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The Reds’ 41-7 victory over the Waratahs on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium was a promising start for Brad Thorn’s values-based coaching project at Ballymore, one that the Reds faithful all fervently hope will lead to rewards in terms of silverware.
I was reviewing the Waratah’s team selection prior to tomorrow night’s game at Suncorp Stadium, savouring a pre-game gloat about the obvious superiority of the Queensland Reds.
The news that our captain, Liam Wright, is injured and out of Super Rugby AU for ten weeks, stinks.
I’ve got a joke for you.
Playing dual openside flankers in Australian rugby is a practice dating back to at least as early as when George Smith and Phil Waugh played together under Eddie Jones, coinciding with when Australia stopped winning Bledisloe and the Rugby World Cup.
I remember interviews with Brad Thorn in his early coaching career with Queensland, where it struck me that he referred to his players as “men”.
As Brad Thorn would put it about his former teams the Crusaders and the Broncos as well as rugby league in general, I am “quite fond” of the Brumbies.
The late founder of the American Kenpo system of self-defence, Senior Grand Master Ed Parker, had a saying: you should “fight the taekwondo man in a telephone box”.
The Queensland Reds had a promising start to the Super Rugby AU season with two wins and a draw in the first three matches, but they then suffered a 20-22 loss against the Brumbies in Canberra.
Sitting overlooking the try line in the northeast corner of Suncorp Stadium on Friday night, I was looking forward to the Queensland Reds and Western Force play some great attacking rugby before my eyes.
Friday night will be my first Reds game for Super Rugby AU and I will be watching two teams of fighters who bring that combative passion to the game.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that somebody in the New Zealand Rugby Union has leaked information that the NZRU board wants a new trans-Tasman rugby competition, featuring all the Kiwi Super Rugby teams but a couple less of the Aussie ones.
The Red’s 32-26 win over the Waratahs on Friday night was a fitting end of to seven years in purgatory for Queensland Rugby.
There is a lot of buzz around the mooted All Blacks-Kangaroos hybrid rugby match on 5 December, 2020 and if the game helps fill the coronovirus-depleted coffers of those teams, then good for them.
Izack Rodda, Harry Hockings and Isaac Lucas’ decision to refuse the Australia-wide COVID-19-related player pay cut, thus igniting a chain of events leading to the cancellation of their Queensland Reds contracts, is a situation that demands action from Rugby Australia.
In the latest episode of the world’s longest running soap opera, Rugby Administration in Australia, a heroic group of former Wallabies captains and a benevolent global media conglomerate have fought a successful battle to keep the Kiwis out of Aussie rugby.
Legendary Reds and Wallabies prop, the late Stan Pilecki, was once attributed with the following quote, pre-match in the Wallabies’ dressing room.
The Reds’ 64-5 flogging of the Sunwolves at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night provided some assurance to Reds fans that the promise the Reds showed during the three courageous losses at the beginning of the season can translate into spectacular wins.
Late last year I wrote a story about how, in light of a more hopeful future for Australian rugby, the media should concentrate more on the game and less on the corporate machinations behind it.
Former international bodybuilding champion, Hollywood actor and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a speech a few years ago, where in four words he showed why he has been successful at everything he has ever done. Those words were: I hate Plan B.
Thanks Nick, interesting read. What you describe represents an interesting change in roles for Stewart and Paisami, because last season Stewart did more playmaking with Paisami being the recipient. The try just before the 2 minute mark on this clip demonstrates.
https://www.google.com/search?q=highpighta+reds+force&oq=highpighta+reds+force&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.10285j0j7&client=ms-android-telstra-au&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#
O’Connor talked of the Reds having several games to switch to in matches in the presser, it will be interesting to see whether both styles of play in the centres feature this season.
Coach's Corner issue 1: Can the Reds midfield step up for Australia?
To capitalise on the chaos at the Broncos and attract their supporters to Rugby.
