With most national club competitions taking a well earned bye for the King’s Birthday, Queensland, WA and the ACT’s club players took centre stage last weekend.
Fortunately, the growing quality in the ACT and the West has been noted over the last few years, which is exciting for the likes of the Brumbies and Force.
Kohan Herbert in action for Downlands (Photo by Stephen Tremain)
Kohan Herbert – Loose Forward (Souths Rugby Union Club)
The last few seasons have been a period of growth for the Magpies in the Hospital Cup. Results have taken their time to trickle in, but it was very clear they had the makings of a great side, albeit one that needed time to mature.
But in 2023, Brisbane’s competition is a tight race with four points separating the top four, and the chasing pack is not far behind. One of the big improvers this year has been this Souths side, who currently sit in fourth having grabbed big scalps against the likes of heavyweights Easts, and two against UQ.
A big part of this improved form has been the huge growth and work ethic of the loose forwards, and at the top of that group is Kohan Herbert. Many longtime readers are very familiar with this exciting player, with him featuring heavily on both sides of the Tasman and being known for his game sense and work ethic.
Truth is, he’s an absolute tackle machine. After just eleven rounds, he’s amassed a whopping 111 tackles: the top tackler across the whole competition. Partnered with fellow partners in crime like now-Junior Wallaby John Bryant and Sam Mataafa in the loose forwards, and you have a bunch of boys who’ve proven themselves to be hungry for work and making a nuisance of themselves in general play.
All three have picked up plenty of tries for their efforts, but Kohan has shown himself to be the glue that keeps the squad together. Right now, it’s a case of WHAT MORE does he need to do to get into Super Rugby? It highlights how much depth Australian rugby has in loose forwards, but it also highlights the quality that could step in should a position become available.
Baden Godfrey – Loose Forward (Tuggeranong Vikings)
Down in the capital, 2023 has been a huge year for the Tuggeranong Vikings. Traditionally one of the closest premier grade competitions in the country, this year the Vikings have grabbed the bull by the horns and opened up a commanding lead at the top of the ladder.
A big factor for that is the performance of the set piece, and the player who has been carving up is Junior Wallaby prospect Baden Godfrey. Product of St Edmunds College and the Vikings pathway, Godfrey has already caught the eyes of the local Super Rugby club, having played in the Brumbies Senior Academy during the 2023 preseason.
His form has remained solid during the Vikings (as yet) undefeated campaign, with great go-forward and an ability to disrupt opposition play. Making it into the extended Junior Wallabies squad in April but sadly missing out on the NZ tour and the final squad for the U20s Championships in South Africa, expect him to bounce back quickly in club form.
I also expect a Super Rugby club to come knocking on the door soon for this young player.
Jhy Legg – Lock (Wests Scarborough Rugby Club)
Speaking of the Junior Wallabies, it was important to note that their final squad heading to the Rainbow Nation contains three exciting prospective players from the Western Force academy, with one (Marley Pearce from Joondalup Brothers RUFC) making their debut for the Force earlier this year.
One other inclusion is Jhy Legg, formerly of Kalamunda Rugby Club but now plying his trade over at Wests Scarborough. This exciting young lock has been turning heads since he made the U15s WA State Rugby team in 2018. Since then, he’s become a regular fixture in the WA U19s squad, and earlier this year, was part of the squad who beat the New Zealand U20s in New Zealand for the first time ever.
His work at lock is something to behold, with great physical strength and near perfect technique to really push ascendency at set piece. The kid also brings a fantastic attitude to his game: he’s passionate about his rugby and it shows on the pitch.
At a time when the Force are looking to really strengthen their pathways and produce quality homegrown talent, Jhy has the makings of a passionate future Super Rugby player. Keep a watch on this young gun in South Africa, there is a lot to like.
Who are the club players that you think are deserving of higher honours? Let us know in the comments!
Phil
Roar Rookie
Hi Simon I’m late to this but just saw your comment now and I agree. My comment on Nicks later articles is below: I don’t propose this as THE answer but throwing it out there as an idea – what if premier club rugby became professional? If they were charged with facilitating 1st grade sides only? Possibly men’s, womens and Colts 1. And each state/territory ran a professional comp with just their own state first, then had a short national comp at the end. What would it take to make it fully professional? It already has a good fan base. Already semi professional. Already televised. It continues to be an important comp to see young players tested against more experienced players. If more professional players play at the clubs the easier it should be for selectors to pick the right guys for the next level. Or see which of their SR squad aren’t standing out at club level. More professional players would also mean more fans attending. It would give back to the clubs that produce our professional players. Players grow up as juniors aspiring to play for these clubs at state champs. So the idea that only the best players get to play for these clubs is already familiar. Most fans attend to watch first grade only anyway. Many fans have chosen club over SR already. It means we don’t have to create new teams again which didn’t quite work out with NRC. If it stayed as State based initially there would be reduced travel cost. There could be tiers of players. Would need some structure and regulation to ensure an even playing field, player payments etc. Would also need some investment! Not having to field so many teams would allow the clubs to focus on making premier teams the best they can be. Many underestimate the standard of premier club rugby and the importance of it. Having watched the SR players come back into premier rugby, some of them do too. After decades of players, coaches and resources being taken away from club rugby I’d like to see some investment back into them and for them to become the solution.
