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Joined May 2021
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Franklin Roosevelt once said “virtues are lost in self interest as rivers are lost to the sea”. For the last two decades Australian rugby’s…
Rugby is back in the headlines, but very little of the coverage has said anything about actual rugby. Strap yourself in as we speculate…
As we're all aware rugby in Australia has faced its fair share of challenges over the last decade, but we have an opportunity to…
Australian rugby made some real strides during the COVID period. The Reds and Brumbies have been strong, the Force and Wallabies improved, and the…
Hi hog, you’re right about the operating in a league no one watches, maybe if we fix the incentive structure we can reform super rugby? Centainly attempts to reform the comp (such as cutting aus teams) have been blocked by the states before. I didn’t see how to fix the incentives without centralising even though it is a buzzword I feel it is still useful
It's time to stop treating the symptoms of Rugby Australia’s illness and get to the cause
I like the lake metaphor Ken. Your right it is going to be hard, the way I see it we need to fix the incentive structure or we are cooked, I hope we can get a win win but if not I’m happy to see the states loose out. The nswru have agreed to centralise which means maybe win win is doable 🙂
It's time to stop treating the symptoms of Rugby Australia’s illness and get to the cause
Cheers Ian, yea fair point. Personally I feel fixing the incentive structure is king. Insee incentives as so fundamental that I don’t think it really matter who the ceo or coach or players are until the incentive structure is corrected. Let’s cross our fingers for reform
It's time to stop treating the symptoms of Rugby Australia’s illness and get to the cause
Fair points savant, your certainly right that Ireland and nz will make us defend and stretch our defence (which requires a competent, mobile 7). I don’t think we will abandon the traditional 7, but i do think the role will change under Eddie, he could even go more of a horses for courses selection strategy. It will be interesting to see what he does
Brevity is wit: What Eddie's words and actions tell us about his World Cup game plan
Hey savant, I disagree about Samu we beat the all blacks in Melbourne last year with Samu at 7 (yep I’m counting it as a win). Against some teams we will still need to have a small mobile 7 but there aren’t many teams left playing possession rugby currently. If we kick it to them a lot of teams will play for a while and kick it back to us. Defence is still critical and will form a major part of selection, but I feel size and power will count strongly when considering each players defensive utility too
Brevity is wit: What Eddie's words and actions tell us about his World Cup game plan
I almost got away with it savant, I just couldn’t resist amending the quote, I felt it made the article finish better.
Look you do have to do a lot of tackling but teams like the boks and French do this with success regularly and their forward packs are enormous. You have to get the balance right obviously let’s hope Eddie can do that
Brevity is wit: What Eddie's words and actions tell us about his World Cup game plan
Nice Article Phil – option 2 sounds like the way to go in my mind, I wonder if they could overcome the resistance from the clubs to make it happen?
How to grow more Rugby talent in Australia without breaking the bank
That’s fascinating JN, even more evidence for good old brevity
Brevity is wit: What Eddie's words and actions tell us about his World Cup game plan
Cheers guys! Thanks for the love, I don’t mind if not to many read it, as long as a few people enjoy it. With latu his whole career has been tragic, he should have been the best wallaby hooker I had ever seen but alas it didn’t happen. I really hope we get bell and tanelia back, we desperately need them.
Brevity is wit: What Eddie's words and actions tell us about his World Cup game plan
Thanks Peter! I take your point about the locks maybe I considered power a bit exclusively. I personally feel the dilemma at hooker as well, I think our front row is quite weak actually which is why I suspect Eddie will compensate with a powerful back 5 but who knows.
The sevens will be really interesting I don’t know what will happen, we did play well in the Melbourne bledisloe with Samu at 7 but agree about the speed of a Samu. I did suspect we are shifting to a phase of rugby where small open sides are decreasingly valuable. But who knows if that’s really true.
Thanks for reading
Brevity is wit: What Eddie's words and actions tell us about his World Cup game plan
Cheers Johnny! You raise a fair point, the second ball player does not need to wear 15. Centre would make sense actually especially when considering the utility of attacking kicks from the centre channel. Eddie did use Henry slade as a bit of a distributor in the past so you might well be right !
