Rumours are RA has been spending big on Ozempic for coaching and other staff based at HQ. Apparently where all the money’s gone.

Knowing our luck he’ll go to Wales, lead them through a successful coaching and centralisation revolution and in ten years we’ll be begging him to come back.

If he was a mature professional he would’ve said “I’m passionate about surpassing my agreed KPIs and deliverables at an individual level so as to help the organisation successfully achieve its broader aims as outlined in the mission statement documented in the Tah 2030 Strategic Plan that was distributed to all of our stakeholders prior to Round One.” I’m lost, is this supposed to be footy or LinkedIn? Let’s take this offline and we can circle back on it.

Good on him. Hope he has a cracker.

Leigh Clifford oversaw the progressive decline and gutting of Qantas when he and Joyce were at the helm. All that peerless heavy maintenance expertise trimmed and sent off shore and a massive drop in service and reputation. He’s not content with killing the reputation of one Australian brand now he wants to help twist the knife on Australian Rugby? And for what? I want the Rebels to be successful and for Rugby to thrive in Melbourne but the management there needs to point the finger at the mirror. The crowds have been continually woeful despite playing some pretty entertaining rugby. If RA transferred them $8m tomorrow, where’s the change in strategy to earn the remaining $12m or so and build enough positive cashflow to stay sustainably in the black. I’m an optimistic person but I just can’t see how it can be done short of tricking Toorak that the Demons are playing.

Yeah I noticed that too which is strange given they’ve just launched a new League pod too which had a video component. The podcast page on TheRoar.com.au is rarely updated too. But it’ll come up in your podcast feed if you have one and are subscribed to it.

No, he is not at fault. You said “Almost” at a point. So they weren’t in VA at the time.

Again, the manager wasn’t the one who urinated the Rebels’ cashflow up against a wall.

It is not his responsibility to limit his submission of invoices to a period in which the Rebels were in the black. The Rebels said they’d pay X in order for Daugunu to sign on. If they can’t pay as agreed, he has a right to not play.

Getting a Wallaby-level outside centre is not a basic human right. If the Rebels were in need of a feed I would have more sympathy. They are responsible for their own finances and subsequent inability to pay. No-one else.

I read the article. I understand the predicament that they can’t prioritise creditors but that’s not Daugunu nor his manager’s fault.

Even if he put in his invoice earlier, who’s to say they would have been able to pay it then. News started to arise around this before December and it’s feasible that he only started to move down there in November and his family may have only just moved down there. There is no requirement for his manager to have filed before a particular time so it’s a completely moot point.

If my clients don’t pay me the previously-agreed amount for services rendered I don’t lift a finger for them again until they do. How they find the money is not my problem. If they owe me money I don’t work, especially if it appears like their pockets are going to remain empty for the foreseeable future.

This is all the doing of the Rebels’ mismanagement and no-one else.

Was there a deadline on the lodging of paperwork that you’re aware of?

If you say you’re going to pay a fee for an item then you can’t be flummoxed when someone sends you an invoice for it be it one day after the event or a month.

If Daugunu is saying that he won’t play because the relocation fee hasn’t been paid, doesn’t that imply that the Rebels have failed to pay in a reasonable timeframe? If VA was triggered in late Jan, then it’s been at least more than 45 days since paperwork has been lodged. 14-30 days is a reasonable period, especially for a disbursement where someone has incurred their own costs (relocation) in order to provide you with a service (training and playing to help earn you attendance and other revenue).

Sure, maybe the agent could have sent paperwork sooner but it’s not germane to whether the Rebels should have to pay something they’ve promised the player.

This relocation fee would have been part of the complete package to entice him to sign. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to the Rebels to have this invoice hit their inbox.

The agent submitted the paperwork before VA. Do you know the cut-off date for submitting this invoice? He may have relocated for pre-season with family joining him later with all the costs that may have incurred.

Ultimately, it’s irrelevant when the paperwork was submitted. It’s part of the overall remuneration agreed with the Rebels and, as you say, it was submitted prior to VA anyway.

If the Rebels said they’d pay an agreed relocation fee then that’s on them for offering a financial perk they couldn’t come good on.

Daugunu and his manager are likely using this as a tactic to be released to find a better offer. I’m sure a lot of other players with uncertain futures are looking for opportunities to do the same. They’re entitled to pursue options that are in their best interest. If the Rebels didn’t want to be in this position they should have managed their finances more competently and not offered financial terms they couldn’t have seen through. Aside from the disputed $11m they say is owed to them from RA, they’re still reportedly a further $10m or so in the red, so why did they feel so comfortable to offer these additional sums.

Good on him. He has a right to withhold his labour if his employer is not paying him what they agreed. It’s no small thing to relocate to a new city. It’s not his fault the franchise has been so mismanaged that they’re in the red.

There’s a spectrum in which refs can choose to enforce or not enforce rules. SRP refs have had a discussion and they’re making 9s use it much quicker than in previous seasons. I’m stoked about that. They’re quickening up the ruck speed and I think it’s better for the game as a spectacle. Way told him to use it twice. He got ample warning.

Yeah I think it’s helpful in a way for people to see the impact/collision to solidify why World Rugby is cracking down so heavily on tackle height, cards etc. There’s always going to be errors around consistency but WR and SRP are on the right track with the mouthguards and protocols.

To your point about gawking at injuries, does anyone remember Origin about 20 years ago when Mick DeVere got a gash on his forehead stapled up on the dead ball line? Eek. Still gets plenty of replay around Origin season every year.

The Tahs looked their best at the latter 15-20 minutes of the game when they gave up their directionless kicking game from the back and Nawaqanitawase started running it back into traffic and then they just held the ball in hand as long as they could.

