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Melbourne Rising 2014

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KevinO

John Hipwell (52)
Powerhouse players invited to train for a spot in the NRC team.

Sean Cressey (Flyhalf)
Tofiga Sa (Outside Centre)
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
Caught up with some of the Uni lads last night. Apparently 7 players have made the squad. I believe they are:

Craig Cowley (15)
Semo Sagapoutele/Matthew Onesemo (1/3)
Josh Tamanisau (7)
Fereti Sa'aga (1/3)
Ryan O'Sullivan(6/7/8)
Junior Nau'u (13/14/15)

Not sure who the 7th player is. Possibly George Stewart.

Good to see Ryan O'Sullivan make the squad. As a lanky backrower with not the most athletic build every seen and around 6'2 and 100kg wringing wet (or shit rig as I say to him), he is easily overlooked because he doesn't "appear" to be a footballer when you see him off the field but he would be one of the best hitters, defenders and skilled back rowers in Melbourne. In addition the bloke is tough as nails. Nicknamed "the Samoan Silencer" around the Uni boys due to his ability to cut in half any player dumb enough to run at him.

If he gets some game time I'm tipping him to perform extremely well. Doubtful we'll see him setting any records in the gym however.
 

Dave Beat

Paul McLean (56)
Caught up with some of the Uni lads last night. Apparently 7 players have made the squad. I believe they are:

Craig Cowley (15)
Semo Sagapoutele/Matthew Onesemo (1/3)
Josh Tamanisau (7)
Fereti Sa'aga (1/3)
Ryan O'Sullivan(6/7/8)
Junior Nau'u (13/14/15)

Not sure who the 7th player is. Possibly George Stewart.

Good to see Ryan O'Sullivan make the squad. As a lanky backrower with not the most athletic build every seen and around 6'2 and 100kg wringing wet (or shit rig as I say to him), he is easily overlooked because he doesn't "appear" to be a footballer when you see him off the field but he would be one of the best hitters, defenders and skilled back rowers in Melbourne. In addition the bloke is tough as nails. Nicknamed "the Samoan Silencer" around the Uni boys due to his ability to cut in half any player dumb enough to run at him.

If he gets some game time I'm tipping him to perform extremely well. Doubtful we'll see him setting any records in the gym however.


This is great, I cant wait to see them step up and get some game time, I hope they get some time starting.
I hope WA, and ACT also have starters from the local comp.
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
You won't think it's that great Dave! Apparently Ryan injured your Manly boy Jordy when they faced in "subbies" a few weeks back! Haha
 

oztimmay

Geoff Shaw (53)
Staff member
Well I assume only one side of Aami park will be open the same way it's set up for the LFL.

I'd even prefer going out to Box Hill to watch them play as long as it's not on a Friday night.


Well unless you like dodging potholes and arrows, night time footy at Box Hill is out. Daytime, well to me it's the perfect venue (no bias of course). Both player and spectator facilities are top notch, jsut need to do something about the gravel carpark.

Lakeside option isn't bad because of the proximity to the City. Despite the use of it for Rebel rising fixtures, I don't think Quins is up to it. Even with night lights. Always hated playing on a downhill slope.

Think AAMI is not a good option because there would nothing more depressing than looking at a stadium with 2K people in it.

Basically they need a venue that i mid-sized, had the right catering/playing infrastructure and can manage ticket sales/collections easily. What about a modified Victoria Park or Punt Road? (modified as in stick the posts in the middle...)
 

Melbourne Terrace

Darby Loudon (17)
The lack of real facilities in Victorian Rugby has finally bitten the game in the arse here.

The reason Melbourne Rising will not be playing at Lakeside is because South Melbourne FC have full control of the ground during their season, which starts in March and can go all the way through to December with National Premier League finals and the FFA Cup. Thus quite rightly from their perspective, they wouldn't have to think twice about not allowing rugby on their immaculate surface.

The state really needs a venue that isn't AAMI Park to be used for Rebels Youth games, NPC games and Club Finals. Even if it means building up an existing clubs ground to get it to that level.
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
That's what I thought may have been the case.

Surely one would be able to broker a deal with them. South Melbourne FC do not play there every week, as they would have away games. Something like this which could affect the feasibility of the team would surely have the ARU and NRC be flexible in their fixtures to accommodate the limited access.

I can't agree with your statement that the lack of real facilities has finally bitten the game in the arse though.

The VRU isn't exactly rolling in funds. The Rebels who are run by the VRU have already in the past year have to change full time salaried positions to part time or volunteer position due to lack of funds.

But most importantly, until this competition, which was first seriously floated 12 months ago, what need to they have for any sort of stadium? and why is it their responsibility? Most stadium infrastructure is government owned in the modern era. The NSWRU no longer own Concord as far as I'm aware and the QRU ownership of Ballymore dates back years.

For the VRU to own a similar facility it would have required massive investment for no benefit in the last 2 decades.
 

Highlander35

Andrew Slack (58)
I'm worried about AAMI. Being optimistic and saying 5k, is still going to look pretty bad in the stadium.

Has there been any indication of ticket/Membership Prices yet?

Sent from my LG-P713 using Tapatalk
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
It may be a case of their own hubris though insisting AAMI is adequate which is a shame. As it's not.
 

qwerty51

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Being the only team in Victoria why can't the Rising get the same crowd numbers as the Rebels?
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
Reduced interest due to the reduced profile of the comp. In addition the most well attended games are the NZ games due to away fans.

Not everybody who goes to a Super Rugby game will be interested in the NRC.

From there the portion of away fans that go to the Blues, Crusaders, Chiefs, Hurricanes and to a lesser extent, Highlanders, games will drop off too.
 

Melbourne Terrace

Darby Loudon (17)
That's what I thought may have been the case.

Surely one would be able to broker a deal with them. South Melbourne FC do not play there every week, as they would have away games. Something like this which could affect the feasibility of the team would surely have the ARU and NRC be flexible in their fixtures to accommodate the limited access.

I can't agree with your statement that the lack of real facilities has finally bitten the game in the arse though.

The VRU isn't exactly rolling in funds. The Rebels who are run by the VRU have already in the past year have to change full time salaried positions to part time or volunteer position due to lack of funds.

But most importantly, until this competition, which was first seriously floated 12 months ago, what need to they have for any sort of stadium? and why is it their responsibility? Most stadium infrastructure is government owned in the modern era. The NSWRU no longer own Concord as far as I'm aware and the QRU ownership of Ballymore dates back years.

For the VRU to own a similar facility it would have required massive investment for no benefit in the last 2 decades.


South Melbourne fought tooth and nail for that clause as part of the agreement to change their once rectangular ground into an athletics venue. They would no longer manage the venue as the SSCT would take over so they wanted to make sure they would be protected against this very thing happening against their will.

I'm sure they are sympathetic as they don't play there every week and have allowed rugby there in the past, but they do train there every week and it would be daft of them to allow anyone on their who would potentially ruin the turf.
 

22meter

Frank Nicholson (4)
I saw Lloyd Johansson play a couple of times, I like him, although he needs to shed a couple of pounds
 
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