Melbourne Rising 2014

[Eyes and Ears]

Foketi went to Kings finishing in 2012 and played Colts at Manly in 2013.

 

[flat_eric]

How's Lloyd Johansson been doing? Slightly surprised he hasn't been able to pull a professional contract anywhere in the world for the last couple of seasons.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Looking at him and talking to people that are involved in his club, I'm not.

 

[Highlander35]

Chunky.

 

[TOCC]

Lloyd had such raw talent as a schoolboy, I remember watching one of his games the season before he signed with the Reds, his balance and handling was sublime. Even as an 18yr old he was a level above the rest of the Premier Grade players on the field that day..

I don't know what went so wrong.. Poor discipline and focus when it came to training and managing his diet/fitness?

 

[Highlander35]

Does anybody know how Telusa pulled up after the game? Went down injured after his try and JK came straight on.

 

[oztimmay]

No injury report just yet, but stay tuned. With Tom joining the wallaby squad expect some changes to come.

 

[daz]

Did anyone see the tweets that the official NRC account sent out over the weekend? Asking if the Rising squad with a heavy Super Rugby player base was "fair" to play against teams like Brisbane City, who had a higher percentage of club lads?

Firstly, if it wasn't for injury, the City team would have had significantly more Super Rugby players in the game day team.

Secondly, the Rising team is made up of players from the Super Rugby team that won the wooden spoon this year.

Thirdly, the game in Vic needs some good news and a bit of "get on board the Rising bandwagon" can only be good for the game in Vic and as a whole for the competition.

And lastly, bite me, you pack of whinging, glass-half-empty, spoil-sporting, no-clue-about-the-big-picture tossers.

Seriously, talk about a damned if you do, damned if you don't argument. All I hear is that the Rebels are second rate, and are taking up a Super Rugby spot that should go to Sth Africa/NZ/Japan/USA/Tonga/Iceland, and we are not developing any "home-grown" talent.

When we get a few wins on the board, suddenly we are a Super Rugby powerhouse that is bullying the other NRC clubs around the paddock.

The Rising doing well may just get rugby in this state a few more column inches in the paper, it may sell a few more Rebels memberships in the next Super Rugby season, it may get a player or two in a Gold jersey,and may just get a few local club players to the next level via, wait for it, developing our own talent.

ARGH.

/EndConspiracyTheoryRant

 

[Highlander35]

It's ok Daz. It's ok.

 

[oztimmay]

Did anyone see the tweets that the official NRC account sent out over the weekend? Asking if the Rising squad with a heavy Super Rugby player base was "fair" to play against teams like Brisbane City, who had a higher percentage of club lads?

Firstly, if it wasn't for injury, the City team would have had significantly more Super Rugby players in the game day team.

Secondly, the Rising team is made up of players from the Super Rugby team that won the wooden spoon this year.

Thirdly, the game in Vic needs some good news and a bit of "get on board the Rising bandwagon" can only be good for the game in Vic and as a whole for the competition.

And lastly, bite me, you pack of whinging, glass-half-empty, spoil-sporting, no-clue-about-the-big-picture tossers.

Seriously, talk about a damned if you do, damned if you don't argument. All I hear is that the Rebels are second rate, and are taking up a Super Rugby spot that should go to Sth Africa/NZ/Japan/USA/Tonga/Iceland, and we are not developing any "home-grown" talent.

When we get a few wins on the board, suddenly we are a Super Rugby powerhouse that is bullying the other NRC clubs around the paddock.

The Rising doing well may just get rugby in this state a few more column inches in the paper, it may sell a few more Rebels memberships in the next Super Rugby season, it may get a player or two in a Gold jersey,and may just get a few local club players to the next level via, wait for it, developing our own talent.

ARGH.

/EndConspiracyTheoryRant

I saw that, got a little mad, then realized I couldn't compress my rant into 140 characters and went back to whatever I was doing.

 

[daz]

It's ok Daz. It's ok.

I need a hug.

 

[Wilson]

Did anyone see the tweets that the official NRC account sent out over the weekend? Asking if the Rising squad with a heavy Super Rugby player base was "fair" to play against teams like Brisbane City, who had a higher percentage of club lads?

Firstly, if it wasn't for injury, the City team would have had significantly more Super Rugby players in the game day team.

Secondly, the Rising team is made up of players from the Super Rugby team that won the wooden spoon this year.

Thirdly, the game in Vic needs some good news and a bit of "get on board the Rising bandwagon" can only be good for the game in Vic and as a whole for the competition.

And lastly, bite me, you pack of whinging, glass-half-empty, spoil-sporting, no-clue-about-the-big-picture tossers.