They’re probably stellar at playing fast and close on the training paddock but they need more in-game stretches like that to solidify those skills and work up double-digit phases without errors. Thought it really started to bear some fruit (just small berries at this stage) when they got into a rhythm so hopefully they give that another workout in coming games.

Evolution on the pitch. Revolution in the boardroom.

Yeah no FTA was a massive mistake and re Super Rugby, if you were designing a for-profit comp from scratch, I wouldn’t be setting it up so that you’d need players flying 15-17 hours to play regular round matches. Such a massive cost burden before you even get a bloke on the park.

RA needs to accept they’re in the entertainment game. Look to darts for inspiration. They ham up the personalities and make them cult figures. Give people a good arvo out. Feed them beer and get food trucks on the hill. You don’t need a massive media buy and a multi-million dollar M&C Saatchi ad campaign to do it (nor taking Randwick V Easts to Vegas just yet). Shute and Hospital games are a good day out. We just need that but scaled up a bit so we can get 10k+ through the gates. A dependable revenue generator with a low cost base so RA can start piling up some pesos rather than throwing them out the door.

There’s also the weird friction and animosity between two sports that are so close together that most of the world thinks they’re the same sport. 1908 happened more than 100 years ago. When can we all get over it? There’s plenty of time in the weekend to enjoy both.

Yeah there’s plenty more broadcasters and RA could be doing to improve fan outreach and engagement without touching the rules. The product is proven in so many other major markets. RA and Stan need to doll it up, actually advertise it and get it on free to air where new audiences can actually see it exists.

Revive the career aspect of it and link Super Rugby teams up with banks and consulting firms like the Japan League One teams are half pros and half company men. Kellaway’s a trained economist so he’ll fit right in at the UBS NSW Waratahs. Carter Gordon seems like a kid with his head screwed on right. He’d make a handy auditor from Mon-Wed and a stable pivot at the back end of the week for the EY Melbourne Rebels.

Rumours in the Yomiuri Shimbun that he’s going to appoint former Seattle submarine pitcher Shunsuke Watanabe as scrum coach. The difficulties of moving to a non Rugby League playing nation.

Yeah I don’t think there are many. Everyone I can think of is over 25 except for Reece Walsh, who I’m sure would do well. Maybe Farnworth too.

Unfortunately all the money that’s coming in is via loans or already earmarked to cover loans. Geez I hope Phil and the newbies at RA have a few carwashes and lemonade stands on the calendar to get some more cash through the door.

There are no sure bets on NRL starts transitioning to Union, even in the once dependable outside backs. Vunivalu hasn’t lit the world on fire (although he had a decent showing against the Chiefs) and RTS and Benji Marshall show the line breaks aren’t as easy to come by when the defensive line is right on you when you get the ball. Koroibete has been stellar but I can’t think of any NRL younguns that would be a guaranteed success if they made the switch. Above 25, I’d still take Murray and Crichton for 12 stocks.

That’s not to say League is worse than Union or vice versa. They’re different games and some punters (present company excluded) probably underestimate the difficulty to switch between them.

I think the revival of the code war BS last year has been so damaging to Rugby in Australia. Fox and Nine commentators bloviating endlessly about how “slow and boring” rugby is and that purse-lipped Mosman-based bean counter banging on about Leaguies not being able to see France etc.

All it’s done is cause friction between fans of either code and turn off those in the middle that perhaps prefer NRL but don’t mind watching a bit of rugby whenever it managed to slip through to Free-to-Air or they found the one pub in Sydney and Brisbane that had Stan.

Whilst I despise what the NRL is trying to achieve here with their poaching fund to lure the few rugby-loving athletes they didn’t nab out of the GPS/CAS system, RA has to take the blame here. They’ve hid this popular sport (that’s thriving around the world and continuing to grow in many markets including the US, Japan, France, Ireland, South Africa etc.) from the Australian public for two decades. They don’t advertise properly. They put no investment into game-day experience and there’s no strategy to increase ancillary revenue like NRL clubs have with their Leagues Clubs.

Rugby is a great game that lots of people genuinely prefer to play and watch. I think that being able to play in front of 80,000 loud Frenchies belting out the Marseillaise is a unique experience that isn’t matched by being able to afford a holiday to Paris, but RA needs to clean house and find more drawcards than that to win back players and fans.

Rugby League has gone through its rough patches in the past 20 years with 4000 fans at an 80,000 seat Homebush to watch the Bulldogs being a common occurrence 10 years ago. They’ve tweaked the game and learnt how to market it properly with a public facing hype machine in the form of Fox and Nine telling their audiences how amazing everything is. Which I have no problem with. That’s their job. RA needs to learn those lessons too.

Sorry I meant to imply in an ideal situation there would be a common salary cap. Yeah I think it’s all too difficult with SRP, unlike the NRL, as there’s All Black and Wallaby top ups, the need to have eligible players on your own side of the ditch and the Fijian-only Drua and Samoan-Tongan Moana components make it far too difficult to finesse it. And fair point over who takes credit for development too

I think for the competitiveness of the comp overall, a common salary cap is important. Although the need to have All Black and Wallaby eligible players playing for their domestic sides complicates things. If the Reds are financially successful and are able to produce a good conveyor belt of talent, they should be compensated by the clubs that buy Reds-developed players down the track. The same should apply to Crusaders etc. I think this system may apply in the NRL with Penrith doing a lot of work developing an abundance of talent – although that might possibly have been discussed but not adopted.

Hopefully any excess cash that may result can be invested into building a bigger grassroots talent base. Although talking about excess cash in an Australian context is unfortunately very much a hypothetical at this stage.