Nick Wasiliev
Editor
Hi Simon, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, and glad to hear you are as passionate about improving the pathways as I am. By the sounds of this, what you think will work is professionalising the tier below Super Rugby, and putting a professional framework around clubland. A lot of people have talked about this idea as some sort of Australian Club Championship, I'm considering doing an article covering the actual options we have to bridge the clubland/pro divide and this is one of them. The idea has some legs to it, especially considering many of those state competitions you mention are starting to open up into tiered unions. WA has done it this year with the Premier Grade, Canberra has talked about for a while and even has a very small subbies comp, even up here in Newcastle where I live there was a restructure this year. The clear goal we want is for all of these state comps to get to a level of depth where they are producing talent good enough for professional rugby, and by extension make it into their respective Super Rugby franchise, and also keeping local talent in your region. I think your point of players staying in their communities is valid, but also the nature of professional sport is going and making a career while you can, and a player can do that anywhere. Players are gonna do what they do no matter what, but I see this idea would be more encouraging for them to stay. I do have questions about such a solution however. Our premier grade competitions, especially Brisbane and Sydney, are very good by world standards, and I'm concerned as to what corporatising them would do to them. Some clubs, like Sydney Uni, Tuggeranong Vikings and UQ would be better suited to transition than others (the first two are basically one step away from professionalism), so would that mean those competitions would be balanced even more in their favour? Talent already moves from the outsider clubs into those bigger clubs because they think it's their best shot of going pro, and I worry it would tip the scales even more. Additionally, would making the whole thing professional mean that there would be a disconnection from what makes those competitions so special? I worry about the corporatisation of sport, and we should celebrate club spirit where we can. I also challenge your question of tribalism around interstate rivalries being successful right off the bat. Yes, there is the Tahs-Reds rivalry, but does that extend to club level? We already have a yearly club challenge between Queensland and NSW, and that fixture doesn't get the draw or coverage that a derby like the Battle of the Beaches or the Red Heavies/Brothers clash does. Will people care about a clash between Wests Scarborough and East Brisbane? Does Tuggeranong Vikings playing Northern Suburbs work? At clubland, I think people care more about winning the competition that has been a part of their lives. I see local derbies being successful in this approach, but I question beyond that. That's not me saying I reject this idea entirely at all, but of all the pathway solutions, this one throws up the most questions. On your comment though, I completely agree with your idea of connecting clubs to local schools, in fact I think there is a great opportunity given the state of school sports curriculum and the increasing expectation normal teachers bear that load. I also agree that such a comp could have weight to a broadcasting deal, with strong grassroots brands proving to be lucrative. I think a lot of these ideas could be adapted at premier club level, and even at lower levels. But this leads into a broader question that we have fallen into before: the idea of financial success being the key driver of lower level success. Of course, professional rugby is a business at the end of the day, but I think we need to do a cost-benefit ratio on a competition like this. In my eyes, premier grade rugby already does enough, more than enough, to prop up our game. The reality is that right now, the gap between those competitions and the professional tier is too big, unlike when it was a small step up at the dawn of professionalism in the Nineties. For me, the responsibility of developing players to a professional standard should lie with the professional arm of the game, under a centralised model. Club competitions should do what they always do, create as strong a competition as they can, and there are ways the professional side of the game can supercharge that. Looking at the NRC, everyone was quick to call it a failure because it didn't have the draw of premier clubs with history and rich rivalry. As a financial product, it wasn't a success. But I argue, that shouldn't be the measurement of success for a comp like that, strong players should be. You invest the money and resources in a bridging competition and you reap the rewards down the line with successful Super Rugby sides, a successful Wallabies, and more competitive club competitions. This takes time, but this is where we find ourselves right now, we don't have the luxury of having an established national domestic comp like other countries who are now seeing success. As a last point, New Zealand's NPC has rarely been financially successful. In fact, many of it's unions are losing money. Former NZRU chief executive Steve Tew was asked about this in an interview with CNBC in 2019, and his response was that it was their job to ensure their system is refined and resourced properly to continue producing great players and coaches. NZ are very defensive of that competition for a reason: it doesn't produce money, but it gives players a critical period of development. I think we should start viewing clubland and a potential third tier in this way: keep letting it do it's thing, while the professional arm supports it where needed and helps bridge the transition of players into professional levels. It's definitely a topic I want to discuss more on, and look forward to chatting with you more on it. I like opinions on this, and welcome us all finding solutions.
