Richard Graham

[F Man]

Hey Tic
Where do you get this from... All reports I have read is the QRU have been getting extra funds from the ARU to support it's player group.. The membership is falling, and they have lost alot of support over the KH debacle.. In the private sector any business alloeing this to happen would fail and go broke...

I still reckon KH moved from AFL tp Rugby due to the 3 strike rules in AFL and RG took the bait for KH to get out before he got caught.. He saw RG an easy target..

I agree. On an unrelated note I don't think I should have drunk the Kool-Aid.

[jargan83]

Whether that's true or not, I don't see how the AFL three strikes policy is allowed to stand under Australuan Law. Doesn't ASADA have coercive power? If they do and the AFL is not reporting positive tests, aren't they guilty of an illegal cover up? Or do ASADA need to compell them to report positive results?

The AFL 3 strikes policy is only in regards to recereational drugs. I believe the AFL do alot of their testing in house.

To be honest I'm not sure how they get away with it either but the ASADA coercive powers are fairly new for ASADA as they were only granted them in August 2013.

[GIGS20]

I thought if they lost all their first matches he would be gone after the Brumbies match. Maybe our loss to the reds has given him a slight reprieve. In any event surely his position is untenable and the reds are making calls to see who can replace him. Can't see Graham being offered a head coaching role in the future. Back to the future with either Mooney or EM.

I suspect this is all about how much it'll cost to pay him out. They have to find something to dismiss him on which takes that away.

If I was RG's agent I wouldn't let him sign a contract with a get out clause based upon performance.......It appears that hasn't happened.

[shasta]

The AFL 3 strikes policy is only in regards to recereational drugs. I believe the AFL do alot of their testing in house.

To be honest I'm not sure how they get away with it either but the ASADA coercive powers are fairly new for ASADA as they were only granted them in August 2013.

Yeah I get that they are fairly new. But what I'm getting at is that Cocaine, Amphetamines etc, which "flush" quickly are classed as performance enhancing. So unless the only positives have been for non performance enhancing substances, the three strikes joke makes the AFL complicit in drug cheating. Or it looks that way to me anyway.

[Tonkar]

I do realise this is dated Jan 2013 but this shows the AFL is above the law..
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-01-3...licy-to-remain

This is a later news article and by reading this I have come to opinion that KH could have been involved with drugs prior to his signing when your coach makes comments like the following
http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/02/26...urprise-brown/

Suns coach Rodney Eade said he was satisfied with the AFL’s three strikes policy.

“Some players resort to that as an outlet, as an escape,” Eade said.

“In the olden days it was alcohol. I don’t think we should be ready to judge that too quickly.

“The AFL and the doctors involved in the AFL, they’re right across it.

“Players, I understand, who get a strike, they have counselling … I’m certainly comfortable with that.”


From another article dated feb 2015
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/naive-t...25-13nl1c.html

Under the system a player can self-report illicit drug use once. A player who incurs three "strikes" must face an AFL tribunal. The only people who are made aware of failed tests are the AFL medical officer and club doctor. It is unknown whether Hunt had incurred "strikes" for illicit drug use while at the Suns.

Another Article
http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-...-1226565395434

Makes Demetriou look like an idiot by saying the police are happy with AFL players using drugs

But Demetriou said there was overall support for the three-strikes policy - under which positive drug tests are not made public until a player tests positive for a third time.

"We have got external experts reinforcing to us, including Victoria Police and Federal Police, what an outstanding illicit drugs policy we have," Demetriou said.

[GIGS20]

"We have got external experts reinforcing to us, including Victoria Police and Federal Police, what an outstanding illicit drugs policy we have," Demetriou said.

can I use this quote to support an assertion that there must be a certain number of brain dead f@$kwits in every police force?

[NTT]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...h-africa-trip/

More trouble for Queensland. The QRU is the only people not seeing that Horwill and Graham are not exactly getting along.

Horwill omitted for Reds' Sth Africa trip
AAP
April 5, 2015, 1:54 pm
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James Horwill appears to have been dumped from the Queensland Reds two-match tour to South Africa.
James Horwill appears to have been dumped from the Queensland Reds' two-match tour to South Africa.
Coach Richard Graham appears to have dumped former Wallabies captain James Horwill for the Queensland Reds' two-match tour to South Africa after he was sent off for the second time this season.

Horwill was an intriguing omission from Graham's 27-man Reds squad named on Sunday for the trip to play the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday and the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein a week later.

Horwill copped a one-match suspension on Saturday after being red carded for striking Melbourne Rebels prop Paul Alo-Emile with a swinging arm in Friday night's Super Rugby match in Melbourne.

The 20th minute sending off - which followed lock Horwill's round one dismissal for a second yellow card against the Brumbies - proved costly as the 14-man Reds gave up a 12-3 lead to lose 23-15.

