I take a little different tack….

Whilst I concede there are clearly some under-performers on the board as evidenced by the state we find Rugby in Australia in today, you cannot escape the FACT that someone, somewhere within RA had the maturity and ability to finally get it right in the appointments of Horne/Nucifora consultancy/Schmidt, and whoever is behind that deserves support and not a clean out.

The reality is that in my view, the NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE is the starting point for where the lunatics stay protected year in year out. It is at the root of the nepotism/jobs for the boys and allowed people who are otherwise qualified/bring value to our game to be kept out. I say abolish the composition of the nominations committee/restructure it and open it up to good people.

Those seat warmers will be quickly found out and in my view, we might be able to have some continuity AND some decent operators on the board…..

Look you know what you say is true…. but I’m sorry I’m not buying into your platform.

At long last SOMEONE within the RA has had the good sense to bring in Horne, Nucifora (as consultant), Schmidt (and Cron by extension)… to right the ship and lets face it… it’s been making heavy weather for too long…..

For my mind, that’s no time to torpedo them so it’s a NO from me….

Now if you actually had concrete proposals that didn’t rely upon sinking the whole thing, including weeding out the snouts in the trough, a comp that the everyday fan could get tribal about, a sustainable funding model (there’s plenty out there), a method to upskill our coaches, a method to poach the very people in the NRL and AFL who undermine Rugby in the schools… you know… a PLAN… then that would make it more than just the political advertorial that you’ve submitted…

Cheers

Noooooooooooooooooooo!!! Seriously? Is there no young bloke playing in club land deserving of a break into the ‘big time’? Is there no local lad at Neddies or UWA that offers more than a 35 year old that got dropped for a reason years ago?

Can we not give SOME young bloke from ANYWHERE in Australia a chance that RA or one of the other clubs has big wraps on as a ‘loan’ or development player?

And people wonder why Aus Rugby is going nowhere sometimes/can’t support 5 teams when we have to recycle on of the 3 amigos?

Stay tuned… Giteau is making a comeback and is going to come in as captain…… 😡

What comes through loud and clear here is respect…
Schmidt is respected by Cron enough that even though he is going to go against his home team, he is answering the call for both his colleague and helping Australia….
I doubt the likes of Eddie Everywhere, Cheika etc would ever get the same response…. I suspect even Rennie would have gotten a polite no…. For my mind, the backroom adults responsible for bringing Schmidt on board for the journey must be quietly happy at seeing the level respect he carries and the doors he opens….
And lets face it, Cron is also politely telling us that the Aussie quality needs to lift in SR as NZ are getting ‘soft’ 😁
I for one am happy that they are here to help… (even if it is just for the short term)…

lol…. I hear ya… my doctor told me to give it away many many years ago as all of the tackling meant my knees were 20 years older than I am… 😁

@ Piru…Have a look at my post above and check out the link…

Check this out… usually from behind and traps tackled players feet…

Have a look at this video from the NFL….

It’s not ‘accidental’ nor is it ‘incidental’….. the tackle usually happens from behind and the hips are deliberately dropped on the players legs. The result is that an unsuspecting player is often caught with a foot trapped in a season ending position.

I have no issue with contact sport and the possibility of injury… but this kind of thing has been outlawed for a reason….

Excellent!! There is finally starting to become an air of respectability around the Wallabies coaching set up.
It shows the back room appointments of Horne and Nucifora give genuine professionals such as Schmidt and now his assistants the confidence to come on board…. this helps the players too… and I sense entitled ‘go through the motions’ types of players will quickly be found wanting….
How adult like is this? And what a huge contrast to the juvenile antics of Eddie Everywhere… although that said I think he was the “coach we had to have” before everyone realised we really do have a problem….

Looks like the Chiefs are going to pick him up as both a wide receiver AND running back role along with special teams kick off returner (new return rules for kick off voted on this week make home a valuable asset)

He is apparently about to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs, the reigning 2 time super bowl champs

But again they messed up with the NRC with ‘manufactured’ teams…. Queensland Country?

Well… I’m a Dallas Cowboys supporter in the NFL, and the Cowboys supporters all say the same thing as Dockers supporters…. “if you want your heart broken / next years champions, be a Cowboys/Dockers supporter” 😁

Disclosure… I used to follow the WEagles 😁

yeah… and the constant stream of Waratah articles on the roar as against virtually none for the Force or Rebels doesn’t exactly help…..

great Article!!
Many have said this for YEARS!…. you need fans to engage and support their CLUB…
Is it any wonder that you know exactly where the Penrith Panthers represent? Or the Manly Sea Eagles? Or Collingwood? Sydney Swans? Richmond? Or the Canterbury Crusaders? Or the Waikato Chiefs? Or the Dallas Cowboys? The Kansas City Chiefs? Manchester City? Tottenham? It’s self evident as in most cases, these are real clubs that evolved into larger competitions and brought their fans and tribalism with them.
Yet in Australia, we have the NSW Waratahs, the Western Force, the Queensland Reds, the ACT Brumbies… only 1 team…. the Melbourne Rebels got it right… yet that disappers as each and every one of them is a manufactured entity with no evolution as a real club.
Don’t get me wrong…. state vs state works and I LOVE the state of origin (it’s an epic battle) but the Super Rugby version of it each year just doesn’t cut it, as it both pretends to be the same yet is again just a manufactured club against a manufactured club.
SoO is epic because people know it’s the best against the best of two strong states…. It wouldn’t last long if it was a comp against the best states around Australia…. yet we do that and call it Super Rugby?
I said a LONG time ago, scrap Super Rugby and start a national competition with the top tier playing internationally…. They do it in the European Champions Cup in addition to their local comps….
What we do here is absolute madness… yet they think if we just put more money in the comp will be ok….

