What a season, what a tantalising finish.
The Force are my number two team after my beloved Brumbies, but if they can beat the Brums, then the Reds in the next two weeks, all hail Australian rugby, all hail Tim Sampson, all hail Twiggy Forrest and his dedicated team.
What a finish that would be.
I would rejoice in any result other than the Reds winning it, and no disrespect to them, as they have fully deserved their position this year. Brad Thorn and his coaching and leadership group deserve the highest of accolades. Just don’t want you to beat my team(s).
A year that also, sadly, put the Waratahs right back in their box. It is where they deserve to be because the only meaningful way to see up is to be looking up from the bottom.
Hard decisions to be made there, but are we confident that they will?
The Rebels have a way to go but there is not that much that they need to do to improve. Maybe get a bigger pack?
But for the Force to be the only team to beat the Reds this year and the Brums to have lost twice to them, there is a magnificent dynamic going on.
A full-strength Force team is a bookie’s enigma.
I have been able to rebuild my stricken, ailing Sportsbet account this year to a reasonable level mainly because the competition has been reasonably predictable up to this point and I am proud to say that, at the start of the season, I took a shot and backed the Force to make the finals.
Now, the cat is firmly among the pigeons! The bookies may have won back the edge.
Great to see Rob Kearney back. One can only imagine that he has really put in this year.
Jordan Olowofela (and I’m sure he is, indeed a good fella) couldn’t have arrived on the scene at a better time, and the Argentine Brigade has also found its feet.
Richard Kahui and the other former Test players – you cannot underestimate their influence – even Tevita Kuridrani, who had a quiet start to the season, is now stepping up and in and making some influential decisions in the midfield.
I’m excited about Tim Anstee and I hope Dave Rennie gives him a shot at glory. Brynard Stander is great and right across the park, all of the others seem to have nailed their jobs.
I can’t wait for the Brums to win it, but there are a lot of permutations to come in the meantime. If the Force is with us, then I am a contented watcher.
Go you good things!
Sebastian Laffont
Guest
Love to read the point of view of those that still look at WA with contempt....Force fans are over the moon at the current team, subscriptions up, more people at the stadiums, and more importantly, beating the Waratahs, that was just so much fun to watch.....largest pool of players and resources, last in the competition.... I read other comments saying that "at least they are entertaining" last time i checked people watch and play sports to WIN, and maybe for an AFL or Basketball fan, it's OK, but for a rugby fan, winning by 1 point with a drop goal in the last minute is still a win.... and if you are mentioning the amount of imports, maybe the Tahs couldn't attract anyone? Matera from the Pumas said in the past he'd like to live in Sydney.....well he signed for the Crusaders, a winning (and entertaining) team. First ditched, now the force is winning and shaking the status quo? Too bad my friends, maybe those "imports" might teach them a few tricks? like fighting spirit, scrummaging, passion? This thing against "imports" sound like sore losers.... I wouldn't be surprised if more Argies come to the west, with Covid ravaging the country, is either Europe or Australia now
robel
Roar Pro
Kyle Godwin: Aquinas College Perth.
ojp44
Guest
@waxy ... dont mean to nit pick but as the guy reputedly said, 'the standard you walk past is the standard you accept'.... 'Godwin, for example, is from Zimbabwe and finished school at Aquinas College in Sydney.' ahhh, no mate.... that would be Aquinas College right here in Perth.... take a look, its on wikipedia and everything... :unhappy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Godwin Be better :boxing:
Jeansyjive
Roar Rookie
I imagine the Force have already requested not to have Berry.
Mario
Roar Rookie
Piru I’m pretty certain last year Waxy was going off on teh Force saying they needed to get 15-20 quality players to be competitive. Now he’s not happy that they got a few more talented players (without raiding the other states) and are playing competitive rugby I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day. – Julian Edelman ( A three-time Super Bowl winner) Win pretty, win ugly, just win. – Venus Williams
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
The problem with focussing on a domestic comp is money. We would have an immediate player drain of greater than current because the money wouldn't be there short term. Long term I think it's the best thing for Australian Rugby. But unfortunately, in sport as in politics, long term thinking is a thing of the past. Administrators tend to find themselves out of a job if they do something which hurts the sport short term. Or they refuse to do it just in case someone else gets credit for it when they lose their job later. We really needed to build the NRC more. Rivalries aren't born in a season, a few more years and that comp would be humming along giving us a domestic option.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Shoalies are in Nowra, different team from Batemans Bay Boars, who as you say are in the Far South Coast Union (who along with Southern Inland are joined with ACT). Please note, I'm not seriously suggesting the Brumbies should be scrapped - just highlighting that we have 25 players relocate so that 10 can play rugby at home. My view is that we should be continuing to focus on a national domestic comp which would allow a Canberran team to continue while also allowing us to expand to areas that have greater potential for growth in player numbers.
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
I always though of Shoalhaven as connected to Bateman's Bay RU which is one of the SNSW unions rather than Illawarra. But happy to stand corrected. While a second NSW based team would be my first place to look for an expansion, scrapping the Brumbies to create that would be one of the dumbest things RA could do.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I see he played junior club for Lindfield and Sydney juniors from at least U15’s. Played NSW 1 and Oz Schools. Apparently was targeted by South’s in the NRL so kudos to the Brumbies for keeping him in rugby.
Greysy
Roar Rookie
Correct. He'd been playing for Wests in ACT club before he got a Brumbies contract and had been part of the Academy straight out of school - thought he was a local from before then. Leave it at ten then.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Kaihea definitely. Google tells me Reimer is a Barker Old Boy that played for Warringah. What makes you say he’s ‘Berran?
Greysy
Roar Rookie
I know it doesn't make a huge difference to the numbers, but the Brumbies actually have ten local products in the squad (Lloyd, Ross, Lonergan x2, McInerney, Hooper, Cusack, Reimer, Scott, Hansen) or 11 if you include Fred Kaihea who was brought into the squad after all the front row injuries and played a couple of games off the bench.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Cheers for the correction on Godwin. That gets you to 9, the same number as Waxy’s Brumbies. Took the Brumbies 25 years to get to that level. Force have only been back 2!
ScottD
Roar Guru
Probably easier over 5 beers at the pub
ScottD
Roar Guru
1. Clearly you didn’t watch the game last week if you thought it was boring. 2. Other teams have as many imports as the Force unless you are including immigrants children as “foreign” 3. Australian population at large has a significant level of people of Kiwi, Fijian, UK , SA descent. It may have escaped your notice that every team in the country is made up mainly of immigrants or their descendants.
Hertryk
Roar Rookie
Give credit where credit is due.. the Force have been pummeled and struck from every quarter, they are the Phoenix team rising from the Ashes, and they have the loyalist fans of all - GO FORCE - you deserve to spit in the RA eyes
Mo
Guest
To be fair Godwin went to Aquinas in Perth. Migrated young enough to be a West Aussie. I think Gus Wagner is another good qld prop. Brache was born USA but really a saffer and like stander he was imported young but they are genuine migrants with roots now. Hopefully local boy Jake BAll plays next season.
piru
Roar Rookie
Opinions
piru
Roar Rookie
Force have 1 or 2 WA players in their squad and most did not learn their Rugby in Australia. Yeah all our home grown players went over east when we got canned, remember
piru
Roar Rookie
Look, Waxy has a point, but 'dead rubber' is, imo, a stretch. As you say they definitely came here to win. I'd say 78 minutes into a hard fought game that doesn't affect your season vs 2 minutes left to secure a finals spot for the first time probably motivates each team differently