Waratahs 2014

[Dave Beat]

First 3 games Lucas was very instrumental in the performance, and the solid victories. As i said in the Shute thread Uni really hit the clean out and this caused a step back and pass, and extra second. Not sure Manly's 8 will let that happen again - I've been thinking when is Lucas going to be called up. He didn't have a bad game against uni, he just didn't have the impact in the first 3.

 

[Quick Hands]

The first 3 games were fairly easy wins though Dave. The bigger Uni pack was a different story. You're right to the extent he didn't play badly, I don't think it was a performance which would get him into a Super team though.

All high quality halves have a running game, which serves to take the pressure off their back line and question opposition pillar/post defence (esp the blindside). Lucas' size counts against him and he rarely runs for that reason I assume. He does have the best pass of the 3.

Phipps never runs either, has an inconsistent pass and can't kick to save himself. He was ordinary at the Rebels last year and hasn't really done enough to claim the spot IMO .

Of the 3 McKibbin has the best all round game and I thought his game really came on in 2013. He's robust enough to run with the ball and take on the defence when needed. I'm not saying he's the world's best half, but to say I surprised that Phipps is selected ahead of him would be an understatement.

It's not like we have the nation's best halves at our disposal unfortunately.

 

[Quick Hands]

That pommy winger got a nice dumping over the sideline.

Good tackle, but on a winger hemmed in against the sideline. You'd like to think all first grade footballers would have made that tackle.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

That pommy winger got a nice dumping over the sideline.

Good tackle, but on a winger hemmed in against the sideline. You'd like to think all first grade footballers would have made that tackle.

Sh*t - we've got test veterans who would miss that tackle

 

[Quick Hands]

Waratahs are still refusing to publish crowd figures - which just makes the, look completely stupid.

While looking for the crowd, I came across a couple of previous crowds:

39,363 02/04/05 Rugby Union S12: Waratahs v Crusaders 38,671 17/04/04 Rugby Union S12: Waratahs v Hurricanes
http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums_crowds.php?id=9

Now that's an indictment on 10 years of mismanagement and poor coaching if ever there was one.

(I don't include the current coach in that criticism)

 

[Inside Shoulder]

39,363 02/04/05 Rugby Union S12: Waratahs v Crusaders 38,671 17/04/04 Rugby Union S12: Waratahs v Hurricanes
http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums_crowds.php?id=9

Made me almost weep: that cannot be due to changing demographics or a more crowded sporting landscape.

 

[oztimmay]

Think around that time you had a few loig shenadigans (bulldog salary cap etc...) and we had a never of really good waratahs playing in a really good team. Think it's a combination of product quality and external influences, which I think is the same issue right now. AFL was strong at the time , so I think it's more a loig thing.

 

[p.Tah]

Waratahs are still refusing to publish crowd figures - which just makes the, look completely stupid.

SMH said 15,500 for the Bulls game

 

[Quick Hands]

Made me almost weep: that cannot be due to changing demographics or a more crowded sporting landscape

Entirely self-inflicted.

 

[Quick Hands]

Think around that time you had a few loig shenadigans (bulldog salary cap etc.) and we had a never of really good waratahs playing in a really good team. Think it's a combination of product quality and external influences, which I think is the same issue right now. AFL was strong at the time , so I think it's more a loig thing.

League crowds almost exactly the same as they are now. We can't use that as an excuse.

2003 3,132,046 16,228 81,166 4,125
2004 2,937,130 15,540 82,127 5,648
2005 3,278,426 17,346 82,453 6,053
2006 3,115,887 16,486 79,609 4,850
2007 3,332,638 16,580 81,392 4,168
2008 3,279,663 16,317 80,388 5,102
2009 3,434,233 17,086 82,538 6,232
2010 3,490,670 17,453 82,334 6,478
2011 3,464,120 17,234 81,988 5,703
2012 3,480,066 17,400 82,976 5,778
2013 3,345,062 16,725 81,491 5,288
2014 856,692 15,865 43,255 6,456
37,146,633 16,748 82,976 4,125
http://www.austadiums.com/sport/comp.php?sid=2

Table records aggregate, average, highest and lowest in that order

 

[Pfitzy]

Parra v Tigers got 50k at Homebush today. I'd like to think Tahs v Brumbies in a few weeks at the same venue could get at least 40k

 

[Crashy]

You could argue that the tahs crowd averages for 2014 at teh SFS are currently substantially higher than in 2013.
There was a rain affected crowd of 11k and the Cheetahs game attracted 13k. The lowest crowd this year at the SFS has been about 15,500 with 3 more games to go and 2 being arvo ones. Still dreadfully low....shame on us Tahs fans - I try and do everyone to bring people along and they have fun but the numbers are shocking. I reckon the Force will come close to 20k next weekend which will put us to shame... A big Brumbies crowd in a month should change things for the better but if it rains again like the Reds game then we're in strife...