Seriously, talk about a damned if you do, damned if you don't argument. All I hear is that the Rebels are second rate, and are taking up a Super Rugby spot that should go to Sth Africa/NZ/Japan/USA/Tonga/Iceland, and we are not developing any "home-grown" talent.

When we get a few wins on the board, suddenly we are a Super Rugby powerhouse that is bullying the other NRC clubs around the paddock.

The Rising doing well may just get rugby in this state a few more column inches in the paper, it may sell a few more Rebels memberships in the next Super Rugby season, it may get a player or two in a Gold jersey,and may just get a few local club players to the next level via, wait for it, developing our own talent.

ARGH.

/EndConspiracyTheoryRant

Had a look at the official NRC account (@buildcorpnrc) and I couldn't see this anywhere. I did however see it on the unofficial @nrc_australia account. As far as I know it's just run by a random fan and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

 

[daz]

Had a look at the official NRC account (@buildcorpnrc) and I couldn't see this anywhere. I did however see it on the unofficial @nrc_australia account. As far as I know it's just run by a random fan and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Did you just Watergate me? Really, I'm trying to drum up a damn good conspiracy theory and you went and "researched" the source?

I will resign the presidency as of noon tomorrow.

 

[Wilson]

Did you just Watergate me? Really, I'm trying to drum up a damn good conspiracy theory and you went and "researched" the source?

I will resign the presidency as of noon tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure you're not the first to mistake it for an official account and be justifiably outraged at some less then fair commentary.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Lloyd had such raw talent as a schoolboy, I remember watching one of his games the season before he signed with the Reds, his balance and handling was sublime. Even as an 18yr old he was a level above the rest of the Premier Grade players on the field that day..

I don't know what went so wrong.. Poor discipline and focus when it came to training and managing his diet/fitness?

I think he contracted a terminal case of "Couldn't give a fuck". Not many ever fully recover once infected. It is as severe as Ebola in some cases.

 

[FiveStarStu]

Keep in mind, a lot of the Rising (and Spirit) are fringe players as well, so the experience they're getting as a group will be beneficial for the Australian conference going forward.

More depth in the Aus conference = more Rebel and Force players in the Wobs squad = less Rebel and Force players in the NRC = more opportunities for club players and a greater spread of talent = more depth in the Aus conference.

It's the circle of life, Simba.

Posted the above in the shield thread, my opinion on why the Rising/Spirit dominance is a good (and almost definitely temporary) thing.

I honestly don't buy the conspiracy theory that this is an ARU setup to give Melbourne or Perth a trophy. If they really wanted to satisfy a core market, it'd be Sydney Stars and GSR 3 from 3.

In short

• All the players have played local rugby so are eligible to represent Victoria
• None of them were selected to play for the Wallabies so are eligible to play in the NRC
• There's only one team in the NRC fed by the Rebels so less spread of talent (apart from players with longstanding connections to other teams like Laurie Weeks and Uni)

We've been pretty bloody average for four years, and now we finally have a bit of momentum behind rugby in this state, people think we're cheating.
Meanwhile, on Thursday I'm bringing the biggest group of friends to the rugby that I've managed to since 2011.
Job done, NRC.

 

[Train Without a Station]

There's only one team in the NRC fed by the Rebels so less spread of talent (apart from players with longstanding connections to other teams like Laurie Weeks and Uni)

That's the point.

But anyway if the cry babies from QLD were so fucking concerned they should have named their squads and started training more than a couple of weeks before round 1 rather than relying on the fact they'd have 6 more Super Rugby players who didn't play and then getting caught out when they were injured or unavailable.

 

[FiveStarStu]

That's the point.

But anyway if the cry babies from QLD were so fucking concerned they should have named their squads and started training more than a couple of weeks before round 1 rather than relying on the fact they'd have 6 more Super Rugby players who didn't play and then getting caught out when they were injured or unavailable.

That's another point - the Dewar Shield players have been training as a Rising squad since the middle of their season. That's like early June.

Add in a Rebels contingent training to a similar style (albeit with different results), under the same coaching staff, with no Super Rugby finals or Wallaby selection to worry about, and you can see the results in their cohesion on the field.

This is a proper team.

 

[Train Without a Station]

I always say that to win a premiership in any sport you need a little luck to go your way. Whether that be a lucky call in the odd game or injuries. Brisbane have had zero in injuries and the Rising plenty in theirs. That's nothing anybody can do anything about.

 

[Jagman]

What I think is funny is that when a Brisbane team loses to Rising by 60 points there's something wrong with the competition and how it spreads the Super Rugby talent but when 2 Sydney teams lose to them by 20-30 points a Sydney team needs to be dropped!