Exclusive: Embattled chair asks for extension, Rugby Australia meet AGAIN as civil war breaks out

And yet QLD and ACT have issued clear statements they are not willing to look at centralising commercial sides without even seeing a proposal?

I don’t think Forrest was ever a rugby union philanthropist. He likes to champion causes especially where he seen injustice like anti-slavery, generation one, marine protection, the Western Force and now energy transition. I rather have him involved with rugby union than not. He made a couple of strange decisions lately including supporting a chairman that was clearly not able to continue in his role.

100%. Everyone is focusing backwards on EJ. This is done. We need to focus forward and any coach is going to fail if we don't sort the SR teams out.

EJ was a disaster. Do not doubt this at all. It was a clear gamble that did not pay off. But this is done and dusted now. My point is, we could have the baby Jesus of rugby coaches at the Wallabies and they will still fail due to the SR teams lack of performance. We must get this fixed for the Wallabies to perform. We need atleast two SR teams firing to create a competitive Wallabies.

Hi Olly, I absolutely agree that we have under-performed at Super level. Nobody would argue we've done well enough there. But, we only need 23 world-class players to make up a Wallaby squad, not 115 (5 Super squads). We probably would have progressed beyond the pool stages if the entire Brumbies squad had been selected, as you point out yourself! Even if you don't agree, you MUST agree that some selections and omissions were simply outrageous. Even more so because they have never been explained (and, I suspect, can't be). Len Ikitau is the most obvious one. That man is CLASS. He's been our best back, without question, test after test, and he's omitted. WTF?? I could go on, but I'm a bit over it. Suffice it to say, it wasn't Eddie's job to fix the Super teams, but it WAS his job to take the best the Super teams had to offer and mould them into a formidable Wallabies team. He failed, failed, failed. He thought he knew best, that everyone else was wrong, and he refused to concede his failings. Rennie was a mature, respected, thoughtful man who was building something. Anyway, enough said. Let's forget this nightmare.

That’s sort of my point. We criticise him for being too hands on, and he is, but then simply credit others with the good outcomes. We don’t know. It just seems fair he gets credit and debit in equal measure

she played hardball and succeeded in the biggest player payment cuts out of pro sport in Aus. Whilst still keeping most players here. Only losing two developing Reds players. That's what saved the game. But Hamish has to keep "reminding" everyone it was him.

I don’t see centralisation happening. They might get something agreed on around high performance – but then again they may not. There’s been a lot of reviews over the years – not much seems to change. Not expecting much. As was suggested to me below – change around what happens in this part of the world may need to be instigated by NZR.

Thanks cs!

Just announced - there’s a vote tonight at 8pm.

I think Twiggys intervention is critical. I can’t believe the WA votes can hold if he has been quoted correctly and supports mcClennan. I imagine Twiggy may have addressed the board today and if not his views would have been roundly discussed. WA will fall. Hamish will now have the numbers. The coup will fail. That’s my prediction

I think Fox may have mentioned 45 million at the very beginning. Raelene wanted greater exposure for the game and to create competition in bidding and then went off to talk to Optus who had expressed interest. When Optus revealed they weren’t serious and Raelene went back to Foxtel, that’s when Foxtel revealed their true character and slashed their offer thinking that she had nowhere else to go. Shame on Christy for trying to paint Foxtel as the good guy here. They shafted rugby union and then doubled down on their nastiness by refusing to cover the game in any serious way. The Courier Mail in the country’s second biggest rugby market still doesn’t cover the game. That’s who these people are.

Why wouldn’t it? It’s quite evident the states want centralisation of high performance/recruitment at a minimum - but most just don’t want to give over every key to RA - who could blame them with how inept some of the decision making has been. Also, the Hamster keeps banging on about ‘centralisation’, but still cannot explain exactly what he’s trying to achieve - it’s really not that hard to prepare proposal documents outlining the various options to at least start the process for collaboration, something it seems still has yet to have been done because it looks like from the outside they’ve got no idea of what they really want to achieve.

SMH is reporting that the chair has refused to resign. The issue therefore goes to an EGM, sometime in the next 60 days. Hamish hasn’t got the numbers at this stage, and loses another if the vote is after 1 Jan. In a comment to the media, he said that in retrospect ‘I’d never do anything different’. I made the last bit up. He actually said he is being ‘bullied’, which is heaps funnier.

There is a severe structural problem rugby union faces that has no easy answers. The same problem is faced by soccer. Many of us were wowed by the exhilarating play of the Matildas. Bu as soon as the women’s world cup was over the players disappeared back to their clubs in Europe & North America. Ditto the Socceroos. With the Wallabies, more & more outstanding quality is being lured offshore to England, France & Japan by better pay & opportunities. This impacts the local product severely. Football/soccer is the world game. Both the A-League & W-League, despite the heroics of the Matildas, struggle for eyeballs & seats due to the best quality being overseas. Nor does it matter football/soccer has among the most recreational participants of any sport in Oz. It doesn’t do them any good with the local national league, when so much of its best talent is offshore. The situation isn’t much better for Australian rugby, with rugby the second most popular world football code. Locally, Super rugby bleeds support because it doesn’t have enough quality players, with those who might make a difference to the local product, plying their trade elsewhere. How silly for some folk to trumpet the international reach of rugby union because it’s clearly counter-productive down under. How ironic also, that Australian football, which has virtually no global reach, & rugby league, which has only a small international footprint, are therefore the two most popular footy codes & sports in Oz courtesy of the AFL & NRL. The AFL & NRL don’t have to worry about losing their best players overseas. There’s nowhere for them to go. They’re right here at home, playing every week in home & away, bringing heaps of fans through the turnstiles & bums on seats watching TV. Sometimes being a big fish in a small pond has certain advantages.

Interesting how the states that backed Eddie along with many here trumpeting how great he was going to be and suppressing anyone questioning his coaching with catch phrases like EDS have gone awful quiet. I wonder how much credibility they can retain when it comes to questioning others judgements. Meaning if the states were all in support of HM’s decision to appoint EJ’s as you suggest, how is it they penned a letter saying this was a poor decision and one of the reasons they want to cast home out amongst others. Are they having their cake and eating it too? Are they seriously as lacking in basic honesty as the guy they are wanting to throw out for exactly that reason? I may be wrong but I never saw the states collaborate and pen a letter wanting DR to be sacked. There may have been a few people questioning selections and such, but I never saw a relentless campaign against DR by any of the states. I know a few on here did. But I may be mistaken. You are no doubt closer to it all than I. Would love to know your take.

Anyone aware of a board structure in an organisation the key line is: "Additionally, we believe Mr McLennan has been acting outside his role as a director, exerting an undue influence on the operations and executives of Rugby Australia." Basically it's not his job to poach players or hire coaches or negotiate any deal unless it's around private equity. And that should only be to ensure it's best for the organisation. This is about a chairman playing General Manager, CEO, COO and not his role.

The states were not right, or wrong, about everything.

5.00 pm, last I heard. Nearly there .. .

The article does not say any offer was $35M plus additional $10M.