I thought Bender was a more ‘complete’ fullback than Cullen…. but my oh my when The Express got motoring there was barely a more exciting sight. The length of the field try he scored against the ‘Tahs in 1996 was freakish. Incidentally it was also the first elite rugby game my wife (girlfriend back then) had ever been to. She’s now a rugby tragic.

I’d like to think that Cullen’s try was part of that, but the truth is she was (and still is) smitten with Matt Burke.

Steven that’s a pretty astute assessment. Whilst he’s a great league player, that’s doesn’t guarantee success at the elite level in rugby (or American football or Aussie rules or …)

It’s not inconceivable that he’ll struggle to get beyond a SRA competition or two, no AB selection, then off to Japanese or French rugby or back to the NRL.

I didn’t know that! But in some ways that makes the team nicknames even worse! How on earth you’d come up with “rays” or “rising” or “aces” or “spirit” …. the mind boggles.

Maybe I’m just an old stick in the mud. Why do teams need daft nicknames any way? I get it when a team has a nickname whose origins are a bit of a mystery and slightly lost in time, the old organic names that have emerged over decades. But starting a new team, just call it what it is and let father time and some dodgy adventures on tour take care of the rest.

And for heaven’s sake go back to plain jerseys.

The comment about concocted teams was in large part correct, at least from a Sydney perspective. Had the ARC then the NRC had teams like “NSW Country” and “Sydney” playing in traditional strips without ludicrous imposed from above team nicknames there might have been more traction.

Another big killer for the ARC and the NRC was the lack of star power – the sides didn’t contain the elite 25-30 players who were under Wallabies management and control.

The Shute Shield clubs have to accept that it’s no longer 1991: club footy is never again going to be the elite level in this country. Something like the NRC, but with real teams, is probably the only feasible outcome.

I think they won a sevens tournament …. that rings a bell. But I am pretty sure it wasn’t the Pilkington Cup.

Wigan slaughtered Bath in the first match under league rules. Bath comprehensively beat Wigan the following weekend under rugby laws.

Yep, and it became uncontested scrums after the 2nd or 3rd scrum under union laws. Farcical. Bath still beat Wigan.

Excuse my ignorance if this has been done and the results known …. has the FFA ever commissioned research (market research I guess) on numbers of:
(1) registered junior football players who regularly attend A League matches;
(2) registered junior football players who regularly attend [AFL / NRL / Super Rugby / BBL / NBL] matches but rarely or never A League matches; and
(3) registered junior [Aus rules / rugby league / rugby union / cricket / basketball] players who regularly attend A League matches.

???

I just can’t help think that despite the stonking number of junior footballers in Australia (genuine registrations, not AusKick or OzTag pseudo numbers) there has never been a great correlation between those junior player numbers (and their families) and NSL or A League attendances.

Again sorry if this is asked and answered, and also apologies if it’s perceived as a stupid question. But it’s always mystified me.

RJ I have a theory about the lack of success in that transition from Penrith juniors to Emus. It’s a theory and might be full of holes ….

I attended all three days of the U15 State Champs last year and ran the touch line in one of the Penrith games. They were State Champs in the U15s but didn’t even field a team in the U16s, if I recall correctly? The U15 team were all huge young fellas, much bigger on average (10kg or more) than just about everyone else. I also believe a lot of them play league. And here’s where my dodgy theory comes in…

If they’re so much bigger, more athletic, more muscular than their 15 year old opponents, the combination of league running lines and power make for some lop-sided matches. But that advantage disappears once they’re playing in opens and older, and some of them will have moved to playing league exclusively.

As I said, it’s just a theory.

Certainly when I played Subbies against Penrith prior to their elevation (early-mid 1990s) we would frequently have 6th grade thru to 1sts clean sweeps against them. As Kentwell Cup winners and Subbies club champs in 1994 (?) we at UNSW were amazed that Penrith were elevated to Sydney Grade over much stronger clubs. Understand in retrospect why their promotion happened. But there were fundamental problems from the start, not helped by the advent of open professionalism in rugby a year later.

Wingers quite hard to pick: Tune & Roff are obvious candidates, but Ioane, Koroibete, Mitchell and Rathbone are all standouts.

Fullback? Burke by a country mile. I appreciate Latham, particularly his grit, he’s a bloke who always gave everything and never stopped. But Burke’s 15 game was complete.

As an aside, my wife has always had a bit of a crush. Matt turned up to a 7s tournament my older boy was playing in last year (my boy’s an Eastwood rep), and my wife was near beside herself … ! Nice to see a bloke turning up to a country tournament and seeking out his old club’s rep boys to give them a pep talk.

Not many players made The Paekakariki Express look like a fool, but Burke’s 75m try in Wellington he scored sure did just that. Wow.

It’s pre-SR but Campo’s 50th test try at Newlands in 92 is the standout indicator for me. In atrocious conditions, Horan kicked ahead, chased, tackled Danie Gerber like a rag doll, ripped the ball from Gerber’s grasp and fed a charging Campo to go in to the corner. Every centre skill set displayed in one 10 sec interval.

Helmet displayed those qualities again and again and again. Player of the tournament in 1999. For mine he’s the GOAT (Aus) and holds his own as a contender for GOAT (Global).

Wow! I’d forgotten that. Thanks for the reminder.

