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NICK TAYLOR, The West Australian
February 24, 2011, 7:01 am
The Western Force senior academy would be scrapped under a proposal by the Australian Rugby Union.
The plan has angered Force bosses, who say the loss of the program would cut the local pathway into the Force for aspiring young players.
The Force receive $200,000 from the ARU to help fund their academy but the governing body wants to move all Super Rugby club academies to three centres, in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.
Under the plan, from next year the ARU would use some of the $200,000 to pay five Force players based in Perth but it would reduce the 37-man squad by two.
Other players, not ready for Super Rugby, would have to train at the new Eastern States bases.
Force management will meet ARU high performance unit manager David Nucifora and national programs manager Anthony Eddy in Perth today.
They are keen to maintain funding for the academy and staff and keep the link between community and professional rugby.
Closing the senior academy, that sits below the main squad, would mean taking young players away from support programs put in place by the club and leave them without any exposure to training with Force players.
The Force have four players in their senior academy. Prop Cruze Ah-Nau and fly-half Kyle Godwin are local products while flanker Ted Postal and hooker Siliva Siliva moved from the Eastern States.
The club restructured its program last year and introduced three levels below the senior academy. There are 18 level-one players, either under 20 or older, who are all amateurs except for two, who will be fast-tracked into the Force squad.
There are 23 players aged 15-16 at level two and 16 in level one for 14-15 year-olds.
Players like Kieran Longbottom, Ryan Tyrrell and Justin Turner have come through the academy in recent years.
An ARU source said the Force were not being stripped of $200,000.
"They will have five players in Perth, they will also have the choice of players from a pool," he said.
"The plan is put a structure in place where players from WA will be looked after and developed."
Force chief executive Vern Reid did not want to comment until after the briefing from the ARU representatives.
·NSW coach Chris Hickey has named an unchanged team for Saturday night's clash with Queensland at ANZ Stadium.
Hickey has kept the same starting 15 and bench for the round-two match after thrashing the Melbourne Rebels 43-0 at AAMI Park.
It means Wallabies prop Benn Robinson must again bide his time as a replacement after Sekope Kepu made the most of his opportunity at loosehead.
Blockbusting No.8 Wycliff Palu is still injured, allowing Ben Mowen to continue his good form at the back of the scrum.
"We had a look at the individual performances, the overall team performance and the form of the players and we found no reason to make any changes," Hickey said.
·Tana Umaga's return to Super Rugby has lasted just one game, with Chiefs coach Ian Foster axing the 37-year-old ex-All Blacks skipper for tomorrow's clash with the Highlanders in Dunedin.
The Chiefs will field a significantly different starting 15, with Foster making eight changes to the side that lost 28-20 to the Brumbies in Canberra in round one.
Two other All Blacks, fly-half Stephen Donald and half-back Brendon Leonard, will begin in the reserves.
With AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...ademy-funding/
They need to keep at least some local acadamy going... It give kids a chance to aim for something, with it right in front of them, tangible. As opposed to having to move over east to be able to feel like they are getting somewhere
ARU just dont want to see Perth become a rugby state..... they are all eastern state focused....we should joint the Currie cup and SA stuff them this sort of news really gets up me!
Holy @@@p this is their most blatent attempt yet to kill rugby in the West - how about we join the South African rugby union instead
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
"The plan is put a structure in place where players from WA will be looked after and developed."
Nice f*cking insult you wanker.
Here's an idea, wh not consolidate the Academy system even more down to two, one in Melbourne and one in Perth to add depth to those competitions.
ARU needs a major shake up at Board level.
1x Franchise and 1x State Union with a franchise (=10) + 1 "Other Unions" + Independent Chair.
Agenda Item 1- Sack JO'N.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
I imagine this is part of the plan which was proposed last year of having a central pool of academy players which all the unions can draw from..
Its actually a quite decent idea and could have helped the Western Force out immensely last year during that horror injury run. Sort of similar to how Nathan Charles joined the Force.
yes TOCC, but professional rugby is very new in WA. They need a way forward, as previously there was none!
So you're happy for the Reds academy players to be uprooted and sent to Melbourne or wherever?
I'll wait for the full explanation before condemning it out of hand but the biggest attraction of local academies is that most young players can develop without having to move a continent away from their support networks. I have faith in a system that's already brought 4 (incl Chuckka) local players to Super Rugby and is on the verge of at least a few more.
Be most interested in where the Qld & WA players would be located to.Could be a great filip for the Vic Ist Grade comp.
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"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
The principle behind the idea is a good one: A central academy that all unions can draw from if and where necessary. As TOCC says, just like what happened with Nathan Charles.
It would seriously inhibit the chances of young West Australian players. Unless, perhaps, if each team could nominate who they send to these academies. Even then asking someone to uproot and move over to Canberra, Melbourne or Sydney is unreasonable and unfair. It would also benefit those teams much more than Queensland and WA. The ARU should just make it clear to all franchises that their 200,000 that goes to the academies means that, on the condition that the player agrees, they are contracted to the ARU and each team cannot deny the ARU from loaning players to franchises in need.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
How is it done in other countries - big ones like SA are more apt to our circumstances because of the distances - if it was central do we end up with a bidding system for players like the draft in Afl
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
I agree this absolutely sucks...Time the ARU realised that this is an AUSTRALIAN competition, and all the youngsters should be treated equal..what the heck next..after the "secret games" leaving WA out, and now this ...they should be all darned well sacked...they are NOT representing Rugby Union in a professional equal manner...Jeff Stooke needs to stand up and be noticed, and put the B#@$#@!! right...![]()
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They've obviously been thinking of this for a while - this latest development seems to be a progression of their S15 draft proposal from last year.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225862279333
Not exactly andrewm, that proposal doesn't involve warehousing the young talent in Sydney and Melbourne for all teams to plunder, rather freeing access to the academy players in each franchises setup.....you can tell the difference, because the one you linked in your post doesn't make me want to commit murder!
C'mon the![]()
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