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Country must come before state this year
John Connolly
Sunday, January 14, 2007
There has been a lot of debate during the past week about player availability and the different goals of the state bodies compared to those of the national body.
We've seen New Zealand's attitude in terms of their World Cup focus - they've pulled their top 25 players out for half of the Super 14 season and it seems South Africa intend to tread a similar path with rotation of some of their stars.
It's a complex problem and I can see both sides. We have a different situation here from New Zealand, where state coaches are independent of some areas of the ARU.
As the game has evolved the physical component is becoming more important and national teams, such as New Zealand and Ireland, have had rebuilding phases.
State unions are also extremely conscious of their bottom line in providing value games for their supporters, yet the Wallabies want the players in the best possible condition for the World Cup in October.
England have wrestled with this problem since the game embraced professionalism, and after spending 2 years there, I understand the situation well.
Unfortunately, with these decisions the players are caught in the middle. All want to perform well for their province but their ultimate goal is to play well for their country. They know that to represent their country, they need to play well for their state.
With the fallout over the past week or so, we need to be clear on a couple of issues.
We have a strong players' association under the presidency of Tony Dempsey and normally we have a collective bargaining agreement.
This ensures the players have the correct amount of rest between seasons and sufficient holidays to help them recharge for the following year.
Unfortunately, in a World Cup year, the Super 14 season has been brought forward, squeezing the off-season for the players.
So, in conjunction with the players' association, the ARU and the state CEOs, a restricted training agreement (RTA) was agreed to.
This entailed a number of issues about the rest, preparation and welfare of the players.
Part of the agreement was for players to be rested during the Super 14. I met the state coaches in December and we stated this would be enforced only on a needs basis, not a compulsory basis.
It was also adjusted to allow Waratahs hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, part of our elite 22-man squad, to play in the trials.
The rest of the players we deemed required a very strong physical preparation, which would limit their January training under the auspices of national fitness coach Jason Webber with the state fitness coaches.
There's no doubt they may well be underdone for the first couple of Super 14 games, but we thought there would be a long-term gain.
It's disappointing these things are played out in public. It is something rugby must avoid in future.
For rugby to go forward in this country we need goodwill and a willingness from all parties to find middle ground.
I don't think the New Zealand model, where players sit out, would be good here because we have different needs.
It is a massive year physically for the players. We are asking them to start priming in January and expecting them to keep up the standard until mid-October.
On Friday, the ARU and the players' association, in consultation with Ewen McKenzie from the Waratahs and Laurie Fisher at the Brumbies, released a statement that says we will allow a few players to participate in the second half of the last trial to prepare themselves for the opening Super 14 game. Players would need to request a hit-out.
It's a good compromise and I'm sure we've learned an important lesson from all this. By the time the next World Cup comes around in New Zealand, to perform we'll need to start carefully planning in advance.
The ARU started planning to get the RTA in place in the middle of last year. Even after six months of planning, it's hard to find middle ground that serves all bodies. The support and understanding of Fisher and McKenzie has been encouraging.