Time for administrators to wake up on failing Super Rugby: Wessels

Yeah, the empty stands really stood out on the Brumbies highlight reel. If they keep playing like they did, I'm sure they crowds will come back though. CLL looked good - great comeback.

TWAS RA don’t control what the independent media writes. The independent media writes about whatever they think will sell papers. Perhaps if RA gave them something to write about? Twiggy seems to have no trouble getting his latest announcements on telly and in the paper through independent news reporting

TWAS would you be considered a prime target for league marketing? Do you watch, talk about, comment on league articles or otherwise engage in support for it? Obviously there was some kind of marketing for it, even I saw a little on social media – I think I even remember The Roar having banner ads for it Compare that to any rugby marketing – I haven’t seen any, and I would be happy to bet I engage with more rugby pages and articles than most. I’ve seen more for the six nations than I have for Super Rugby, end result I actually ended up watching some of it this year when I don’t normally bother.

You know nothing about rugby in Victoria. Victoria has produced dozens of home grown Wallabies, right back to the likes of Edward "Weary" Dunlop in 1939. Ewen McKenzie - Wallaby player and coach - is a product of Victoria. The fact is many young players have been head-hunted by inter-state clubs but some are coming back. There is a very strong club competition in the State - with two divisions. Get your head out of the sand and check your facts.

Funny how you can watch American football till your eyes bleed in Australia, FOR FREE, yet rugby is too good to be on free to air tv. Well union, you've made your bed now and you can bloody well lie in it.

Brett do we have any idea roughly of how much of RA's current TV deal is driven by sale of Super Rugby content vs Internationals? I'd have though TRC and other internationals would be worth about 35% of the total deal for RA? Super Rugby delivers a lot of hours but most of those are of little interest to local fans with so many overseas teams and the timezone problem. Could RA not carve off the Internationals and Super Rugby into different TV deals and maybe get more on FTA without sacrificing too much Pay TV money? Just a thought as it all seems to be bundled into one big deal right now.

Visionary! I vote Piru for RA Chairperson.

Funnily enough WOE, the RA didn't have any qualm doing that to WA in spite of their growth figures and the strong correlation between this, the establishment of the Western Force and the increased ratio of local players in match day squads . All that growth was in spite of RA under funding community rugby in WA by almost half of what it was giving community rugby in Victoria, despite Victoria having about half the registered players in fewer clubs in a significantly smaller geographic area. Only SA and Tas were getting less. Looking forward to seeing the trend continue so I can blast them some more although the RA have been making the figures harder to find.

I only got to two Brumbies matches last year due to non-Canberra work commitments, so can't comment on the comparison with 2018, but the biggest thing I noticed on Friday night was that the General Admission i.e. the cheapest (prices have gone up since it was $20 and a burger) seats seemed very sparsely populated.

I don't, Jack, but nor have they corrected the wide reporting of the Brumbies being the only side not losing money. I'd imagine an organisation would want it known if that was true of them, too..

This is what I said, copied and pasted: So you’re just going to divert the topic? In actual fact there were more Melbourne produced players in the Brumbies than the Rebels on Friday. But that’s professional sport. Teams recruit players. They aren’t local rep teams. Why is NSW NRC only relevant? You want to disregard where it works to suit your point? I’d suggest you check your memory.

No. I said the Brumbies had more. I never said zero.

TWAS, you said, ''The Waratahs and Shute Shield have imported talent from Melbourne? Should we shut them down too?'' Probably the most inane comment in the history of the Roar. Well Done TWAS. The other day you, TWAS, said that MR had NO local players in their 23. Recall your statement.TWAS?

Well when your sport is only played in three states of one country, you can afford to have all your teams in one big bag. Pretty much every other big sport either has conferences or promotion and relegation systems and people just deal with it - I will never understand the pigheaded resistance to it in rugby.

I've got it! Cut some teams! Why didn't we think of this before!?

No. They had 2. Tetera Faulkner and Pati Leota. The Brumbies had 3 Melbourne locals in their 23. Leali'ifano, Valetini and Samu. But regardless, how does that mean the game isn't growing? If juniors and fan interest is growing that doesn't mean there will be an automatic effect there. Contract cycles mean there will be ebbs and flows. Mahe Vailanu, Hunter Paisami and Sefa Naivalu were 3 locals that were in the Rebels system in 2018 that are not there in 2019 for different reasons. The Waratahs and Shute Shield have imported talent from Melbourne? Should we shut them down too?

Not really an indicative comparison. Compared to the NRL sides, the Tahs average isn't that bad - both codes averages in Sydney are heading south. Both SR and NRL have gone down over 5 years, while the Swans have had constant good crowds, but have always made the finals.

''Have to laugh that people want to get rid of the Rebels. That is about the only part of Australia where the sport is growing.'' Hang on, last Friday, the MR did not have one local player in their starting 23 ???????

Have to laugh that people want to get rid of the Rebels. That is about the only part of Australia where the sport is growing.

The Rebels have their own radio outlet on Melbourne radio. Problem is with you out of towner sports is that they come down to Victoria and expect people to follow it without doing anything to promote the code. Like give people a taste for free on tv, not expect you to pay 70 bucks a month to access it. AFL tries to put itself on FTA where it can to drum up support. Storm hardly ever gets on FTA in Victoria.