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Don't know why the ARU are so restrictive. Why not just state you can as Many marquee players next season upto the same number as where you came in the Aussie Conference in the season before. Means Max 5, Min 1. But weaker teams have the ability to strengthen, but need to also think longer team in case they improve and have to lose one or more of these players next year because of doing well. (i.e. they have at least a year to use these extra players to develop the up & comers).
You can't have too many foreign marquee players coming in though. Too many and it restricts the development of Australian players and ultimatey the national team suffers. English football is a classic example. Teams like Chelsea have fielded teams in the past with zero English players. That is not good for the national team.
5 out of a squad of 30 is hardly too many, and with my system they are all short term to help improve the local lads.
I think the ARU should also make it an "Official Objective" to keep Australia's best talent here, playing Super Rugby. Test match Wallabies like Chris Latham, Giteau, or George Smith should not be lost to the game so early in their careers. There are other guys who went overseas and made good, like Christian Warner, Brock James, Brendan Williams, Graham Bond, Manny Edmonds et al; and the ARU needs to look at why they couldn't achieve with an Australian side. There may be specific reasons why those players in particular did so well overseas; but on the whole, players of the calibre of those mentioned above should be running around in Super Rugby franchises. If we could halt the exodus, and keep the distribution even, I certainly think Australia has the depth for five teams.
Maybe a money-spinning "gap-year" perhaps? Like Joe Roff at Biarritz, or Dan Carter at Toulouse? Or big-money loan spells at big Euro or Japanese clubs during off-seasons? I'm sure the problem is shared by our SANZAR counterparts also; especially with the amount of Kiwis and SAFers turning out in test matches for European nations.
Last edited by chibi; 11-06-13 at 11:59.
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
I truly believe that getting the recruitment right is vitally important but equally so in my view is creating the right culture and mindset in the players.
If players across the board at the force training, worked and sacrificed as hard as they did when they wanted to make rugby their career and put that mindset and focus into everything they did 100% of the time the improvement across the squad would improve results.
You hear boxing world champions talk about training like a challenger in preparation for a title fight this is the mind set that every professional sports person (team sport or not) in my view should adopt
I could be wrong - but were the Rebels hit with the restriction of "development players" only?
Exile
Port Macquarie
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" - Rocky Balboa
This is a retrograde step.
Probably looks looks like a great idea from mosman where all the young blokes coming through are developed by private schools and the ARU does zip to fund it, while out in the boon docks (past Burwood) and anywhere else in the country union needs funds for junior development and standardised pathways where identified talent can come through - or at least remain in the game and not bugger off to league or AFL.
This is an omission from the ARU that we cannot develop or own internationals and are relying on foreign sources to develop our talent. We need to grow our junior ranks and the ARU need to be putting in place a scheme/funding where that can occur. This is the only viable plan long term, but you cant see past the CBD from mosman.
If the ARU want to help the force/rebels. They should subsidise their salary caps or spread the ARU top up contracts evenly out amongst the franchises.
We desperately need a national competition. It is the crucial missing piece of the rugby jigsaw in this country. This is where the 'out of the box' thinking needs to be applied.
“Everyone knows whether it’s rugby, politics or whatever, front-rowers should rule the world, so to have a hooker at the helm makes sense,” Nathan Charles Western Force & Wallabies Hooker.
We just don't have the $$ in Australia. These guys have pretty short careers, 10 - 14 years max, compared to the rest of us, 40, 45 years and a lot of them are as thick as two short planks. If they don't make their $$ in their short period, they'll be back on the building site after their careers are over.