Adrian
Roar Rookie
Thanks Nick Good write up
Simon_Sez
Roar Guru
Big A, spot on, the other codes get a free pass, while we sit around waiting for something to happen. Little wonder the broadcast income is so puny.
Tony Mann
Roar Rookie
It’s the only answer to evolving Australian rugby. A global sport and the ‘production’ line gives its product away for free. Current system the only people making money on players are the agents and they return nothing to the game. It’s madness how this ‘business’ model hasn’t sent the game broke. Clubs need to go professional and start trading players etc, Similar to Football/ soccer, Gridiron, baseball. The templates already exist to professionalize sport on multiple levels.
Big A
Roar Rookie
Why can't they see the bleeding obvious _ the NRL & AFL geta free kick for the rest of the year - if some money was pumped into the club scene maybe they could persuade some of the young guys to hang around and not goto league
SDRedsFan
Roar Rookie
It's my biggest bug bear every season. Even once the test matches start for the Rugby Championship it's only one game every 2nd week. Thankfully the World Cup is on this year, but it's a long time until September.
Big A
Roar Rookie
Just as an aside i watched the Crusaders in the semi tonight _ basically the breakdown is inpoliceable it's just a matter of the biggest cheat wins - real conundrum for the game - also whilst Whatching i was thinking after tomorrow's game with Brumbies then we basically have nothing to whatch for the next month. this is ridiculous - what is RA doing about it - nothing - Hamish is talking about playing in Fukushima and Hawaii - he's gotta be kidding isn't he.
Big A
Roar Rookie
Simon, Iove your style man – keep banging your drums until they listen – i like it – your message is resonating with me and i agree with you – We already have a tier 3 in this country – all we have to do is Corporaltise the existing club compsand when SRP finishes we shift our attention to the test matches and to a higher level club scene that includes all of the super guys that missed out on test squad. And if there are injuries then we get the subs from theclubs – Surely there must be Some way of preventing Our young guys from being poached to League.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
Bluff, "His father was a big fat sprinter in his day." :laughing: I hope Niko is enjoying his time in Perth, everyone seems to.
Bluffboy
Roar Rookie
Keep an eye out for my mate son Niko Manaena. Pretty sure he is also with Scarborough also. Prop that plays both sides. He was with the junior Hurricanes before heading home to play for Southland a year or 2 ago. Terrible run of injuries had him sidelined most of the season and unsure of his future. But he is now in Perth playing clubland and in the Force High performance set up with Thrush. Big strong boy and with a bit of speed. His father was a big fat sprinter in his day. Could never understand how a human of his fathers size could move so fast :unhappy:
Joffrey
Roar Rookie
Nice article, Kohan is a very good player and is also pretty apt at carrying as well as tackling. 4 of Kohans Souths Magpies club mates are in the Junior Wallabies, John Bryant number 8, Trevor King ( LHP ) as well as Harry McLaughlin-Phillips ( flyhalf) and Taj Annan ( Inside centre). They will be missed over the next 4 weeks. So Kohan and crew will need to stand up
Reds Harry
Roar Rookie
Great read thanks. Good luck to these young players
K.F.T.D.
Roar Rookie
Nice lateral thinking.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
Nice one NW, thanks
Simon_Sez
Roar Guru
Nick, we love to see the young guys coming through, but for how long will they stay at club level and not move away from their communities? Why not corporatise the clubs so they can go fully professional, on tax deductible salaries, e.g. “ Santos Souths” or “Woodside Wests Scarborough” , have a tiered competition in WA, QLD and Canberra to compete with the tiers in NSW, who would be fully professional too. No salary caps, spread the Brumbies and the Force players amongst the top tiers in QLD, Canberra and WA, as they will now be on better money, at the same time recruit players from NZ, Fiji, or wherever to strengthen the club competition standard. Get the top clubs together to negotiate a broadcasting deal, distribute that money back to the corporate “ owners” , with a percentage to go back to the community and lower levels and schools, who are the feeders for the clubs. Then one gets to keep the young up and coming talent playing locally for their clubs, to become local hero’s, and they won’t be tempted to take an overseas playing contracts, where some even end up playing for another country. We would have local derbies every week, a lot more quality rugby to watch to fill in the gaps we are currently getting. This becomes a much wider pathway to play for the Wallabies too. The tribalism and ratings will go through the roof as will the broadcasting income. The corporate owners would end up getting a very nice return on this Rugby model.