Wayne Smith has written an open letter to Lucas and Hockings have never seen something so desperate from a journo.
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Wayne Smith has written an open letter to Lucas and Hockings have never seen something so desperate from a journo.
So how are the sunwolves gonna make it in guys?
So many experts, i'm sure thats an easy one to explain.
Maybe, just maybe, there are certain exemptions if you play your cards right and apply through the right channels.
With only 6 teams GRR could easily host the entire tournament in anyone of the states around Australia, including WA.
This is it:
An open letter to Harry Hockings and Isaac Lucas: Gentlemen, you may wonder why I am addressing this letter only to you two and not to the third member of the so-called “Picone Three”, Izack Rodda. It would seem Rodda had a grievance with the Queensland Reds, whereas both of you appear to be happy in your work at Ballymore and well-respected members of the Reds squad. It is a little bit difficult to be definitive because your manager, Anthony Picone, has advised you all to stay silent, but it seems Rodda was deeply upset that coach Brad Thorn chose Liam Wright as Queensland captain this season ahead of him. To be fair, Rodda had been favourite for the job and it was only natural he would be disappointed, although it would have to be said that Wright is shaping up as a very impressive leader.
Rodda is still part of the leadership group and is believed to be the highest-paid member of the Reds squad. By my calculations, even with a massive pay cut, he still would be taking home around $260,000 a year which in these days of a COVID-19 pandemic … heck, in any circumstances…..is still way above what the vast majority of Australian wage-earners are taking home.
It was not so long ago that things were different, when former Wallaby winger Paul Carozza, the Reds development coach, would drive Rodda from Ipswich down to the Reds Academy at Ballymore for training. And I wonder does Rodda recall who it was that packed down alongside him in the second-row when he made his National Rugby Championship debut back in 2016 for Queensland Country. It was, in fact, Thorn, playing one last season to pass on as much rugby knowledge as Rodda could absorb. How many of his 25 Tests for Australia should Rodda attribute to the coaching of Thorn, one wonders? All of them?
Anyway, whatever the reasons, Rodda appears to have lost patience with Queensland and wants to move on. Not even his late addition to the list of five — and then it was six — Australian players cleared to take a sabbatical could seemingly sway him. Oh well, so be it … But, if I could address this to you, Harry … have you thought this through? What advice are you receiving? If Rodda moves on, that makes you an almost certain starter for Queensland. Heck, it makes you an almost certain starter for Australia.
I’m certain Dave Rennie would not have told you that because no coach ever likes to make those commitments in advance. But there is little doubt that, if the trans-Tasman borders do come down later this year, you will be making your Test debut somewhere against the All Blacks. And everyone who has seen you play believes you have it in you to be the best Wallabies second-rower since John Eales. That’s a huge call but there it is … And even if you don’t quite measure up, even if you’re “just” the best since, say, Dan Vickerman, well, heck, that’s no load to carry.
Yes, it sucks that you and your generation are the first players since rugby went professional a quarter-century ago to be forced to take a pay cut. And who is to say that there won’t be a permanent downturn in Australian rugby wages? Or indeed in global rugby wages? These are uncertain times but 189 of your peers — in fact, everyone but you three — were prepared to wait out the pandemic. It’s the reason why some of the Reds’ admin staff are working pretty much standard hours for less than a third of their usual wage, just to keep the game alive.
What were you told? That if you didn’t move now you would miss your chance? Well, maybe, but you will be going there as an uncapped player which is good in one respect — you may get more game time given that Japan allows three uncapped foreigners to be on the field at one time — but bad in another. You won’t be a Test player. You might never be. Please don’t think you can cash in and then return to Australia to pick up your Reds and Wallabies career without interruption. Some other lanky lad will have taken the chance you handed to him and chances are he won’t want to give it up.
And now you Isaac … like Hockings, you are only 21 and have it all in front of you. You may recall earlier in this year I was talking about you as a prospective Wallabies five-eighth or fullback this year so it is pretty much established I rate you as a player. I know it must be frustrating that you only lasted one game at 10 for the Reds before James O’Connor was chosen there and then Jock Campbell came along to complicate matters at fullback.
Still, it’s trials such as these that test young players and I’m still confident that come 2023, you will be right in the mix for the Wallabies at the World Cup in France.
