Mate, how can they be both the top Australian team and end the season in 7th/8th?
You’re saying that Drua will be ahead of all Australian sides which I think is unlikely, that Highlanders will improve from 9th to top 5 and that Moana will probably come from 15th to top 7/8.
An Australian team will be top 5 at the end of the regular season, it will probably be the Brumbies. I’d back them to finish 3/4 and have a home QF. Chiefs and Saders clear standouts with Brumbies, Blues and Hurricanes the next best.
White is a loss, but I’d have had Lonergan starting over him most of last year and definitely this year. Samu hurts but Reimer, Scott and Hooper cover that respectably. The Lord is the biggest loss but he’s working with Ben Mowen, Johnny Uliaga and helping mentor the new coaches.
My real issue with the Brumbies lineup is having Ollie Sapsford, Tamati Tua and Austin Anderson as three of the four centres because they’re all NZ players so the Brumbies don’t even have an Australian 12 in the squad, it’s a position of weakness for the Wallabies so if the top Australian side isn’t developing a Wallabies eligible player there it’s an issue.
I’m not anti hiring NZ players but we need to develop guys. Swap one of those three with a young Australian 12 would be bad for the Brumbies right now but good for Australian rugby overall.

Did Brumby Jack spew in your handbag after beating the Tahs one day?

Cheika and Larkham working together…….

There’s history there, IMO that didn’t work and would continue to not work because they have very different philosophies on how to play the game.

When Larkham was Cheika’s attack coach it always felt like Cheika was selecting the team to play his way while Larkham was trying to coach them to play his way so the gameplan simply didn’t suit the players.

Personally I wouldn’t bring Cheika back. If I did I wouldn’t put Larkham with him. We need a team builder, Cheika isn’t that coach IMO, most importantly we need an entire coaching structure pulling in the same direction.

I’d also say none of McKellar, White and Cheika would come back as an assistants they would all be only available for the head coach role so only one of those three would be an option. Larkham unlikely to come back as an assistant if Cheika was head coach but I think a possibility with White or McKellar.

Having said all that I would only have White from those four as head coach of a team in the Wallabies current position.

Issue is that there are a significant number of players that went to the RWC nowhere near the form of players who were left behind. First example – Ikitau, a contender for best 13 in the world, left at home with Petaia, a winger who had a couple games at 15 playing totally out of position.

I totally agree, the form players of SRP should be the guys making the bulk of the Wallabies. So about a third to a half of the 2023 RWC squad should not have been there on form.

You have some really wrong numbers there mate, Debraz started 6 Games for the Brumbies this year, Lolesio started 10.
In three of Debraz starts Lolesio was out injured. In one Lolesio was on “Wallabies Rest” a bit ridiculous considering the other Aussie teams were exempt from having to rest players. In the other two Lolesio was coming back from Concussion, playing limited minutes in the first one then 50 off the bench in the second one.
I’d say signing Debraz was a really good move from Larkham to get an experienced 10 in the squad, something all Aussie SR teams lack. I’d also say Larkham has backed Lolesio both by picking him for every game he’s available and publicly questioning EJ on his non selection before TRC.

I would assume that the teams are still expected to ID and develop the players coming through their systems, that they then make an offer to the players under their salary cap however when the player signs their employer is RA, not a specific team.

This would mean that the teams still have the overall roster and selection to themselves. RA would only really get involved when Melbourne said – Hey we have this really good young 9 in our system but no space in our roster for another 9 does anyone want this lad on their books? Or if it was obvious that the best two hookers in the country were on the same side and stopping each other getting game time, even 2 of the best 3, in that position RA might say to the side, hey you’re holding back the development of player A and Player B which one do you want most because we’re going to offer the other one a spot in a different side.

At the end of the day the Players still have to be able to make the final decision on where they play, RA can’t force them to play for a team they don’t want to be in.

Of course that could still be manipulated, but your comment is exactly why the Reds and Brumbies are correct to sign nothing with RA until there is a sufficient level of detail around how Centralisation will work.

I completely agree, not just Pasitoa. Burey, Stewart and Kuenzle are all better 10 options than Donaldson IMO. I don’t think he makes the Force bench except through injury.

