Australian Rugby / RA

[RugbyReg]

Link was essentially given free reign at RA. He inserted himself into many aspects of the business/organisation that would normally have nothing to do with being coach of the Wallabies (and was given that right by Pulver).

He did that at the Reds. Sat on the Senior LEadership Team Meetings (as you'd expect him too) but took the time to walk the floor and chat to staff about their work and what they were trying to achieve. Was always forthcoming with suggestions and ideas. He really has a brilliant mind. A great loss to the code. Would take him as a CEO or coach.

 

[Braveheart81]

He did that at the Reds. Sat on the Senior LEadership Team Meetings (as you'd expect him too) but took the time to walk the floor and chat to staff about their work and what they were trying to achieve. Was always forthcoming with suggestions and ideas. He really has a brilliant mind. A great loss to the code. Would take him as a CEO or coach.

I agree with all those things pretty much.

I think it ended up being a big part of his downfall as Wallabies coach though.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I may be way off the mark BH and I readily concede you have more links/contacts than I have, but it was my distinct understanding and belief that the Patstpn affair was the sole reason leading to Link's untimely departure. I have never seen it claimed or reported that he spent too much time on what might be termed managerial issues not directly associated with the Team.

I would be hard pressed to believe that without the Patston matter Link would have faced the sack as Wallabies coach before his contract expired.

 

[Adam84]

I’m sorry but Dicks Mannifesto reads that of someone who is completely out of touch, his heydays were in the 60s and it appears his values and acceptance haven’t progressed on since then.. Whilst he has some valid points it’s completely lost in the noise of him expressing his own personal differences with individuals, and not the broader organisation change as he would have us to believe.

The fact he has penned this article, and quoted unnamed wallaby tellingly dick how good he is and why he is so qualified and worthy of offering his opinion is cringeworthy reading at best.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Not sure if some posters are naive or if it just feeds into their narrative of everything is the Tahs or certain players fault.

If you can't read between the lines of McKenzie's downfall, it maybe best to remain silent on the matter.

 

[Slim 293]

It was something to do with AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)’s mum, right?

 

[Derpus]

Not sure if some posters are naive or if it just feeds into their narrative of everything is the Tahs or certain players fault.

If you can't read between the lines of McKenzie's downfall, it maybe best to remain silent on the matter.

Man who gives a flying fuck what happened now? Nothing to be gained dwelling on that long gone shit.

 

[Pfitzy]

Man who gives a flying fuck what happened now? Nothing to be gained dwelling on that long gone shit.

Queenslanders never forget, never forgive.

 

[barbarian]

I’m sorry but Dicks Mannifesto reads that of someone who is completely out of touch, his heydays were in the 60s and it appears his values and acceptance haven’t progressed on since then...

Is it just me, or does it feel like there's a growing distance between the old greyhairs of Sydney clubland and the rest of the rugby masses?

Between Dick Marks and David Leckie in the Oz we've had the same old rubbish trotted out again this week. Raelene is a disaster because she 'doesn't understand the game' and the rot started when we stopped caring about the Shute Shield.

The common theme to these criticisms is always a lack of any real ideas to fix things, beyond just putting the old boys in charge and getting back to 'the way we used to do it'.

For whatever reason these oldies are never pressed on their strategies on the Giteau law and rising overseas club power, or the inclusion of Japan in SANZAAR, or the upcoming TV rights issues, or strategies to grow the game in non-traditional areas, or the solution to declining 15s participation numbers, or the lack of Aussie coaches at the top level.

I'd genuinely be interested to hear if there is any substance behind the slogans, but we never get there.

Meanwhile the rest of the rugby world is starting to realise that it is just driven by self interest, and the days of the game being run out of smokey Randwick clubhouses are long gone.
.

 

[wamberal]

Like it or not, the media uses interviews from old farts as well as from young geniuses who have all the answers, many of which are facile and contradictory. Dick Marks, incidentally, might be an old fart, but he is not an old Randwick fart. In fact I do not think he is an old Shute Shield fart at all.


If anybody, old, young, from Coogee or from Woop Woop, has got all the answers, they have got my vote. Even if they fart.


In the meantime I imagine we will have to put up with all sorts of rubbish from all corners during what is, after all, the silly season for our sport.

 

[Adam84]

Queenslanders never forget, never forgive.

the north remembers...

 

[formerflanker]

Between Dick Marks and David Leckie in the Oz we've had the same old rubbish trotted out again this week. Raelene is a disaster because she 'doesn't understand the game' and the rot started when we stopped caring about the Shute Shield.

The common theme to these criticisms is always a lack of any real ideas to fix things, beyond just putting the old boys in charge and getting back to 'the way we used to do it'.
.

The Australian has Farr-Jones and Welborne calling for RA to include Forrest in all plans.
Leckie wants better funding for clubs and schools.
Sounds like ideas to fix things to me.

 

[Jets]

I find the timing of all this strange. A year or two ago and I would have understood but things are changing, for the better in my view but we'll have to wait to find out. We have a newish CEO, new Head Coach and will have a new Chair of the Board. The pathway has been reviewed and there is a direct pathway from school to the Wallabies, with multiple entry points for players.

Marks made a huge impact on rugby as Coaching Director, the lack of focus on coaching has been a huge loos to the country. As I mentioned previously his ideas are in the past, they won't work today as the players are motivated by different things. Also the tone of the entire letter is Trumpesque, extol your own virtues and have unrealistic ideas of how to improve things.