Former Storm star Vunivalu set for Reds Super Rugby debut
There are several other possibilities for when he eventually gets a run, a straight swap with a winger, bench Paisami and move Petaia in one or bench Campbell and move Petaia to Fullback. Horan is an advocate of the last approach and O’Connor did mention that Petaia has been working on his kicking game, so it could work well.
Why Jim McKay is the best attack coach in Australian rugby
Stewart is the best 12 they have available, he has the all round defensive, breakdown, passing and kicking game to make him a perfect anchor for the back line in that position. Put Paisami there and shift Petaia in to accommodate Vunivalu and it just adds one more running threat in a team with plenty already, but all the other things Stewart brings. Vunivalu is on the bench on Friday which is appropriate when the Reds already have excellent wingers. Let him play his way into the starting side.
Why Jim McKay is the best attack coach in Australian rugby
You are right, I had Stewart mixed up with Lucas who McKay coached at 10 with City. My bad but yes, they did use Country to turn him into a 12.
Why Jim McKay is the best attack coach in Australian rugby
They’ll most likely be back up near the salary cap when Hooper comes home next year. Needing to accommodate him is most likely the reason they cant recruit.
Why Jim McKay is the best attack coach in Australian rugby
I tried so hard to think of a candidate for that joke, but you win by nominating AJ, JD.
Why Jim McKay is the best attack coach in Australian rugby
I’d say Stewart is secure at 12 for the Reds. Thorn rated him for his physical toughness back in 2017 when he started at fly half and Stewart demonstrated emotional toughness as well, by not dropping the bottom lip when he was usurped at 10 by Lucas then O’Connor. McKay then retrained him at 12 when he coached Brisbane City in the NRC. For the coaches to put so much work into Stewart strongly suggests how highly he is thought of.
Why Jim McKay is the best attack coach in Australian rugby
Great article thanks Nick. McKay has done a masters thesis on attacking rugby and has published this journal article.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327471549_Practicing_Unstructured_Play_in_Team_Ball_Sports_A_Rugby_Union_Example
I’ve been meaning to get to a library with academic access so I can read it, but I thought you might be interested.
Why Jim McKay is the best attack coach in Australian rugby
That is a false dichotomy, people will be encouraged to participate in rugby when they see elite success. Australians love watching their teams win and Aussie kids want heroes to emulate and for that the Wallabies need to perform well.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
This holier than though “but I support club rugby” rubbish is just that, rubbish. It no more entitles you to an opinion on the matter than anybody else.
I and many others have supported the type of rugby that I enjoy watching, Super and Test rugby, to the tune of thousands of dollars over the years. Except you won’t hear me trying to make out that my opinion is special because I part with my discretionary income to watch elite footy, because I am honest enough to admit that I do it for recreation.
If you enjoy supporting club rugby then good luck to you, like you you are entitled to do what you want with your spare time, but please stop carrying on like you are slaving away for a charity raising money for starving orphans in the third world. Club rugby supporters are also doing what the too are doing what you do for recreation. If you lose the self important need for to pretend that amateur club footy can do what it cannot, attract spectators like the elite game can, you might find yourself worrying less and enjoying life even more.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
From Mr Shute Shield himself at the time.
