'Bold step': NSW Rugby confirms RA alignment in bid to rid game of 'conflicts and self interest'

Most of us living outside NSW/Qld have never heard of this guy so he’s not going to be much of a drawcard.

For that money and at his age, in 2025 when he moves to rugby he needs to be the best player in the Wallabies by a mile. If he is, great. But if he isn't, then it's a huge fail.

Bliksem's argument is that top ups have been favouring the Tahs. I agree they have in the past and think they will in the future. For the last few years though, they haven't. You are arguing that it's when a player moves from one Aussie franchise to another by utilising the top up as a comparative advantage between clubs. So maybe we have to look at Jack Maddocks back at the start of 2020 for the last player that came to the Tahs, from another club, that would have been on a top up? Using your definition I still don't see advantage Tahs in the squads named for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Just wait for what Phil and the team will do under their new structure though. As I've said from the get go, even though I think they will favour my team, I'm not happy with it and I don't think it's what is best for the game in Australia.

That does not negate Phil's point that clubs are reliant on RA annual grants of $4-5 million. That of course is a little irrelevant, it is only a random number. I have heard a lot of good things though about what the Force is doing. The trick is to keep it going. It is a cyclical business and it requires good strategy and discipline to ride them. You have to be enduringly excellent off the field, get sufficient success on the field, not spend too much getting it, and investing in grassroots and development for future success. Spending too much on players, getting the coaching staff wrong, mishandling succession if Hodgson moved on are just some of the pitfalls. Just in the last 15 years Queensland have been insolvent, riding high, insokvent, and apparently going well at the moment. There will be a similar cycle in NSW with both of them tracking the onfield success, which is when off field success is easiest. WA certainly seems to be getting a lot of things right and if you build the broad and deep foundations the long term risks will be minimised.

Thanks Scott D, I was not familiar with Subiaco and NIB so was guessing at that. It goes beyond game day finances though. If people are not attending games they are less likely to buy a TV subscription. There is less flow on for memberships, merchandise and organic growth in crowds. Empty stadiums make it a less exciting experience at the ground or on TV. Yet the Waratahs roll on each year, peddling out the same unpopular membership packages and incraesing prices. The people working there must just turn up to collect their pay, they cannot possibly care about NSW rugby. Will there be any changes and improvements with the alignment with RA's commercial systems? Personally I doubt there will be any change, or of there is, it could be negative. It will be shameful if there is immediate impact. That speaks to all sorts of problems and incompetence, in excess of my current estimate. The new Commbank Stadium at Parramatta would fit the bill, but it won't fit the current supporter demographic. There will be financial contracts in place as well to play games at Allianz. Ideally they would set up a Western Sydney District as a seperate union and eventually play NRC or Super games at Commbank.

He is underwriting them yes, but they are self funding because they watch their pennies . He is really the insurance policy now, not the necessity.

The fixed cost of Subiaco (or any large stadium) is such that you need to get a certain percentage of full capacity through the gates to make the same money. Filling a smaller stadium is therefore a better financial proposition than half filling a larger one even if you can get slightly more people through gate. NSW would better off playing in a 25k stadium than a 45k stadium if there is one available

Had to come back to this article this morning when I scanned the headline. Alignment? That is a state of mind and leadership, not just forcing everyone to contractually bow down to you. This is just beyond pathetic management. I have been kidding myself that RA only gets 3rd rate business people and I unconditionally apologise to third rate business people everywhere.

Its a bit hard to understand what they mean, perhaps that the cost of hiring Subiaco negates the additional revenue? The Waratahs play all of their games at Allianz Stadium, recently rebuilt and with a capacity of 45k, although obviously academic for this discussion. The old stadium was slightly smaller, maybe 40k, but there were sometimes crowds up around 35k for the big games. After collapsing down to 10+ the crowds did lift in the Cheika years, but with all of the success and exciting rugby, only back to 17-20k. Then back to <10k before it was demolished at the end of the 2018 season. It is really hard to get crowds back and a long term marketing strategy is required. It will never happen until ticket prices are lowered. A desperate strategy for sure, but they are kidding if they don't understand how desperate things are.

Is Forrest underwriting them?

Lol! I'm not sure we are that aligned mate :)

Cool. We get there different ways but agree that the Tahs have not been getting favoured in the last couple of years.

If you want to claim successive CEO's have lied to me then that is your prerogative but I am confident they didn't.

Because I don't see that the clubs are necessarily being as disadvantaged by comparison when recruiting overseas talent. To some extent they are more aligned in bringing talent home. I think the real disadvantage is when a player moves from one Aussie franchise to another by utilising the top up as a comparative advantage between clubs. It's possibly a fine distinction and I do get it is arguable but that's just how I saw the conversation going.

Why would top ups only be relevant to direct club to club transfers? 100% also impacts NRL signings and retention to prevent or repatriation of overseas players.

G’day Olly. I’d love to believe it. If the injuries only happened in one year then maybe you could say that the soft tissue injuries were an anomaly. But it has happened more than once, with different National coaches. What I do believe is that the wrong emphasis is placed on the players. That is why I call it Conditioning and Strength. But I still can’t get past why 5 S & C teams are working one way and the National S & C team is doing something that brings about injuries that aren’t being seen elsewhere.

Tuqiri and Sailor walked into the wallabies starting team without the background in Union that JS has. Which likely wallaby has Twiggy Forrest or similar proposed they top up the salary of to help RA secure? Because that’s what happened with JS.

In the realm of possibility everything is including paying millions for a dudd is possible. Suaalii is better paid than most Wallabies, so to justify this expense we must assume that he will walk into a Wallaby side (even a World XV). We also know that many NRL stars just do not live up to the hype. He is at best unproven potential. Please point out any Force player that the RA contracted with this special fund. Anyway the RA CEO just confirmed that the money is not there. While Suaalii is backtracking and keeping his options open.

Absolutely given that when he was a year younger than the players in that team he was in the NRL team of the season. He’s proven he can play rugby. He’s proven he can compete against men (which is where elite juniors fall down). The only question is how long it would take him to get to the best he could be.

Did either of them play first XV at 14, and state schoolboys at 15 and Aus schoolboys at 16?