I agree….makes it very hard to argue with people who say we have the depth for 5 teams… at club rugby standard ?

This…. ‘oh my God, we’ve got a coach that now?’…..very sad state of affairs

Love this article….

As ever… with the RA politics (eg Nucifora rejected) you get to a point where it

STOP(s) MAKING SENSE…..

an inconvenient truth? 😁

aaahh…c’mon TWAS… you’ve certainly been guilty of selective recounting….

why don’t you take your (rebel) blinkers off and just read it for what it is?

BEALE… Truth has come out? Innocence?

How about you were in a cubicle with a woman who you shouldn’t have been…. it’s called being married…

Talk about spin….

Geoff, while this is a well written article, you completely ignore the actions of the players themselves and the consequences…

I have been horrified at the tackling ability and skill sets of so many of today’s players…. I mean, how many times do you see a Wallaby making a side on low down tackle with his head IN FRONT of the opposing players knees?

I played both League and Union for many years and was lucky to be taught how to execute front, side and chasing tackles to the point it became a sport within the sport for me…. I averaged 20+ tackles per game over many years and had concussion ONCE (my knees are another story though)… and that was because I MADE the mistake of putting my head on the wrong side, got kneed in the head and fell in the door when I got home….. so I get it…

I understand that players are taught to wrap the ball up etc etc, and lowering the tackle heights would prevent this, but c’mon… how bad is it to watch a Wallaby, the supposed pinnacle in Australia get munched because he has executed a side on tackle with his head in front of the waist? I just cannot believe this sort of thing happens at that level… and as often as it does…

Who is teaching these guys?

It’s the same in NFL… the guys can’t tackle and lead with their helmet each and every day… and then when they’ve done something as mundane as having made a tackle, they run around butting helmets as a show of support/bonding….

If you want Australia to be a world leader, why don’t you campaign on teaching players how to properly tackle, use their feet, stop charging into rucks and leading with their head, you know, personal responsibility….

yes, it’s a contact sport and there will inevitably be head collisions, but I’m sure players would soon take more care/pull their heads in if they were stood down for 7 days after making a dangerous (to them) tackle….

Finally, a passport? My god… as if the government doesn’t already have enough data and info intruding into our lives… and what then? It gets linked to medicare and your insurance in a claim?

If I recall correctly the Western Reds were struggling under a debt load just two years into their existence as a playing team and poor crowds already had them under the pump in their second year…. from memory Super League was a lifeline until they actually went broke within 1 season….

Which does kind of reinforce (no pun intended) my point….

Unfortunately I think it was inevitable….

Regardless of various supporters on here (hi TWAS).. the reality of the Rebels is exactly the same as the Perth REDS… another expensive failure….

Some sports just don’t transplant into other states… WA is not a Rugby/League state and the only thing saving the Force is Twiggy and a large SA and NZ community… which even then is entirely dependent on RESULTS… let’s face the truth…. if Twiggy wasn’t in their corner, how far would the Force get?

I’ve been to many tests in WA where we’ve played SA and the saffas have come out to support their country… it’s great to see but even then, the Force were ripe for relegation or being cut as the local community tired of supporting journeymen (looking at you Giteau) and getting hammered by the Kiwi’s…

The Rebels have been up against it from the get go… AFL, Soccer, League etc… they are so far down the totem pole for the average punter that only the success of the Storm would have made them even viable…

Let’s face it, even the VFL had parochial teams in adjoining suburbs, that today are struggling and face the reality of moving or constant restructure (and in a successful behemoth like the AFL) so that some of those teams finally moved away (eg Swans) or merged… what chance did the the Rebels have in such a crowded market? Regardless of how passionate the Force or Rebels supporters are, they are not big enough in number to propel the club in a crowded market… and never will be…

In my view, I would scrap Super Rugby entirely and go back to a (international) club competition… parochialism is THE ONLY way in this day and age for supporters…. either that or sell the teams to the billionaires…

It doesn’t matter how committed the supporters / vested interests are, unless your team is OWNED by a wealthy billionaire/consortium that can handle a $500k cash flow problem, you are simply moving the deck chairs around.

The sooner RA bites the bullet and sits down with the broadcasters and says hey, this is a zero sum game… you are losing, we are losing, let’s go for broke on eg an international club comp where everyone is ALREADY connected through grass roots, with eg relegation etc just like the Poms and soccer etc, or says ok, Twiggy et al, do you want to BUY the Force and we will just be custodians….?

It works in other countries and other sports…. I’m just spit balling… but if they don’t start to look at doing something new (Super Rugby was new once upon a time)… we are only going to keep marching towards the inevitable….

Australian Rugby is the canary in the coalmine…. i recall and English club or two going under also….

It’s time to look farther afield at what works and start from scratch in Australia….

NFL? 😁 Impress him?…. next man up….

Thank you Christy…..

If I was in his shoes I’d be a little wary as well… it probably allows both parties to approach the future from positions of respect and desire to move forward as opposed to contractual obligation (reminds me of an album…)

Certainly shows one marto to be a prat….

I guess the next question/to do is what is the position of the SR clubs on centralization and it’s implementation, although that’s probably in Nucifora’s wheelhouse….