Australian Rugby / RA

[formerflanker]

I feel sorry for the very good club rugby players whose ambitions to play at Super level were largely ignored in Raelene's article.

 

[RedsHappy]

Well I do agree she's been a bit stitched up by the headline, which wasn't her choice.

But if you're expecting a conclusive plan in a 500 word piece in the Friday paper you need to adjust your expectations.

What the article did was focus on the two areas where there is the most angst at present - Super Rugby and schools.

What more could she have said? They are trying to fix the problem. They have strategies in place that may fix each problem. And then she gave some information about each strategy.

I'll reiterate my original question RN - what would you have liked her to say? Because really she said all she could, without making sweeping statements or promises she can't keep.
.

The real question is, or will very soon become, are these vague and anodyne 'strategies' (I'm not sure they deserve quite that name, but anyway) adequate and in-depth enough to 'fix each problem'?

Is the appointment of Rod Kafer to head some still highly undefined program to 'improve coaching and coaching co-operation' in Australian rugby the right and most optimal 'strategy' to urgently rebuild and enlarge Australian rugby's depth of effective, modern rugby coaches where most badly needed?

Is saying 'we are seeking better alignment and co-operation' (and other relatively vague notions) amongst Australian rugby's disparate parts and functions a credible, defined and urgent enough action plan to arrest the calamitous decline in Australian pro rugby and related crowd numbers?

Ms Castle has the current luxury of novelty and the related ability to speak in vagaries and loosely aspirant notes of encouragement. The harder facts are her predecessor's problems, for now.

But what will matter are the facts that remain on the ground and how they unfold this year and next. Sooner than many think, serious changes to the way the code is run in this country will be required to avoid its mutation into an essentially amateur, hobby sport for weekend fun on the outskirts of two of our cities.

 

[Gnostic]

I feel sorry for the very good club rugby players whose ambitions to play at Super level were largely ignored in Raelene's article.

Can't happen under the current contracting structure. The "identified talent" gets locked in and the money is thus used up regardless of outcomes and success. Eg. Quade etc. Imagine if we had the players genuinely competing to be in the team instead of offering five year contracts to blokes and locking in that expenditure. Its gambling nothing more.

 

[Derpus]

Can't happen under the current contracting structure. The "identified talent" gets locked in and the money is thus used up regardless of outcomes and success. Eg. Quade etc. Imagine if we had the players genuinely competing to be in the team instead of offering five year contracts to blokes and locking in that expenditure. Its gambling nothing more.

You'd have even more people going to NRL or AFL for job security.

I like the sentiment but it's a fairly shit idea. There is a growing body of evidence that incentive based contracts don't improve outcomes.

 

[Gnostic]

You'd have even more people going to NRL or AFL for job security.



I like the sentiment but it's a fairly shit idea. There is a growing body of evidence that incentive based contracts don't improve outcomes.

Depends on the structure and the performance measurement metrics. The bullshit they use now days rewards people for achieving paper based improvements, very little in actual real world performance. In a rugby context Hickey and Foley type KPIs not real world measurements like a basic win:loss which I don't particularly like, or a better skills execution type metric of which there are plenty of numbers for.

Current management don't like outcomes focussed incentives because it is limiting on them, they prefer process based systems which are easy to meet and are divorced from actual results.

 

[Braveheart81]

Unless you don't have competition or you're easily the most desirable organisation to work for due to other reasons, you probably never get to dictate contract terms that are inferior to your competitors.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I'm being pedantic here (yes, I used to be a ref) but Jones is saying AFL PLUS soccer teams, not AFL only as you infer.

I think it’s a disjunctive “and” because otherwise it would be otiose since in many schools there are more soccer teams and have been for some time.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

‘The positive, though, is that the sport is driven by passionate rugby people all over Australia, including players, officials, volunteers, administrators, former players, coaches and fans who all want to see rugby thrive.’
Board members not included in the list!

 

[cyclopath]

I think it’s a disjunctive “and” because otherwise it would be otiose since in many schools there are more soccer teams and have been for some time.

Learned meself a new word, I did.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

“We will bid aggressively to win the rights to host the 2021 Women’s World Cup and 2027 Rugby World Cup. Securing these pinnacle events will drive participation, engage new fans and importantly, create new revenue for our game.‘
So the cunning plan is to hope for a silver bullet 9 years from now.

 

[RedsHappy]

‘The positive, though, is that the sport is driven by passionate rugby people all over Australia, including players, officials, volunteers, administrators, former players, coaches and fans who all want to see rugby thrive.’
Board members not included in the list!

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Learned meself a new word, I did.

You’ll be giving it a work out I’m sure - there’s a shitload if it around

 

[Aurelius]

Learned meself a new word, I did.

It'a a perfectly cromulent word.

 

[Braveheart81]

Thanks to Inside Shoulder for his work to embiggen the vocabulary of the forum.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Thanks to Inside Shoulder for his work to embiggen the vocabulary of the forum.

‘Kinoath

 

[sidelineview]

She recognises the challenge of keeping talented schoolboys in the game and says "
We are reviewing our contracting system specifically to address this issue and will announce some changes in this area shortly,"


It will be interesting to see how this idea comes to fruition.

 

[cyclopath]

You’ll be giving it a work out I’m sure - there’s a shitload if it around

Today, my work day was discombobulated by the torpid and gormless. It was, in fact, otiose.

 

[joeyjohnz]

Like the ARU, we're becoming intoxicated with the exuberance of our own verbosity. It's otiose

 

[Rugbynutter39]

https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/rug...should-go-it-alone/ar-AAxtpRU?ocid=spartandhp

I wonder if RA have finally smelled the roses or more the rotting horseshit that is Super Rugby as alarm bells should be starting to ring when you finally get the media cottoning onto what has been the gradual destruction of rugby over last decade and sped up over recent years. They could cut to one oz Super rugby team and it would be highly doubtful it could be financial sustainable to attract viewers.

This code is in crisis due to RA lack of strategic foresight to foresee the challenges - too little too late...small changes won't cut it at this point. A revolution or nothing as most like me have deserted Super Rugby and deserted rugby altogether or for rusted on (read: partially peeling off ) like me finding alternatives like Shute Shield and Twiggy Ball.

RA is not just equipped to lead the revolution so probably more subtle breakaway groups like twiggy ball that will...

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/rug...should-go-it-alone/ar-AAxtpRU?ocid=spartandhp

I wonder if RA have finally smelled the roses or more the rotting horseshit that is Super Rugby as alarm bells should be starting to ring when you finally get the media cottoning onto what has been the gradual destruction of rugby over last decade and sped up over recent years. They could cut to one oz Super rugby team and it would be highly doubtful it could be financial sustainable to attract viewers.

This code is in crisis due to RA lack of strategic foresight to foresee the challenges - too little too late.small changes won't cut it at this point. A revolution or nothing as most like me have deserted Super Rugby and deserted rugby altogether or for rusted on (read: partially peeling off ) like me finding alternatives like Shute Shield and Twiggy Ball.

RA is not just equipped to lead the revolution so probably more subtle breakaway groups like twiggy ball that will.

I honestly think RA need to start seriously looking to mend the burnt bridge with Forrest over the Force debacle and engage in serious talks about using the NRC as the basis for the IPRC. It has the domestic bases already in place as well as the Drua. The Force are already scheduled to play Hong Kong and a Japanese squad. Which could be added to form a 10 team competition. What more the three non-domestic teams could supply Women's teams to the mix alongside the means so we could reasonably add them to the Super W to make it an 8 at least an 8 team competition.