Perhaps you are taking advice from your brothers, Ben, Matt and Tom. All wonderful players but, with the greatest of respect, journeymen all. They have had to do it tough in rugby and battle for every breakthrough. But their difficult journey need not be your own. As you demonstrated last year, you have the ability to carve up international sides. OK, it was “only” at the World Junior Cup and you were playing behind a dominant Australian Under 20 pack, but the skills were there. You may need time to fill out but you have it in you to be the Lucas family’s first Wallaby. Ben almost made it but in the end John Connolly took Berrick Barnes to the 2007 World Cup and the rest is history. But you can make it.
I don’t know who is giving you advice but it seriously needs to be challenged. There were reports all three of you were taken aback by the media storm that broke on Monday. Of itself, that says that you were poorly briefed. You are coming across as selfish and tone deaf, walking out at the first sign of things getting tough. Yet go and speak with those on JobKeeper and find out what tough is all about. You are only young and the young are forgiven their mistakes. And right now you are making the biggest mistake of your lives.
All the best.
Re the Sunwolves it will come down to money and whether they can get a travel exemption to fly here as non citizens and quarantine. The RA are so poorly planned they don’t have grounds lined up, a location to play and how the players are going to train.
Apart from not being able to organise a piss up in a brewery they have no money to do it and there is no mention of a renegotiated tv deal with Foxsports as the competitions has changed which is pathetic as they were happy to do it to cut a side and burn off local stakeholders.
The RA are snide pathetic imbecilic morons and they haven’t looked after their players and supporters at all.
The Sunwolves aren’t playing Super Rugby next year due to paying too much to participate as a non affiliated partner and the contracts the players have with the clubs there. SANZAAR let them leave rather than negotiate a new participation deal like the Pro 12 did with the Italians when they were struggling with costs.
That jib about the Lucas family was completely unnecessary and low. Ben was a good player but like a lot of players in the backs here he wasn’t properly developed and shuffled across the backline. He could kick a ball which a lot of them can’t. I would actually rate him ahead of Foley for that reason.
Barnes was ruined due to taking that many contact blows and moving to the Waratahs is not a smart move. They can’t develop playmakers and they didn’t have the nous to sign Knox for the first Super 12 season. Knox was electric at the Brumbies.
Matt was a good signing for the Brumbies and met his now wife there. He came with no expectations as the Tahs didn’t do much with him so people wrote him off.
We have a problem with underpaying forwards here. George Smith was the best player in the country when Knuckles and Deans were coaching yet he was getting far less than the so called star backs.
He also went for emotion rather than the elephant in the room. Hockings contract negotiations which weren’t going well and how they are going to pay him next year.
The clouds have parted for me. Now all those inexplicably stupid selection decisions for the wallabies make sense. Wayne Smith picks who can be a wallaby by himself so that he can sell a newspaper.
I hope those poor guys don't get the lambasting that rodda got, he was one lock that looked to have some promise before he was broken by dumb game planning and idiotic selections.
So it can be done. You guys are just dancing around the question when you know I am right.
I am sure Twiggy could afford the Hotel bill.
Thanks for confirming that the exact same scenario as the sunwolves could potentially play out for GRR teams (if they didnt pull the trigger too early)
And why is BOP getting an invite into this revamped super rugby comp. Bringing over a bunch of kiwis in this environment doesnt seem like too hard a task. Not according to the news and the resident experts..
Once again, you have simply opened your mouth to change which foot is in it
Latest update:
4 May 2020
From 21:00 AEDT 20 March 2020, only Australian citizens, residents and immediate family members can travel to Australia.
All others
Travellers who have a compassionate or compelling reason to travel to Australia will need to have an exemption from the Australian Border Force Commissioner. - Dept of Home affairs.
This information is publicly available to anyone who is not too lazy or stupid to use a search engine.
So it confirms that GRR could have potentially gone ahead. Look I know you arent a real fan, hiding in your basement because you were too scared of the big bad Covid 19, but what you just posted confirms I am right. If the teams had all applied for exemptions (which they can according to the information you posted) and then spent 14 days isolating in a state that would allow sport to take place. Then a 6 team tournament could of easily taken place somewhere.
The Black Knight strikes again.