2007: Australia’s “Rugby Recession”
2007: Australia’s “Rugby Recession”
The Year we “Had to Have”.
Following the ordinary results on the Wallabies Spring Tour and by the Australian Teams up to the end of Round 5 in the Super 14, it is fair to say that the standard of Australian Rugby is going through a pretty tough period.
As a passionate supporter of Australian Rugby it can be tough to take at times, especially when you think back to the all conquering glory years, highlighted with the two World Cups, but also including virtually every trophy available.
Years where we held our own against all comers, including the perennially high achieving All Blacks.
Yet, a small part of me can’t help but be optimistic at the standard of youth stepping up to the plate following the severe player drain over the last couple of years.
Firstly, consider the caliber of player that has, for various reasons, been lost to Australian Rugby in the last four year cycle since the 2003 World Cup.
Ben Darwin, Bill Young, Justin Harrison, Nathan Grey, Matthew Burke, Elton Flatley, Joe Roff, Toutai Kefu, Chris Whitaker, Tim Donnelly, Owen Finegan, Shaun Berne, Shane Drahm, David Fitter, Drew Hickey, Chris Malone, Craig McMullen, Manual Edmonds, Brock James, Radike Samo, Lei Tomiki, Steve Kefu, Andrew Farley, Christian Warner, Tim McGann, Mark Bartholomeusz, Brendan Williams, Matt Cockbain, Simon Kasprowicz, Nathan Spooner, Joel Wilson, Peter Jorgenson, Huai Edmonds, Mark Schtabina.
Admittedly, not all Wallaby material now, but all capable to still fill Super 14 Squad positions.
In fact there are currently some eighty men from Australia known to be playing in elite competitions outside of Australia!
This doesn’t include those who have now played for other nations or any that may be eligible and are playing in New Zealand.
So, it would be fair to assume that there are at least 100 senior players missing prematurely from the Australian scene since 2003.
Now add to this the current extensive injury list as at Round 5, including many of our top players:
Force- Lachlan MacKay, Luke Doherty;
Brumbies- Al Campbell, Daniel Heenan, Stephen Larkham, Clyde Rathbone, Stirling Mortlock;
Reds- Greg Holmes, Chris Latham, Ben Coutts, Clinton Schifcofske, Sam Cordingley, Stephen Moore, Hugh McMeniman, Anthony Mathison, Andrew Brown, Henari Veratau, Rodney Blake;
Waratahs- Phil Waugh, Daniel Vickerman, Al Kanaar, Matt Dunning, Tatafu Polota-Nau.
So that’s now at least 122 elite players out of the Australian system, no wonder we are starting to buckle!
There’s nearly as many missing as there are Squad positions in Australia!
So, let’s go hunting for that silver lining.
With such an imposing player drain the Australian teams have been forced to go hunting deeper into our Junior stocks.
It is a position that had to be forced upon us, to move us outside of our comfort zone of selecting the same old tried and true players and to actually have to experiment with the younger pool of players.
It’s a year we had to have.
Fortunately, in the last few years Australia has been producing some fine Rugby youth as demonstrated by the Under 19 World Championship title and Under 21 defeat of New Zealand to make the Semi Finals.
Our Schoolboys XV was also of a higher than normal standard.
Without the vacuum of senior players, young men such as David Pocock, Quade Cooper, Kurtley Beale, Saia Faingaa, Will Genia, Brando Va'alu, Charlie Fetoai, Salesi Ma'afu, Richard Stanford, Francis Fainifo and Beau Robinson wouldn’t even see a bench, let alone be playing meaningful roles around Australia and gaining huge dollops of experience.
This can only be a positive for the future and I believe that when we are sitting at Eden Park in 2011, watching the three times World Champion Wallabies take “Bill” for a lap of honour we will be thinking, “He debuted in 2007 … so did he … and him … and him too!”
I think the “Rugby Recession of 2007” will in the future be seen as a kind of “Rugby Enema” for Australia, as the floating average players in their mid twenties are pushed aside by the new generation and the France bound aging stars call an end to gallant careers holding the line, ever waiting for qualified reinforcements to come through the ranks.
Well, finally, those reinforcements are on their way and heaven help anyone standing in the way of these young guns as they mature on their path to 2011!
I would even go one step further and say that Match 1 of the Australian Rugby Championship on the 11th of August, 2007, will see the watershed event that will ring in a new era of Australian Rugby.
With the current 32 Man Wallabies Squad out of the equation, the new wave of players will have an open license to impress selectors of the four Provincial Squads, to stand up and declare they are where the future is and they are the ones who can take Australian Rugby out of the wilderness with expansive “devil-may-care” attack and ferocious defence.
As the “Schoolboys in the Mist” where to the 1984 Grand Slam, so to will the young bucks of 2007 be to turning Australian Rugby around.
In many ways the outcome in France for the Wallabies is already set in concrete, for better or worse. The main players are already established with only a handful of players to be included to make up the final squad.
There would be little point in going for some dramatic revamp of the player stock we have, for a tournament that so heavily relies on big game experience, at this late stage.
The individual efforts of the players and coaching staff at the tournament will determine our final placing however, in the main, the die has certainly already been cast, there is little opportunity left to change that.
We can however determine our fortunes for 2011.
That starts with the ARC and is followed by choosing a visionary and innovative successor to John Connolly, who can harness this new wave of talent into an exciting World Champion XV.
There are exciting times ahead for Australian Rugby, of that I have no doubt.
Granted, there is some pain left to come, some ordinary results to be endured by our Super 14 teams and every likelihood of four years of Kiwi gloating post France.
But rest assured, once we are clear of this “Recession”, Australian Rugby will rebound stronger, tougher and more exciting than ever in our proud history.
We are on the eve of the new wave, the unleashing of a new type of player who will breathe life into the carcass of the Wallaby we all know and love from the 80’s and 90’s.
It has been a long road since ’99 but we are just turning the wheel onto the bend that leads to 2011 glory, come join me as the “Rugby Recession” begins to fade into the rearview mirror.