Fin, Morgan was L’Équipe magazine’s world player of the year in 1992? 1993? then tragically went over to the Sth Qld Crushers. He was a bit lost playing League, returned to the Reds in 1996(?) and played the first year or two of S12 before heading to Europe.
edited: it might have been Midi-Olympique, not L’Équipe

BA in Argentina is closer to Capetown than it is to any US city. If travel doesn’t work for the Pumas or any other Arg team (eg Jaguares) then the US and Canada is unviable for them.

“Super Rugby players, coaches and officials would be drafted into NRL franchises.”

Are you seriously suggesting rugby players would be obliged to play a different sport for several months, including the tight 5 who wouldn’t even get on the field in rugby league? Then turn out for Australia to play rugby against tier 1 rugby nations having not played any rugby for the preceding few months?

Full marks for contributing Jaeger but it’s a bonkers plan!

Thanks for another great contribution Geoff. A lot of plain truths spoken. But like the Henry Tax Review of a decade ago, even the greatest ideas will collect dust on the history’s shelves unless self-interest is put aside.

My great fear is the Sydney club mafia will white-ant any proposals that don’t put the Shute Shield clubs at the pinnacle. And I say that as a member of one of those clubs and a committee member of one of the junior clubs in that Shute Shield club’s district.

1.5m it says a lot about the quality of the TV commentators we’ve been stuck with that 2 blokes on 2JJJ pulling the p1ss are more informative than the so-called experts….

The first “big boy” book I read was Paul Brickhill’s abridged version of Reach for the Sky, the Sir Douglas Bader biography. I acknowledge now that Brickhill’s work is something of a hagiography, but for all his faults Bader was an inspiring leader. Imagine refusing the Nazi offers of repatriation then attempting to escape anyway?

Bader was a gun rugby player, a fearless fly half who played with no fear. He was able to play on with injuries that for the 1930s were commonplace but would now invoke the direst of medical interventions. It’s been said that he would have been called up to representative duties to face the Springboks but instead crashed attempting a low level (ultra low level) slow roll a week out from the Boks’ tour. Which of course led to his subsequent fame (?) as a man who overcame profound physical impediment.

Spiro when I was a wee bairn my hero was Bader. I was a crap rugby player (at school, subbies and regimental level) but always drew inspiration from a man whose drive and courage knew no bounds.

Thanks for writing this series.

Of course! Replays …. sorry I didn’t interpret that the right way. I’d be keen to see them as well. I think there are replays on the Interwebs somewhere, but it tends to be just excerpts, not the games in toto.

Aussiepaul, the first match was won in a comprehensive thrashing by Wigan playing Rugby League rules. The following match was played under Rugby Union laws and won well by Bath.

Two things to note, however: (1) after the second or third scrum of the second match (rugger laws) they switched to uncontested scrums for safety’s sake; and (2) the Wigan team was fully professional and about 1/3 of the players had previously played Rugby Union.

Just a guess, but a pair of equivalent matches between (eg) Roosters and ‘Saders would probably result in the same outcomes. But who would do it? The risks of injuries to players who are much bigger than 25 years ago and also much more valuable (current crises both pandemic and financial notwithstanding) would make it unviable.

Geoff thanks for writing this article. Here are a couple of good news stories for you:

No 1: My younger boy’s club (I’m a committee member) had ‘club day’ yesterday. Biggest INCREASE in minis we’ve had for years. I and another couple of dads had the BBQ in overdrive handing out free sausage & onion sambos to kids and parents. All our junior teams have large sustainable squads. The vibe at the oval was great. Heard again and again: “Not a Brumbies fan but didn’t they play great last night?”

No 2: My older boy is doing a U15/U16 clinic series with all of our Sydney zone’s district rep teams contributing. Coaches and parents giving up their time for over 100 boys moving between stands to work on finer points and techniques. Barely a single gripe or moan was heard. Again the feeling in the cheap seats there was great. The kids were mucking in and working hard, smiles galore, back slapping and laughing and shaking hands and high-fiving blokes they belted / were belted by last June at the State Champs.

No 3: Two weekends ago Braidwood ran a “Bushfire 7s” fund raising tournament. The rain bucketed down (HOORAY) and 44 teams played 7s all day, saw some fantastic 7s footy from girls, boys and opens teams from here to beyond then stepped out in Braidwood that night. We watched the ‘Tahs and grumbled about how bad they were but the steak was great and the beer was flowing.

Rugby in dire trouble? My left foot is is. There are challenges but people just aren’t looking in the right place. There’s plenty to celebrate and enjoy.

At his best there he displayed a sense of time and space that looked obvious to viewers sitting on the couch at home with a beer and a bowl of crisps. Almost like the 5th tackle play was ordained and a try was the result. Sometimes Benji scored but usually it was someone else. A joy to watch even though I’ve never been a Tigers fan.

Did he leave his tilt at rugby too late? Maybe he shouldn’t have tried when he did, but the ‘hypothetical’ is interesting. I think he might be been better at the outrageous than Carlos Spencer ever was … but he probably should have stayed in the NRL. Was the Blues the wrong team? Perhaps but it would have been hard to see him replacing some of the stonkingly gifted playmakers at the Chiefs or the ‘Canes during that period.

BTW I still occasionally grab a replay of Sattler’s tackle ….. one for the ages.

In a similar vein why do we pay attention to that sanctimonious git Bono? Or Peter Garrett? Or any other pop stars who lecture us about how awful we all are.

Frankly, when Kylie Minogue answered “stop killing the rhinos” when asked about South Africa my admiration for her soared.

The pitch at Jubilee was a shocker. I’d love to say “that’s hard to believe” but sadly it’s all to easy to believe.