Roar Rookie
Joined August 2017
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Loves to pull out the back, chop low and jam hard. And gardening.
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With each new generation of Australian Rugby leadership ushered in, the hope of rugby fans nation wide is momentarily ignited, before of course the…
Rugby fans young and old, weathered and wishful, rejoiced nation wide upon the announcement of the return of the Messiah. Joseph Suaalii, a rugby…
As the dust settles on an exhilarating and dramatic Autumn Nations series that offered upsets to ruin weekends around the world - and highlights…
For too long the Wallabies have lived under the narrative of a rebuilding team. They have dreamt of all the things that they could…
On Saturday, 24 April, two of Sydney’s elite all-male private schools, Knox Grammar School and St Joseph's College, ventured deep into what can’t exactly…
At the risk of telling the same story that billions of Aussie rugby fans have told the morning after a big Wallabies loss at…
Amid the chaos of Australian Super Rugby teams scoring two wins from 25 matches against their Kiwi counterparts in the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman series…
Everywhere I look in Australian sports media is negative rhetoric surrounding the state of our great, diverse, globally prevalent and – most importantly –…
As an Australian rugby fan, it seems that these days the focus is on the blight of the game at the professional level, the…
After the decision was made to reduce Australian Super Rugby sides to a count of four, and to cut the Western Force, it's safe…
This is the third article for The Roar I've written in two years, on my third account, because I forgot the username and password…
I agree that there’d need to be some flexibility and some aspects would need to be fleshed out more. Will leave that to management to discuss at their next cocktail & caviar party.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Articles have to be approved once submitted to be published on the roar and I didn’t want to waste my time writing a 2000 word article by throwing Folau’s name in there.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Not a bad position to be in to be able to choose between Gordon, McDermott and White.
I find it interesting how our halfbacks get stereotyped. Tate is a running 9, White is a kicking 9, etc. But I feel like this neglects the players’ other strengths. Whilst Gordon was picked over McDermott last year due to his superior box kick and ability to better execute Rennie’s game plan, he also set Super Rugby alight this year with his running game and proved himself to be the most dynamic halfback in the competition despite playing in a weak side.
Do you have any ideas how Gordon might look to inject more of his running ability into his game for the Wallabies? It seems he plays quite noticeably different for Australia than for NSW.
Great to have you writing on here Will. Don’t go anywhere!
WILL GENIA: Why I'm impressed with Rennie, and how we shape up against All Blacks
Brumbies have become a tight forward factory. Other clubs should take a leaf
Wallabies break six-year series drought on the back of doing little things well
Cheers Brett.
Pretty sure you’re talking about the Giteau’s Law. Just had a quick squiz at the Giteau’s law and under it you could play for the Wallabies if:
You had minimum 60 Test caps for Australia; and
or you played minimum 7 seasons at Super rugby level
The difference with what I’ve written about here is making the process of aussie players signing overseas an explicit agreement in their contract with RA, with the chance for them to play for the Wallabies if they were in this contract. Benefits being alignment of RA and Player interests, giving RA control over quantity of players moving overseas, ability to use other clubs resources to improve our players, etc as discussed.
Re. the need to avoid concurrent contracts with different national unions: I think it probably just depends on which portion of the calendar year these overseas competitions occupy. Japanese Top League seems to coincide with our Super Rugby which is good because that means it’s done by the time internationals roll round. I’m pretty sure the US Major League would also work logistically and could be another good option if the standard of footy is deemed appropriate.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Not sure if the US comp would be the best cauldron to battle harden some of these boys. Maybe it is but I’m just not aware.
On face value I’d definitely prefer them in Super Rugby than in the US.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Regarding these boys – I loved watching all 3 of them play during the French series and last year also.
But I believe hooker is a competitive position and would be happy to see Kaitu’u or Porecki get a shot.
The back row is potentially our position of greatest depth and so I’m not convinced losing Naisarani will hurt our depth too much.
And there’s good depth on the sting as well with plenty of all rounder (Wright, Kellaway) and strike (Daugunu, Petaia) options in the outside backs.
Hopefully they eventually return!
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Yeah the team selected wasn’t really important to the article at all and I agree regarding your assessment of the players’ rankings.
Some of these players such as McMahon have been out of the picture for ages and so would have to earn the jersey back if they were to return.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
The concept could prove fruitful however I’d like to see Angus Bell play for many more years before the conversation of him moving overseas arises.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Rebels have a history of using Japanese players:
Shota Horie was a solid Hooker off the bench for them during the mid 2010s.
More recently, Amanaki Mafi was a standout for them until he got the flick for beating up his team mates one night.
Both were instrumental in Japan’s 2015 and 2019 world cup campaigns.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Don’t get me started on Scott Fardy…
Love the Arnolds too but not sure what you mean regarding Dan Carter.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Agreed. Rassie built a great narrative around their 2019 campaign stemming from the nation’s cultural issues and I think this was able to unite the squad of players from around the world.
Funnily enough I look back on the Wallabies squad and depth throughout the 2010s as probably superior to that of our current squad entering the 2020s. But the attitude and unity of the team seems to have improved drastically under Rennie if you ask me.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
I think the junior pathways are another whole story in a way.
But yeah these alliances effectively allow RA to increase their purchasing power at the end of the day.
Would be great to use this to build towards ’27!
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Yeah again the two extra teams are a different matter altogether, happy to not worry about that.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Can’t say I disagree.
Any thoughts on how the Boks won the World Cup with a squad of players mostly playing for European clubs instead of South African Super Rugby teams? Does pride in the jersey have to constitute playing domestically?
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
The term “Smart Contract” bears no relationship to computer programs of the same name stored on the Ethereum blockchain…
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
I tend to agree with you on the benefits of private equity but it’s not really in the scope of this article, and is certainly a lot more drastic of a change than the concepts proposed here. If it were to happen I think it could definitely help fix many elements of Aussie Rugby but I also think there are many improvements to be made within the constraints of the game’s current financial situation.
With regards to your desire to add two more national teams, that’s something I agree strongly with you on. I think the two country sides would make a huge difference. But this then complicates the crossover tournament which currently fields five kiwi teams. And if you had to guess which of effectively our 7 NRC teams or NZ’s 5 Super Rugby sides would enjoy more wins… I discuss the implications of adding NSW and QLD Country to our domestic competition in my previous article here: https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/07/09/super-rugby-is-obsolete-heres-how-to-fix-it/ (from a non private equity point of view).
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle
Can they try and get Nick Cummins on as a commentator? Unlikely but it could be great.
Seriously
How about a new commentary team to go with a new TV deal?
you definitely raise a few important issues around the financing of SR
State of Union is a disastrous idea
The NRC is essentially the five Super Rugby sides plus NSW and QLD country.
The original NRC had this plus another two Sydney Sides.
Feel like we could be spreading ourselves too thin with this on top of super rugby.
State of Union is a disastrous idea
Agreed. However as long as Super Rugby is our premier competition the point still stands. If the NRC however was to emerge as our premier competition…
State of Union is a disastrous idea
For sure, the contracts don’t have to be taken but could be agreed upon on a case by case basis to suit the situation of all the different players.
Operation McMahon: How Aussie rugby can keep its cattle