There’s no way I’d give Donaldson first crack simply based on being the incumbent in a Wallabies team that was poorly coached and played poorly.

IMO his 2023 SRP form didn’t merit selection in the first place. He needs to start every week at 10 and shine next year to get close to the Wallabies squad, let alone start. Donaldson has started against the Welsh twice, the first time he was pulled when the Wallabies were losing badly then Lolesio had a very good game and got us over the line. The second was in the RWC where we lost 40-6. I’d be happy to give whoever steps up in SRP 2024 first crack, if that’s Donaldson fine, but he doesn’t deserve to start the next one just because he started the last one.

Time will tell, but I think Donaldson is a journeyman player, always useful on the roster however won’t be good enough to start anywhere. I reckon he would have been better off at the Rebels with less backup to Gordon and Kellaway meaning he’d be at least on the bench every week.

I actually don’t think Donaldson is a good buy for the Force at all. Max Burey, Reesjan Pasitoa, Hamish Stewart and Bayley Kuenzle are all as good or better 10s than Donaldson. Chase Tiatia and Max Burey are both better 15s with Harry Potter also having the skills for the position and likely a better choice.

Donaldson is a solid player, but I don’t see him starting many games next year and I’m not sure he will make the bench most weeks either.

Swain had two yellow this year, both for cynical play rather than foul play. It doesn’t really matter if it’s foul play or not from the perspective of him costing his team 10 minutes at least once every 10 games.

After Swain, Swinton and Latu the next biggest discipline issues in Australian rugby are carded once in about every 17/18 games.

I’m a Brumbies fan and I would prefer Swain out of the Brumbies 23 let alone the Wallabies, he just carries too much risk. Having said that, Hill should have been Red carded twice for his actions towards Swain before Swain got red for the headbutt. That card should never have happened.

Unfortunately it’s both of them.

Two talented players that can’t keep themselves on the field. Both carry too much risk to have in a match day 23 for the Wallabies regardless how good they are. Swain has 7 yellow and 2 red from 82 games. Swinton 4 yellow and 2 red from 55 games.

Neither of these guys should be in consideration for the Wallabies unless they can put in a full season with no cards.

Sorry mate, I didn’t mean you can’t count. I meant either the reporter or the unions can’t count. The article says 9 but the numbers definitely add up to 10.

I’d actually really enjoy an empty suit corporate type whose name I don’t know sitting quietly in whatever state they’re from and making some decisions that will benefit the sport a lot more than the very full suit corporate type screaming loudly that his plan is the only way while completely ignoring the fact he hasn’t told anyone his plan and most of us are pretty sure he doesn’t actually have one.

It’s a sad state of affairs in Rugby that more Australians would be able to recognize McLennan and Jones than those who would recognize an actual Wallabies player.

Neither, it was Bill Pulver. Happened before Castle got the job.

I think someone can’t count.

QLD 3 + ACT 2 + WA 2 + SA 1 + Tas 1 + NT 1 = 10.

As far as I can see they have 10 and are confident of an 11th which is probably RUPA giving the 2/3 majority.

There’s a few bits in this, The Brumbies part is obviously a concern because if RA decide to move them out of Canberra that would be a massive blow to the community game in the ACT and Southern NSW. Why do you think they’re so adamant about remaining in Canberra?

The reason the Reds would end up paying to improve the Tahs (as an example) is that the likelihood of equal salary shares across the unions is low, NSW and QLD being most likely fed the lions share of players – not unfair given they produce the lions share of players, but leaving the other 3 teams operating on (making up numbers, because nobody knows the answer) probably 1+ million dollars less of salary.

The Reds are profitable at the moment, sure they haven’t always been but right now they’re doing well financially where other sides aren’t. So money that the Reds would have been putting into Queensland Rugby to produce players and pathways would end up going to NSW, ACT, WA and Melbourne to prop up the professional game.

My judgement of RA’s ability to manage finances is that we would see more money in the professional game and less in the community game which is exactly the opposite of where dollars need to be spent to build long term success.