 

[Adam84]

The Australian has Farr-Jones and Welborne calling for RA to include Forrest in all plans.
Leckie wants better funding for clubs and schools.
Sounds like ideas to fix things to me.

Lets not overlook, Leckie wants money given to the Shute Shield clubs and his good mate Phil Kearns promoted to the RA board.

He speaks of the investing in the schools, but doesn't offer a solution, where is all this money for the Shute Shield and 'investing' in schools coming from?... An idea is great, but unless there's a means to implement the idea, then an idea is all it is.

It's the same old propaganda you get from independent politicians who have no chance of actually being elected or actually come up with a practical way to implement their proposals.

 

[barbarian]

Leckie wants better funding for clubs and schools.
Sounds like ideas to fix things to me.

Two points on this.

1. It's not 'clubs and schools', it's 'Shute Shield clubs and private schools'.

2. Where does this funding come from? Are we defunding existing programs? What outcomes could this funding conceivably deliver? Sydney private schools are hardly struglling for cash, after all.

So I think my point stands. They are 'ideas' but really there is no thought or strategy behind them at all.

And I can dispute the strategic merit of doing this, as others (including RA) have.
.

 

[cyclopath]

Two points on this.

1. It's not 'clubs and schools', it's 'Shute Shield clubs and private schools'.

2. Where does this funding come from? Are we defunding existing programs? What outcomes could this funding conceivably deliver? Sydney private schools are hardly struglling for cash, after all.

So I think my point stands. They are 'ideas' but really there is no thought or strategy behind them at all.

And I can dispute the strategic merit of doing this, as others (including RA) have.
.

Yeah, funding for rugby in private schools is just bonkers. Having had a son just finish in one, and not being a rugby player but having mates who were (but dropped it) it is not lack of opportunity for boys (in this case) to play rugby. They're drifting away from it for altogether other reasons.
The massive areas of loss of schools exposure are in Government and non-GPS / CAS independent schools (in NSW) over time. I can't speak for the story in Qld and elsewhere.
As an aside, I played golf this week with a guy who is paid by AFL to get it into private schools in NSW, and he is very upbeat about how it is going. And is very, very well funded.

 

[Show-n-go]

Yeah, funding for rugby in private schools is just bonkers. Having had a son just finish in one, and not being a rugby player but having mates who were (but dropped it) it is not lack of opportunity for boys (in this case) to play rugby. They're drifting away from it for altogether other reasons.
The massive areas of loss of schools exposure are in Government and non-GPS / CAS independent schools (in NSW) over time. I can't speak for the story in Qld and elsewhere.
As an aside, I played golf this week with a guy who is paid by AFL to get it into private schools in NSW, and he is very upbeat about how it is going. And is very, very well funded.

Yep my mate works for afl nsw/act in and around juniors and pretty much has a license to print money within reason

 

[VassMan]

Yeah the funding should be used to get rugby into non traditional rugby schools. Therefore more kids are exposed to the game and not just given the option of soccer and AFL.

 

[ForceFan]

Paywalled

Wallabies Nick Farr-Jones, John Welborn open fire in rugby’s war of words
Paul Garvey - The Australian - 22 Nov 2019

World Cup-winning former captain Nick Farr-Jones and the first West Australian-born and bred Wallaby, John Welborn, have thrown their support behind Andrew Forrest’s plan to overhaul Australian rugby.

Farr-Jones, who led the Wallabies to victory in the 1991 World Cup, told The Australian Rugby Australia had made a major mistake by not embracing Mr Forrest’s support.

The iron ore magnate tried to save the Perth-based Western Force in 2017, even offering $50m in funding, but was ignored by Rugby Australia and the Force were subsequently axed from the Super Rugby competition.
Mr Forrest has since been bankrolling the Global Rapid Rugby competition, which features the Western Force.
The Australian revealed on Thursday that Mr Forrest had been in talks with Rugby WA about creating an alternative union that would have WA cut its ties with Rugby Australia and compete at international level in its own right.

Farr-Jones said outgoing Rugby Australia chairman Cameron Clyne had been “crazy” not to embrace Mr Forrest and his support, and said he understood why the mining billionaire was so frustrated by WA’s treatment. “I wouldn’t be hugely surprised if there is some significant structural changes in Rugby Australia in 2020, and I would like to think that with some of that change will come a welcoming hand for Western Australia,” he said.
Farr-Jones said he had attended last year’s Bledisloe Cup test in Perth — one of the few Wallabies Tests he has seen in recent years, such is his “disillusionment” with the game — and had been struck both by how strong rugby union was in WA and how mistreated the state had been by Rugby Australia.

“It would have been great to bring (Mr Forrest) under the umbrella because he comes up with amazing, left-field ideas and he is prepared to walk the tightrope,” Farr-Jones said.
“You can’t afford to cut the cord from people like that who can offer so much, not just in finances but in ideas.”
Farr-Jones was previously chairman of NSW Rugby Union, but said the experience left him “pretty deflated” and he was not ready to return to an administrative role in the code.

Welborn, who runs international gold producer Resolute Mining, played six Tests for the Wallabies in the 1990s and was part of the original steering committee behind Mr Forrest’s Global Rapid Rugby competition.
Such was the leadership vacuum in Australian rugby at the moment, he said, there was a strong case for WA to cut ties with Rugby Australia. “In the current climate, and with Andrew’s vision and strong support, it’s an almost compelling solution to the alternative, which is to sit in the swamp of Australian rugby’s demise.

“There needs to be new leadership. If that has to happen through a fracturing in the current federal union, bring it on.”

 

[Sully]

the north remembers.

Remembers what?