Tonight's Force Member's Meeting Roll Call

[chibi]

Giteau and Rona as a centre-pairing?! Who would have thought?!

[vulcan]

if they are going to hold more of these forums would it be possible to move them around as its a long way for some people

[Alison]

if they are going to hold more of these forums would it be possible to move them around as its a long way for some people

That's a fair point. May be worth you dropping Jessica Wedlake a quick email to ask? I'm sure they will be as accommodating as they can.

[AndyS]

...biggest change in the way the club operates is to utilise all the resources available now through the ARU and High performance academy...access to data to better understand players training...access to others who have eyes on the ground over east for player recruitment...not to try to just meet that current standard, but more predict where the game is evolving to in the next few years and meet or beat everyone to that point.

Can't say any of that would mean much. All those things from the HPU would be equally available to the other teams for the asking, and from the sounds of it the "eyes on the ground" may even be theirs. Certainly none of it says that they would be prepared to bid for a player against the other teams, or do any of the things that might get up their noses to our benefit. And the last is just meaningless when we (and the ARU) have singularly failed to figure out what the current standard is, let alone the future. All in all though, it just sounds like same old, same old - better stats and more recruiting over east is going to do nothing; we'll still be fifth choice of five.

...On recruitment he said that the preference will be to develop our own players from the school system through the Future Force program with a goal of hopefully having about 60% local content in the squad in years to come.. He said this is preferable to bringing in players from overseas both from a cost and /or ability reasons...He said the ARU will help identify young players over east with potential and encourage them to move west as opportunities arise...

This on the other hand is potentially interesting. Not the last bit - frankly that is just cringeable s***. They'll encourage players who can't get any interest from closer to home to move, the implication being that they'll still be better than anyone here...well thanks so much! But the idea of an actual commitment to developing local players would be great if real. We get first choice of local players, fifth of imports, so I'd rather have a local player developing his game than some import even if he initially begins 20% behind. But...I would have much preferred to hear that there was actually a material commitment from the ARU to fund that development structure and the underlying systems well into the future. After all, we are starting decades behind in the money spent on rugby, if not a century. Words and plans are fine, but show us something where the rubber hits the road.

[MI5_Dog]

This on the other hand is potentially interesting. Not the last bit - frankly that is just cringeable s***. They'll encourage players who can't get any interest from closer to home to move, the implication being that they'll still be better than anyone here...well thanks so much! But the idea of an actual commitment to developing local players would be great if real. We get first choice of local players, fifth of imports, so I'd rather have a local player developing his game than some import even if he initially begins 20% behind. But...I would have much preferred to hear that there was actually a material commitment from the ARU to fund that development structure and the underlying systems well into the future. After all, we are starting decades behind in the money spent on rugby, if not a century. Words and plans are fine, but show us something where the rubber hits the road.

The ARU, especially with Billy involved, are not as stupid as people make them out to be.
I expect they have recognized that the depth of players in Australian rugby is lacking and that the east coast centric rugby development has had a hand in that. With The history of the Force developing Wallabies that the east coast either didn't want or ignored and with the new 'home grown' Wallabies the Force are providing it would be stupid to ignore the depth of talent that the West has to offer. Melbourne and Canberra don't offer the same pool of players (I'm assuming) as Perth does.
What does it hurt the ARU to continue to fund a 'Future Force' program?
It has been, as far as I'm concerned, a great success.

[Tazzmania]

This on the other hand is potentially interesting. Not the last bit - frankly that is just cringeable s***. They'll encourage players who can't get any interest from closer to home to move, the implication being that they'll still be better than anyone here...well thanks so much! But the idea of an actual commitment to developing local players would be great if real. We get first choice of local players, fifth of imports, so I'd rather have a local player developing his game than some import even if he initially begins 20% behind. But...I would have much preferred to hear that there was actually a material commitment from the ARU to fund that development structure and the underlying systems well into the future. After all, we are starting decades behind in the money spent on rugby, if not a century. Words and plans are fine, but show us something where the rubber hits the road.

The Future Force program is exactly what everyone is calling for to solve the issues long term. From my understanding it is funded both locally, ARU and donors. A separate members forum evening will be held on this topic alone as it is the crux of our survival. I believe that it will be both informative as to the hard work that is going on behind the scenes and an encouragement to get more of us involved.

[shasta]

I'll eat my hat if it isn't Rona - second highest try scorer in the NRL last year, on the verge of international selection, and a 'product' of WA rugby.

I keep wondering about that. Unless he's putting in a proviso or Kearney has told him he's not "in the mix", he is giving up an almost certain end of the season trip to the NH with the Kiwi squad. He either misses Rugby big time or he/his wife are terribly homesick for Perth.

P.S. Wouldn't it be interesting if he signs for the Force but his first game back in WA is the Test at NIB in October.