It was a self-inflicted problem the desperate Reds (one win, six losses) could ill afford.

No.8 Jake Schatz is out for a month after rupturing a tendon in his elbow.

And they have lost Wallabies playmaker Quade Cooper for another two months - a major setback for his World Cup hopes - after he suffered a fractured scapula in only his second match after missing the start of the season.

It means Graham may again be forced to switch star recruit James O'Connor to five eighth.

The one piece of good news for Graham is that lock and lineout specialist Rob Simmons is available for the first time since suffering shoulder nerve damage in the Wallabies' European tour.

He's set to replace Horwill for the match against the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.

While Horwill would be available for the second tour match against the Cheetahs, Graham made no mention of calling him over in the Reds' squad announcement statement.

His place in the squad went to Tom Murday, who made his Reds debut earlier this year, as one of four locks with Simmons, Marco Kotze and Dave McDuling.

A Reds spokesman denied the decision not to take Horwill when the team flew out on Sunday amounted to disciplinary action but Graham's explanation did little to clarify the matter.

"With such a short turnaround between Friday's game and our trip to Johannesburg, it was important to make quick decisions around who we need in the squad - so we could get straight into uninterrupted preparation for next week's clash against the Bulls," said Graham.

"For that reason, I thought it was important to bring in cover for James Horwill for at least the first week of the tour as we need a full compliment of players to select from."

James Tuttle was picked as a five eighth back up following Cooper's injury and fellow development squad player Adam Korcyzk replaced Schatz.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...rld-cup-hopes/

The Richard Graham effect continues.

Reds' form threatens World Cup hopes
Ed Jackson
April 7, 2015, 8:33 am
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Queensland flanker Liam Gill admits the Reds' desperately poor Super Rugby campaign could cost him and teammates Rugby World Cup spots.

The Reds have travelled to South Africa to take on the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld this Saturday with just one win in 2015.


Liam Gill. Source: Getty
Last weekend's loss to the Rebels in Melbourne means only Auckland's winless Blues are keeping the Reds off the bottom of the Super Rugby ladder.

One of the team's best-performed players, flanker Gill is among a number of Reds with realistic World Cup ambitions but he accepts that, unless results improve, it'll be hard to make a case with Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.

"To be a Wallaby you have to be a part of a successful setup," said Gill, who has 15 Wallabies caps.

"We understand that we need to really regroup and start to drive a winning culture.

"We understand that we need to stop the ideology of losing and reshape it to just mentally get us over the line.

"We're in games, we just lose. We need to get through that and I think that'll make huge progressions for Wallabies.

"It stems back from how the Reds are going and that's really what we're focused on."

The Reds have gone to South Africa without injured stars Quade Cooper (shoulder) and Jake Schatz (elbow) while former skipper James Horwill is under a one-game suspension and did not ravel with the tour group following his red card against the Rebels.

Loftus Versfeld is an unlikely venue for the Reds revival to begin, given the Queenslanders haven't won there since 2001.

In total the Reds have played at the venue eight times for just two wins while their defeats have included a 92-3 embarrassment in 2007 and a 61-8 mauling the last time they played there in 2012.

Despite the record, Gill says the team is embracing the challenge and confident of pulling off a shock.

"Loftus is an awesome place to play at," Gill said.

"Understandably it's one of the hardest venues in the world of rugby to get a win at but I guess that makes us more excited.

"We understand the situation we're in."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...rld-cup-hopes/

Slow news day all right.

[jargan83]

All thats needed is for the Qld Board to come out and say King Dick is safe.

[Herbasimplex]

Seems like horwill has gone completely off the reservation to borrow an americanism, wonder whether he will start at all once simmons is right again.

thought the QRU had come out last week and guaranteed graham's position - until the end of the season.

[GIGS20]

All thats needed is for the Qld Board to come out and say King Dick is safe.

You mean like this

[UnionThug]

You mean like this

Look at the date it was published...

[Alison]

Like we keep saying, it's not only hampering individual players' chances of being selected, it's also ruining the Wallabies chances of getting out of the pool stages!! Graham is damaging a lot more than just Qld rugby but the ARU seems oblivious (or ball-less) to do anything about it.

[todd4]

The Force are in the same boat though, our record is no better than the reds which must make it equally difficult for our player to make the Wallabies.

[SNOB]

Couldn't agree more Todd4. We have a few players who should be knocking on the door for selection but they are not really getting a chance to show them selves. A few wins by the team would certainly highlights individual players. Adam Coleman is a classic example he should be at the Wallaby camps and at the very least on the bench but you have to wonder if Cheika even knows he exists!
Let's hope the boys get the rub of the green this week and no stupid reffing decisions. Need to rack up the try's and take the ref out of the equation!

[boof1050]

Hmmm Rohan Hoffmann as referee this week our chances of the ref not giving dodgy decisions is looking very slim indeed.