“Brett Papworth backs ARU plan to divert Super Rugby funds to grassroots but questions if money will materialise
BRETT Papworth has applauded the ARU’s pledge to pour millions into community rugby via the savings from one less Super Rugby team — but he questions if the money will materialise”
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/rugby/brett-papworth-backs-aru-plan-to-divert-super-rugby-funds-to-grassroots-but-questions-if-money-will-materialise/news-story/716060705577bb031db784cfd7af5014
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
The Force were cut because of pressure from within the Sydney rugby community, which resented the ARU’s investment in Western Australia and which wanted the savings invested in community rugby. The ARU Chair at the time gave that explicit reasoning, I know because I wrote several articles on the issue. That reality is basically the opposite of your understanding of the loss of the Force, which was and thankfully is again a great pathway for the Wallabies, which is enjoyed by the people of Western Australia.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
You have proved my point about the importance of a decent standard of competition for players to progress. You don’t become a Super Rugby standard prop packing down against amateurs in club rugby.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
None of those comparisons of attendances matter a jot compared to achieving good attendances at Wallabies matches for $200 a ticket, as well as a solid broadcasting rights deal. Because that is where the real money in Aussie rugby is made and it only comes from a competitive national team. Hence development pathways being an absolute priority.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
Mate, you need to get out of your bubble, Aussie Rugby fans will pay to watch winning teams, it is in our national DNA. The tiny minority who follow Shute Shield and who are are huffy about their loss of historical relevance, are commercially insignificant. That comp wouldn’t need to use politics to get its way in RA if the market was there, it would have been a successful commercial proposition long ago.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
The NRC hasn’t devalued club rugby in Australia, to the contrary it provides an avenue for the best club rugby players to become professionals. That is the point of competitive sport, for people to be their best through competition, and the clubs that are producing these players are undoubtedly proud when they go on to bigger things.
Also the last RA annual report noted that 92% of the players who participated found the NRC to be a positive experience, a pretty clear endorsement from the people in this discussion who really matter. They shouldn’t be held back by those vested in maintaining a culture of mediocrity in Aussie rugby.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
You need to read the comments to see that your assertion that all of Sydney Rugby opposes the NRC. Thank goodness that there are still Sydney rugby supporters who are committed to returning NSW rugby to its former glory through modern pathways, rather than have it wallow in the mediocrity that inevitability follows capture by privileged and entitled hangers on. Hangers on who most likely lack and resent the talent of the pros they would deny a proper pathway to. I hope the good guys win.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
Australia won those two World Cups over 20 years ago in the amateur era, comparing how that happened then to what is happening now is ridiculous. So is comparing the AFL and NRL to rugby, neither of those sports face international competitors as good as New Zealand and South Africa are at rugby, both of which have development comps.
Tupou is a great example of why the NRC is good, he may have been a YouTube star when he came to Queensland but he couldn’t scrummage. The work with the QRU coaches in the NRC allowed them to work on that, far more easily than having to coordinate with the schedules of nine clubs to find a scum for him to pack in.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
They wouldn’t need to have recruited had they been developing their own players. Had they done so might have done better without those big names anyway, because the “stars” couldn’t even make the finals last year.
Anyway, since it sounds like most of the current squad wouldn’t be travelling with the Wallabies but would be on the payroll anyway, would it even be very expensive for NSW to field an NRC team? It sounds to me like the would be up for travel costs alone, between sponsors, donors and a bit of help from RA, something should be able to sort out something.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
Tupou, Dauganu and Petiea were all developed in the NRC, as were the entire Reds squad on Friday night save O’Connor and Hegarty, and Hegarty has played there too. Vunivalu didn’t play. To suggest that the NRC made no difference defies logic.
As for the Tahs financial predicament, had they developed their own players and benefitted from them playing for rookie wages, rather than paying market rates for developed players like Simmons, Stsniforth and Hunt, the books might be in better shape.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
They might not have thought of it, the only bit of creative financing we have seen in Aussie Rugby in recent times was the “Own the Force” scheme, the big ideas aren’t exactly coming out of RA. By contrast to Own the Force, getting a guarantor for a loan at about 1.5% isn’t that much of a leap.
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
The Tahs could always leave Super Rugby for now, build up in the NRC and come back in a couple of years. It worked for the Force ….
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
“Define ‘did well’?”
Pushed a lot off opposing scrums off the mark, ran metres in tight, won at the breakdown etc, etc, you know, the usual stuff that define a performance of a rugby pack. But then you have to actually watch games instead of engaging in statistical sophistry to see that. .
Is it time to reconsider dumping the National Rugby Championship?
I agree Petaia is best on the wing too, his outstanding sense of positional play is wasted at 13. He is a genuine roving winger and is best used as such. I think he could be a good 15, but might feel constrained by the “by the numbers” defensive/playmaking/ kicking elements of the role.
Coach's Corner issue 1: Can the Reds midfield step up for Australia?