. I want to see a big shake up.
Blue
Guest
Sounds like a female version of Pulver the puppet. Clyne picked a good one to carry on with the same crap that has been going on for years. Rugby in Australia still going down the gurgler slowly and painfully.
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
There can be no line drawn in the sand, no moving forward until Rugby (East Coast) Australia acknowledges that Western Australia is a "Rugby Heartland", the third most populous Rugby community in Australia and spells out in detail exactly how it proposes to ensure that this continues to be the case. Hopefully the new CEO will get over here soon. I'm prepared to give her a few weeks (but no longer) to spell out what she proposes to do. DeClyne must go.
Bakkies
Guest
Get rid of the Sydney Uni/Buildcorp sponsored nominations committee. Independent my hole.
Bakkies
Guest
Well it is pretty easy to do that given the rubbish she spouted yesterday.
rugger
Guest
Board needs clean-out and better corporate governance introduced to ensure NSW and QLD do not dominate. Board needs to be independent of vested interests. Clyne needs to go NOW.
Perthstayer
Roar Rookie
Stu - Like it
KiwiHaydn
Guest
Talk about an agenda, she’s been in the job one day and already you’re writing her off.
stu
Guest
Another Wallaby in trouble... Wallaby in custody after bouncing over Sydney Harbour Bridge http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/wallaby-in-custody-after-bouncing-over-sydney-harbour-bridge-20180115-h0irxx.html
Ex force fan
Guest
In another article she mentioned that she will visit all states as rugby is a national (sic) sport to understand the issues each area struggle with and the said that she expect WA to draw a line and move forward (!) as she "was not part of the decision to axe the Force" (sic). With Clyne and clowns on the Board and still not pathway to professional rugby in WA and NSW and QLD demanding another "seat at the table" when decisions are made at ARU/RA level it is very clear that rugby will not be a national sport for a very long time. It was hoping that she will reserve her opinion and engage with rugby communities without a agenda to first understand the issues, however it it clear she sill just go through the motions of engagement and is not really interested in listening. More of the same to come.... A female Pulver with the same disasterous outcomes as in 2017.
Ex force fan
Guest
The last thing Australia Rugby needs now is stability at Board level. Clyne and clowns need to go, they are not even funny! Just glad we finally got rid of Pulver, he was an absolute disaster for Australia Rugby as a national sport.
Ex force fan
Guest
Yep, if you do not read the comments you would not know what is going on. Looks like Twiggy is still getting a cold shoulder even from the new CEO. With Clyne and his clowns still in control and it becoming clear how the "savings from axing the Force" are wasted to pay less players more for playing less rugby and rebranding and the CEO still not able to pick up the phone to say Happy New Year to a financial backer like Twiggy WA needs to find a different path than working with The ARU/RA.
Bakkies
Guest
No different to Foxsports and Fairfax. They have barely wrote about it.
DJW
Guest
Never has been. Seriously dents the credibility of the site.