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

You could argue that the tahs crowd averages for 2014 at teh SFS are currently substantially higher than in 2013.
There was a rain affected crowd of 11k and the Cheetahs game attracted 13k. The lowest crowd this year at the SFS has been about 15,500 with 3 more games to go and 2 being arvo ones. Still dreadfully low..shame on us Tahs fans - I try and do everyone to bring people along and they have fun but the numbers are shocking. I reckon the Force will come close to 20k next weekend which will put us to shame. A big Brumbies crowd in a month should change things for the better but if it rains again like the Reds game then we're in strife.

I have to add myself to that group. At the beginning of the season I was hoping to get to most if not all of the home games but I've had to work nearly every Saturday and haven't been able to.

 

[Badger]

Parra v Tigers got 50k at Homebush today. I'd like to think Tahs v Brumbies in a few weeks at the same venue could get at least 40k

I think they would be happy to get 25K. Even if they don't, they will be able to "massage" the numbers to get there.

I have to add myself to that group. At the beginning of the season I was hoping to get to most if not all of the home games but I've had to work nearly every Saturday and haven't been able to.

Still two Sunday arvo games to come!

 

[Forcefield]

I would have thought that the GFC would have a fairly big impact on attendance figures. The Force had an average crowd of around 25k for the first two years. A few years with limited success, Subi Oval being a shit venue and a couple of other factors hurt, but not as much as the GFC did in my opinion.

 

[Quick Hands]

I wouldn't have thought that the GFC would have anything to do with it. I think we're clutching at straws if we're going to use that one.

Look at the league crowds, basically no change between 2003 and 2013 and we're trying to blame the GFC for lack of crowds?

Not sure if the GFC hit Perth harder than Sydney, but close to zero effect here on crowds.

What we did have was an HFC (Hickey Foley Crisis) aided and abetted by NSWRU management which served up such rubbish that people stopped going. Crowds of 35-40,000 plummeted to as low as 12,000 and now flatline around the 15,000 mark. Despite having a marketing guru as CEO, there's virtually no marketing and the huge drop-off in crowds has meant less money to do promotion anyway.

We're in a deep deep hole, and we dug it all on our own. Forget the GFC, Saddam Hussein, the War on Terror, Bird Flu or anything else.

Saturday night's crowd of 15,000 against a SAF team means we should be drawing 25,000 against Aussie and NZ teams, but we haven't so far.

Over the Easter weekend the NRL played 2 matches at Homebush during the Easter Show (4pm kick-offs). One drew 42,000 and the other drew over 50,000. In both cases, that's at least double the crowd that those matches would have drawn in the normal course of the season.

So there's some evidence that we might try something similar in 2015, remembering that we have a contractual obligation to play 2 matches a year there anyway and we choose to play the Reds and Brumbies, but have only drawn 25,000 to those matches in the last couple of years. We could try and play an NZ team at Homebush during the show next Easter, promote it and see if it works any better than what we are doing at the moment. The SFS can comfortably hold the 25,000 that the Reds and Brumbies have drawn recently.

Note that the Homebush agreement was signed in the Halcyon days of 35,000 crowds and I assume it was thought that Reds and Brumbies matches, which used to pack out the SFS would draw 40,000 plus at Homebush. How times change. As things stand, we'd be lucky to draw 40,000 or even 30,000 to a home semi IMO.

 

[Pfitzy]

I wouldn't have thought that the GFC would have anything to do with it. I think we're clutching at straws if we're going to use that one.

Agreed - the GFC hit Australia far less than it did the rest of the world. You only have to look around at the price of housing in Sydney to figure that out. Perth is even more bonkers. Perhaps the increased mortgages have something to do with it, but the smart person buys a Bronze ticket and goes and sits in the Platinum seats.