Centralisation needs to be done in a way that develops the underpinnings of the current system. Not done in a way that brings an even greater top down approach.

Sure, I’m jumping to conclusions. Everyone is. Until RA actually tell people what the plan is, which from all reports including NSWRU speaking after they agreed, there isn’t a plan yet, there’s only one way to reach any conclusion. That’s to jump.

Ok, to some degree a fair point, but can you let me know how the clubs will fund the community game if they have no income? Because RA haven’t explained that part at all.

IMO the centralisation of contracts and high performance needs to happen, clubs should then be sending the money to meet the salaries to RA if the pay is coming down to everyone from them but giving RA all the money and total ownership would crush the community game, there’s very little chance most unions would see enough to actually support the game.

I’d also be questioning the RA top ups and salary cap if RA have total control because if RA is paying everyone then no need for top ups outside the cap. Would all teams get an equal share of the players by salary? Doubtful. So teams like the Reds who actually earn money would be seeing that money spent on improving the Waratahs while the Perth and Canberra club competitions die without any money going in.

Yet as reported about a month ago the Brumbies asked for a written guarantee which would have secured increased funding from the ACT government costing RA nothing, RA refused to give it……

I certainly wouldn’t accept a verbal guarantee from Waugh as worth anything. Hamish has shown he can, and will, unilaterally make any decisions he sees fit.

I’d also say that RA have proven many times that a written contract is worth nothing to them, so there’s absolutely no chance I would sign up for anything that involves handing over the IP of the franchise to RA control if I was any state outside NSW.

I don’t necessarily think it’s sandbagging. Done right it would have benefits to all teams and players. Currently Force have Stewart, Donaldson, Burey, Pasitoa and Kuenzle on their books all wanting to play 10 and all showing some decent potential l. Australia would be much better off having one of these guys at the Reds, one at the Rebels and one at the Brumbies where they would probably see more game time. Rebels have TT, Pone and Talakai next year while Reds and Force barely have a THP. Brumbies a couple years ago had FF, Lonergan, Pollard and McInerney. Three of them in the Wallabies frame at the time yet none of the other sides had a second string hooker who was particularly good. Central contracting would prevent this hoarding and get these guys on the field every week. Central High Performance and Strength and Conditioning would (hopefully) lower the injury toll by improving the training at all clubs. It would give a layer of external oversight preventing players with minor injuries being used because there’s nobody to put in from that position in that club, less likely guys are being rushed back too quickly because more likely there’s a solid backup.

I don’t really trust RA to do it right though.

With RA now having total control over NSWRU you need 12 of the 13 votes that aren’t already counted.

Sadly it’s highly unlikely the states can pull this off.

Not only does Rugby Australia want to take control of on-field operations, but it also wants the commercial and corporate functions and the Brumbies’ intellectual property.

This includes the Super Rugby licence held by the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union.

RA can terminate the licence on certain grounds, one being financial but it’s held by the club. The IP being referred to is the name and Logo of the clubs which is wholly owned by the state unions.

When the Force were kicked out, SANZAAR who were the governing body of SR at the time made the decision to reduce teams, RA had no choice but to get rid of one. That was the Force largely because that was the only SR licence RA owned and they took control of the Force when they bailed them out a couple years earlier. The Brumbies/Rebels merger was floated which in reality was renaming the Rebels as Brumbies and having them in Melbourne. Brumbies were able to get that shut down really quickly by refusing to allow RA to take the name and logo from their state union, this left RA with no choice in what team to bin as the Force were the only one they had the power to bin.

SRP is governed by RA and NZRU, NZ have been trying to get a separate board to govern SRP since it started and RA keep agreeing but not actually allowing this to happen. The cynic in me says that’s partially because if they allow that to happen they lose the ability to terminate a licence, that’s a choice for the new board.

I would imagine RA controls the logos and naming rights of the teams.

This is incorrect and is a big part of what the ACT and QLD unions are fighting against RA taking control of.

Larkham would be unlikely to break contract at least. He’d probably see out 2024 with the Brumbies alongside Wallabies given its the last year of his contract anyway if he gets the nod.

But I agree, while Hamish remains why would any coach want to sign on?