Brevity is wit: What Eddie's words and actions tell us about his World Cup game plan
Cheers RD, your right the selection implications are significant. I’m a huge fan of Tom hopper too but I suspect he might be a tad green for this World Cup. Eddie usually names a few surprises in his squad can’t wait to see who he picks 🙂
Brevity is wit: What Eddie's words and actions tell us about his World Cup game plan
Fair enough Leigh, replace the tri nations with a tour from the north would be interesting 🙂
The Rugby Championship should expand to six nations
Hey Biltong, your right I didn’t consider the test window. However the European, Japanese and Southern Hemisphere clubs are not playing between July and October so hopefully test rugby could be played then
The Rugby Championship should expand to six nations
Your format Idea is really interesting Ken but I don’t think its the most probable format for next year. Since I wrote the article it seems the format for next year might change however, Looks like RA want a conference system now: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/super-rugby-negotiations-stall-as-australia-cools-on-trans-tasman-competition-20210622-p583bp.html. Intersting to see what happens.
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
These guys do get a run but there is a cost. we lose players like Nisarani, mac Hansen, Dempsey, BPA, Hegarty overseas and we lose players like this every year. We also have less money for grassroots because we are sinking so much into the rebels. And we have a weaker comp and loose fan engagement there. there is just such a huge cost for keeping the rebels and we are getting so little return. The other thing is if those guys are good enough they will get a run anyway by outcompeting players in the other 4 provinces and earning selection.
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
I think we are just on different sides of the fence on this one Piru 🙂
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
that’s a nice analogy. My opinion is just that i don’t think we can afford to keep running 5 taps, particularly if we are going into a permanent comp with the NZ sides. My other argument for that is based on cohesion but thats a debate for a different time
I don’t necessarily disagree with a lot of these arguments I just don’t think its feasible currently.
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
Hey Piru, your right it is a result of the force being cut but my point is that the dilution of talent does not strengthen the super rugby teams. No matter where the talent is produced the more it is diluted the weaker the teams. the guy above was arguing “Cutting a team doesn’t improve the quality of the other 4” and I am disagreeing with that.
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
if the brumbies don’t want to merge fair enough. And yea I absolutely believe the other sides are worse after the reintroduction of the force (also think the force should stay). The force have already raided the brumbies academy for next year and are likley to continue to take players from the other clubs as they are well within their rights to do. Arguing that this doesn’t weaken our clubs though is just ridiculous, if you want the rebels to stay fair enough but don’t pretend there is no cost
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
I think the lack of player and coaching talent strengthens the argument for limiting expansion. Put simply if you don’t have the resources for it don’t do it.
We can try to fill the void with foreign players but we can’t afford high-quality foreign players, we can’t even afford to keep many of our own high-quality players, so i feel this strategy is a bit of a dead-end. the rebels have been trying it for 10 years and it hasn’t gone too well so far
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
Because the Brumbies makes the most strategic sense. The Brumbies operate in a town of 395,000 people most of whom are rugby league fans. Giving the brumbies exposure to Victoria would put a high-quality side in an expansion state (which is what expansion needs to succeed). It would also give the brumbies access to a mass financial market. the Brumbies major sponsor is pluss500 – a retail training company no one has ever heard of. exposure to the Melbourne market could give brumbies access to super funds or mining company’s (high end sponsors). It could secure the financial future of the brumbies and promote the game in Victoria, all the while consolidating resources and talent.
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
My mistake re stacy iLi, in particular, saw his Wikipedia and assumed he was from NZ. I didn’t consider the injuries much when making the claim that they are using foreigners to fill their starting 15. however I still think the fact that the rebels (and force) are using foreign players to fill their roters is an indicator that there is an oversupply of professional rugby contracts In Australia and that cutting a team would consequently not have drastic ramifications in terms of limiting oppertunities for high-quality local players.
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
True Olly but the rebels don’t make money. the only profit they have reported was in 2020 and that was because they got so much money from Jobkeeper. If they are not profitable then even if you lose the TV dollars you are still ahead
Consolidate to survive: Five teams must become four if Super Rugby is to survive
Hi Coker, don’t disagree with you at all on monopolies! I believe that although they decentralised the state unions function as mini monopolies (as they are protected from market forces) so although it’s counter intuitive centralising would in effect be breaking up these monopolies
It's time to stop treating the symptoms of Rugby Australia’s illness and get to the cause