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Nick Taylor
Friday, January 13, 2017 10:37AM
It has taken a while, but the Western Force are no longer in a rebuilding period.
And there will be no more hiding behind excuses, according to the new forwards coach, the straight-talking Joe Barakat.
“Our backs are against the wall. We don’t have time for rebuilding years. It’s about winning games,” Barakat said.
“When you talk about rebuilding periods you can afford to lose and at this stage we can’t afford to lose.”
Barakat, who has joined the Force’s new coaching line-up from Irish heavyweights Ulster, is known for his no-nonsense approach.
“That’s probably me. I was a teacher for 19 years and I think a lot of that stems from the classroom,” he said.
“But you’re working with adults so the no-nonsense isn’t aggressive no-nonsense. It’s ‘know your job’.
“Don’t come here without knowing your job. Less discussion. Let’s just do the job.
“I’ve got a bit of grey hair, but there’s not a lot of grey matter in my thinking. There’s probably a lot of black and white.
“It’s about rules. We’ve got to be quite succinct with what we have to deliver this year.
“If there were some grey areas that we could work with, maybe I could walk a little bit before I’m running, but everybody has got to start running.
“Our focus is preparing our rugby players, making them good rugby players and giving them the habit of winning.
“When you win and continue to win sometimes that develops a pretty good habit and it’s pretty hard to lose. That’s where we want to get them to.”
Barakat said the depth in the squad was satisfactory despite a large turnover of players.
“It’s an exciting squad,” he said.
“The level and quality, the depth of players is fantastic ... great young players who are really exciting. They work hard. They have been exceptional.
“Sometimes there are down and lean periods, but every-body’s got to recover.
“We’re trying to cut down those lean periods.”
Barakat said there would be plenty of competition among his forwards and he was not concerned about a lack of experience at tighthead prop, where Tetera Faulkner is the only seasoned specialist.
Of the two other tightheads, 21-year-old Jermaine Ainsley has just nine Super Rugby appearances and Shambeckler Vui is only 19 and yet to play.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-u...-ng-b88353736z
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
Enjoyed watching the lads train from a grassy bank yesterday.
ARU's Mick Byrne involved reinforcing some basic skills (passing and tackling).
Impressed by Joe Barakat going out of his way to introduce himself and offering his thanks for coming to watch the boys work hard.
There is nothing to suggest 2017 will be any different to previous years. We've recruited players playing club rugby and they're expected to compete against players who have 50+ international caps. If we want to be successful we need to recruit at least 10 players that have international experience not some guy who was good 10 years ago or some guy that played for Country NSW. It's pretty simple, if we come up against a team that are bigger, stronger, faster and more experienced we are going to lose 9/10. Thinking otherwise is delusional.
Some new recruits:
Ben Daley 80 super rugby caps
Robbie Coleman 80 super rugby caps
TPN 140 super caps, 68 test matches
Bill meakes 45 caps for gloucester
Curtis Rona, may not be experienced in terms of rugby union but one of the leading try scorers in rugby league.
All teams also have to bring through youngsters and in terms of young talent I think we've identified some really good talent. Don't forget Adam, Mozz and Dane have come with a few more wallaby caps.
Ben Daley was on the bench for the entire 2015 season and Robbie Coleman only started 40 games out of 80 super caps. We can't put out a team with guys that that couldn't always make the starting XV plus one or two international players and expect them to beat teams that have 18+ All Blacks in their squads. You have teams like the Crusaders that have players on the bench with 100 AB caps and we have guys that were playing for Neddies the week before. I don't mean to be a negative nellie, but I think we need to lower our expectations. Finishing 11th/12th with 4/5 wins would be a realistic achievement.
Zed please explain how the Highlanders won the title in 2015 with only 4 All Blacks players!
1 of their new players is included in the 4 (Waisake Naholo)
http://thehighlanders.co.nz/our-news...nce-2015-squad
Also get your numbers right for Robbie Coleman, he has started 49 Super Rugby games and more importantly he started 38 of the last 43 Brumbies Super Rugby games a was a used sub for the remaining 5 games.
You can be pessimist if you want but you do not need to put players achievements down.
I think the most Test Capped player in that winning Highlanders Team was Tanaka who was on the bench and from Japan!
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
A few "Alternative Facts" being disputed there lads.
In any event things are as they are and it's not exactly rocket surgery to make that point again and again. Let's just hope the boys can do a Highlanders.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Nice one Shasta, I forgot to make it clear that I was not expecting us to do a Highlanders, merely suggesting that you don't need to be stacked with test players to be a successful team!
A proper strength and conditioning regime should make a significant difference between this season and last season, IMO.
The key for mine will be finding a best fit game plan for the available player mix and then executing it effectively. If they can do that then a mid table finish isn't out of the question.
I would like 2017 to be like 2014. It is bloody hypocritical of the Kiwis to whinge about guaranteed finals spots where a team with fewer points/wins qualify (Brumbies). The Chiefs and Highlanders bumped the Force out of finals in 2014 despite both sides having fewer wins.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
All I know is, the squad looks a helluva lot better than last year, so a reasonable man would expect better results.
Maybe I'm looking too much at the silver lining and not enough at the cloud, but doesn't that simply make me a long term force supporter?
C'mon the![]()
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