Coach spits the dummy at Force over NPC
Burgs: Great to see it didn't take long for for the true colours to come out of Sydneytown over the dumb convicts in Swan River Colony!!!
I don't agree with the players being farmed out to the NPC either however, I find this article to be written and Hickey to be talking in an incredibly patronising manner.
I wonder if they (both Kimber and Hickey) would use the same style if Link MacKenzie did something that Sydney Club rugby didn't agree with?
Personally, I think it is very self serving that Hickey wants all the players to be available to their East Coast Clubs.
If there is a better alternative that benefits the Force (and therefore Western Australian Rugby) then I fully support that action being taken in the short term.
The Western Force expansion will not have been truely a success until the WA Premier Grade is an equal in standard to the Sydney and Brisbane Premier Grade and if to facilitate that we need to think outside the box to get the best results then that's what needs to happen.
And that, Mr Hickey, is what will best benefit Australian Rugby, an extra ten elite teams running out every weekend.
Coach takes swipe at Force over NPC
By Ben Kimber
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
EASTWOOD coach Chris Hickey last night called on the ARU to rein in the Western Force as it emerged the fledgling franchise was investigating placing players in New Zealand's NPC competition this season.
After raiding the club ranks of Sydney and Brisbane to secure the bulk of its squad, the Perth-based side's management team has investigated several options for its players post-Super 14 other than returning them to their east coast clubs.
Suggested avenues the team has explored include an original aim to have a team in the Sydney competition, which the NSWRU swiftly indicated it would not sanction, or matches against touring teams, or a possible tour of South Africa.
But as the end of the Super 14 fast approaches without any indications of their plans, West Australian sources last night confirmed the latest scenario appears to involve the distribution of a selection of players into the New Zealand domestic competition for matches outside of this year's Australian Provincial Championship, which is scheduled to take place in September.
Sydney's clubs are already furious at their treatment after grooming players for the next level and then being ignored, and this development will raise their ire even more as it appears to be a departure from the Force's previous stated claims of not allowing players to return east.
"It's for the benefit of all the Super 14 teams, not just the Waratahs, for the Sydney clubs to remain strong," Hickey said last night. "To take players out of them, and then send them over to the NPC, well, that's great for New Zealand rugby but it doesn't do much for Australian rugby.
"There's been so many mixed messages coming out of Perth, and there's been a failure by them to communicate with anyone in Sydney, that it's hard to tell, but this seems to be a departure from their previous reasoning about keeping players together to prepare."
Hickey believes it is time for the ARU to become involved to ensure the best interests of Australian rugby are assured by maintaining strong levels of domestic competition.
"If they [Force] do go down that track, we'd hope the ARU would take a decision that is for the benefit of Australian rugby," he said. "And if that means enforcing that these players play in an Australian competition, then so be it. Sometimes decisions have to be made by the governing body that benefit everybody and not just one particular organisation. The Force need to be a part of Australian rugby, not a law unto themselves."
