I have to admit that sometimes my first reaction to Australian losses like these is to blame it on the fact that our players seem to be drawn almost exclusively from a few private schools in Brisbane, Canberra and the north shore of Sydney, and that they must therefore be soft. But that is just my state school, coalfields background talking. After all, plenty of the blokes at those schools are bushies sent from out west to boarding school. Many of my preconceived notions about those schools were dispelled by plenty of mates I made at sydney uni who went to private schools, who were tough bastards, many of them having grown up on properties out west.
I think weaknesses in our game are mainly down to rugby not being the premier winter sport in this country - imagine all the Nathan Buckley, Gordon Tallis, Andrew Johns and Mal Meninga types we've missed out on over the years. You only need to check the numbers of registered players here compared to other big rugby nations, its on the IRB website. We really are a minnow in terms of numbers.
I say ban AFL!
AFL has robbed this country of so many athletes who should be competing for their country in sports the rest of the world plays. Not just rugby. How many quality locks, loose forward and backline players are there floating around that australian rugby could have done with? Blokes who are 2 metres tall, can run all day and can catch and kick a ball. Not to mention the amount of potentially world class fast bowlers, athletes, swimmers and rowers. (Didn't James Tomkins and Mike McKay get drafted by Aussie Rules teams but chose to keep rowing?)
This is my great hope for the Rebels, that they arouse a bit of interest in young kids down in Melbourne who will want to grow up playing rugby rather than aerial ping pong.