RugbyWA Review Post Super 14 Program
Emirates Western Force players will no longer be required to play for WA clubs at the completion of the Super 14 after RugbyWA completed a review of its post-season rugby program.
From 2009 players can choose to play in Sydney’s Shute Shield competition or remain in Perth after their Super 14 commitments have been completed.
Until now all Emirates Western Force players have been required to play for a WA club whilst they are contracted to RugbyWA.
RugbyWA General Manager, Rugby, Mitch Hardy, said the policy change will not result in players abandoning the local competition.
“This policy will apply to all players with our professional Rugby program and their requests will be dealt with on a case by case basis with coaching structure, strength and conditioning and player welfare taken into consideration,” said Hardy.
“During the Super 14 players not selected in the 22 will be required to play locally in Perth and all players will continue to be aligned with our clubs to assist with training and development,” he said.
“It is not our intention to send locally developed players to the East away from the clubs that have put considerable time and resources into their development.”
Hardy said players will need to meet certain conditions to be enabled to switch to a Sydney club.
“Each player will be able to request where they want to play their club rugby post Super 14, but will have their individual development needs assessed by the RugbyWA Match Committee before any move is approved,” he said.
“Already we’ve had players like Scott Staniforth indicate that they wish to stay in Perth after their Super 14 commitments are completed.”
This year the team embarked on a five-match development tour of England in search of high quality rugby post Super 14, however Hardy confirmed that would not be repeated in 2009.
“The UK tour was a costly exercise and is not viewed as something that will be viable for the organisation going forward,” he said.
“At this point there is a large gap on the professional rugby calender for those who aren’t involved in representative teams post Super 14 so we really need to consider where our players are going to get the best opportunity to develop during that period.”
