Western Force back in the fold after accepting place in domestic Super Rugby

Won’t happen... although I think that if we return to normal and can host’s spectators that it would be a pity if the test hub is not in Perth with Optus stadium not used by AFL teams.

Bring them all over here you reckon?

JSJ the lights on the goal posts indicate when the 9 pt try is on. I've yet to see the scrum time limit have to be enforced, teams just get on with it

Pama Fou

I heard a rumour that the French are looking at establishing from scratch another entire professional layer below Pro D2. No idea what sort of money they'd be talking about, but chances are it will at least be competitive, especially for that next level down player that constitutes the depth in SR and domestic comps.

Paul’s comment was probably a bit off only referring to Top League because the same applies to the 2nd tier which is already full of OS players (examples would be Yamaha and Kinetsu). Really the only growth of good OS opportunities is the MLR which whilst offering low contracts to the clubs, is full of side deals.

I expect most players if they aren’t a first choice wallaby at 29 to look overseas for money and a different experience in what will potentially be their last playing contract.

“Staying solvent....”. The jury is still out on that one....

We are progressIng well to eradicate COVID from WA and should earlier get to the point where we can host teams with spectators in the stands than QLD, NSW and VIC. It is ironic that we have to relocate our teams to an area where the COVID risk are higher. The situation however remains dynamic...

If you are 29 and don't think you'll make the WB's then you absolutely should move to wherever the money is.

The spectator numbers at Brumbies games even with the playing good rugby confirms that the market is just too small. However as I said it is water under the bridge. Will GRR leapfrog the ailing Superugby competition - time will tell.... I have not much confidence in SANZAAR’s ability to stem the tide and turn things around - too many internal conflicts and a poor track record vs a new competition targeting the economic centres of our region but where rugby needs to develop a broader support base.

Agree that GRR has some short term challenges stemming for the COVID crisis. It is not the best time to start a new competition but this will also pass. It is important to understand what motivates Dr Forrest’s and why he is in for the long haul. So far every single thing he promised, he delivered. He definitely have a soft spot and is known for championing the interest of rural areas, aboriginal communities, Western Australians, those that suffer from injustice and the need to develop a deeper relationship with our trading partners in Asia. This often put him in opposition to the interest of those in the Eastern States e.g. on the mining tax, relationship with a China, etc. As Australia’s foremost philanthropist the Western Force “project” is more than just a business interest to Forrest - it ticks almost all of his boxes. Form all of the key players from 2017 Clyne, Eales, Robinson, Pulver, Clarke, etc, Forrest will still be around after they rest moved on. He will be a key player in rugby union until rugby is sufficient reformed for him to move on. I don’t see him as the natural owner of the GRR, however is very thankful that he came to our rescue. One day RA may become a real national governing body and Forrest will play a key role for that to happen. It is not only business for him.

Rather loose with the players that stayed than get imports. The exemption are players that were developed in WA like DHP, RHP and Hardwick. They are part of the Force rugby family and can come home.

Spot on Piru, they were not forced by SANZAAR to axe a team they volunteered to axe a team. When they volunteered they already knew which team will be axed as there was only one possible choice as all alternatives were discounted.

This would have been a merger for only 3 seasons...and Melbourne doesn’t have a rusted on support base. Also if they merged there would not have been a GRR... Would have been much cleaner with far less potential for predictable unintended consequences. Before they axed the Force Twiggy told them he will start a competitive competition and he kept his word on every single thing he promised....

I have no doubt they are spending it; the obvious question is what are they spending it on? What are they doing now that they weren't doing in 2015 to justify that much extra spend on the top end, especially given they went to the RWC final in 2015 v ...how did they go in 2019 again? Sounds the very definition of having urinated the money up a rope. And if they have been socking away $10M a year, every year of the contract, are you seriously suggesting the RWC cost them $40M in lost revenue so that they are now broke? If that is the case, how did they manage that loss in the previous cycle given it would have been two years of broadcast revenue? Covering $10M over the whole cycle I could believe, but not ever year. They'd already be a memory if that were the case. Simply put, there is nothing they are doing now that they weren't doing in 2015 that can justify how $175+M dollars has evaporated and left Australian rugby in an even more parlous state than they were five years ago. IMO they are lucky the journalists over-reach and make themselves irrelevant by claiming ridiculous numbers, because a proper forensic investigation of the smaller but much more telling number would be very interesting.

I don't think anyone has tried to claim that the Force are a production powerhouse of players, but even if you only take the number of players who have come through the WA club system (rather than blow-ins who went straight into the Force academy) that's still around 20 out of less than 200 professional players in Australia. WA is ~10% of the Australian population. We don't produce as many players as NSW or Qld, but are doing OK against ACT and Victoria. But remember that before the Force started there was (IIRC) 1 WA Wallaby (John Welborn). Club rugby in Perth and across WA wasn't of that great a standard. That we could field a couple of local SR standard players within 3 seasons (Longbottom and DHP) was doing well for local development. The Force had 12 years in SR. So when they were cut, local players breaking into the first team were ~10 when the Force started. That's about as long as you expect for local talent realise that: a) rugby is a pathway for sporting success, rather than AFL or cricket, and b) to develop from young athletes who could play any sport into developed players ready to play rugby professionally.

Peace will return once RA starts to treat the WA rugby community as a community that is no less worthy than any other and deserves the respect of the administration. I will continue to point out RA’s failures in this area, their hypocrisy, failure to govern rugby to the national interests and the desperate need for reform. Rugby deserves better than what RA dished up in the past couple of years. I do ascribe to the rugby values of integrity, respect, solidarity, passion and discipline, values that RA as a key member of World Rugby is expected to uphold. Ironically RA added TEAM WORK that include camaraderie, loyalty and a unifying spirit to their values, values they continue to fail to live up to.

Nonsense, there are many that do not support the Force that are also disgusted with RA behaviour during the Force farce saga. Injustice remains injustice. I had a problem with the ARU’s behaviour long before they selected the Force as the team to axe and even wrote a letter to the CEO of the Western Force in Dec 2016 not to trust the ARU’s motives. The ARU was leaking information from April 2016 that they aim to axe the Force and Pulver was asked this question directly in November 2016 by the WA state government. He provided “assurances” that RA will “always” support a Superugby team in Perth at that time just to vote to axe team in Feb 2017 when it was already clear that only one team can be axed. I expect more an organisation that call themselves the representative body and governing body of rugby union across Australia. I turn the question back on you TWAS, is it because your team, the Rebels, benefited from the axing of the Force and RA can continue to prop-up your team that you had no problem with the ARU’s poor conduct?

You would expect he would have been excited about his team be included and welcomed back. His rant has been that it was an injustice to WA that the Force were axed and this is a continuation of that injustice.