When I was buying "Platinum" ten years ago they were about $44. Now they're only about $60. So that isn't it.

Speaking of which: part of the problem appears to be the number of "Platinum" seats has grown alarmingly. Maybe they should make the Gold area bigger on the lower tier at the SFS and get more people in? Barely anyone is sitting in the Bronze area from the games I've attended. and the "Silver" section is practically nonexistent.

What we did have was an HFC (Hickey Foley Crisis) aided and abetted by NSWRU management which served up such rubbish that people stopped going. Crowds of 35-40,000 plummeted to as low as 12,000 and now flatline around the 15,000 mark.

However - Hickey did come within a bee's dick of a premiership, and we consistently finished near the top of the table with boring rugby. If we had won a premiership or two during his tenure, no-one would give a lonely fuck how boring we were. Look at the Reds - they're still getting crowds off the back of a blessed run in 2011... and the fact that there is no other sport on in Brisbane the night of a Reds game.

Despite having a marketing guru as CEO, there's virtually no marketing and the huge drop-off in crowds has meant less money to do promotion anyway.

This comes back to the utter arrogance of the Sydney Rugby fraternity, living in the past. They just expected the same people to keep turning up regardless, and put the money into greasing up their mates rather than looking for green fields. This period also coincides with a general decline in the interest of rugby due to the Wallabies being shit.

Saturday night's crowd of 15,000 against a SAF team means we should be drawing 25,000 against Aussie and NZ teams, but we haven't so far.

If the Hurricanes beat the Reds, and we beat the Blues, then this weekend we'll crack 20K I reckon due to the Kiwi expats fronting up to cheer. If we win THAT game, once again the bye kills our crowd-boner, and its a Sunday versus the Lions to see if the families want in; the problem is its not a Kiwi team, and the next two weeks are away from home.

How the fuck can you build crowd momentum if half the potential attendees don't have Foxtel?

But the Easter Show game against a Kiwi team would probably bring a lot of expats and country folk so its worth exploring. The derby games should be kept at the SFS because its a better setting for what is a marquee game.

Still, you can't get the coaches to break away from the "win at all costs - Wallaby jerseys on the line" approach there.

 

[Stands]

I was at ANZ Stadium yesterday for the Wests v Parra game (my first league game since watching the Bears play at Nth Sydney oval). Talk about getting the crowd excited, those 50,000 fans were going crazy. Makes a big difference if it costs only $20 per adult I guess. I couldn't believe how many kids were there enjoying themselves it was a real family outing.

 

[TOCC]

The reason for poor crowds were that the Waratahs were playing boring rugby, choking at the big games and dispute been full of Wallabies didn't really have any really marketable players.

Who were the marketable players through those years, Sailor and Tuqiri were but off-field issues really thwarted leveraging that. Phil Waugh was a stalwart but he had a face only a mother could love, wasn't exactly marketable material.

Tahs have a real chance to rebuild under the new administration, KB (Kurtley Beale) and Izzy are entertaining and marketable, Cheika seems to be coaching them pretty well.. But talking to the average rugby punter in Sydney, it's going to take a bit more then just one season for the crowds to flock back.

 

[Tomikin]

The reason for poor crowds were that the Waratahs were playing boring rugby, choking at the big games and dispute been full of Wallabies didn't really have any really marketable players.

Who were the marketable players through those years, Sailor and Tuqiri were but off-field issues really thwarted leveraging that. Phil Waugh was a stalwart but he had a face only a mother could love, wasn't exactly marketable material.

Tahs have a real chance to rebuild under the new administration, KB (Kurtley Beale) and Izzy are entertaining and marketable, Cheika seems to be coaching them pretty well.. But talking to the average rugby punter in Sydney, it's going to take a bit more then just one season for the crowds to flock back.

Cheika done a lot of good things for the Tahs. Playing a uptempo fun game. The poker face was good too.

But theres a few cracks.. The breaking of the door at GIO. His been a bit whinge and the abuse of the camera man..His getting nigglely and the players are as well on the field.. The laughing at every call that doesnt go his way (I know in the coaches box but its shown on fox)

I know its high pressure but parents see this stuff and keep the kids away.

Maybe he should use his own advice and Poker face bit more it might help get crowds there.





Maybe he needs the poker face

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