Western Force 2017
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Melchior
Herbert Moran (7)
Had to happen. The force need a cleanout of Augean proportions beginning with the coaching staff.
Don't think anyone in the west bears him any ill will. He had the most difficult job in super rugby. Was always personable and approachable at his time at the force and always backed his team no matter how badly they performed.
Wish him well in all his future endeavours on and off the rugby pitch.
Don't think anyone in the west bears him any ill will. He had the most difficult job in super rugby. Was always personable and approachable at his time at the force and always backed his team no matter how badly they performed.
Wish him well in all his future endeavours on and off the rugby pitch.
The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
+1 from me Melchoir
I personally appreciate everything he's put into the job but unfortunately as a head coach he's shown that he's not up to it. Great forwards coach though.
I personally appreciate everything he's put into the job but unfortunately as a head coach he's shown that he's not up to it. Great forwards coach though.
neilc
Bob Loudon (25)
Good attitude in your comment. I am sure Foley wanted the best but it wasn't working so change was needed. Apparently he was a very good forwards/set piece coach but maybe not a head coach.
I think that the ARU certainly need to look at the balance of players that they get over there - place a few key personnel at the Force to improve them, and find a coaching team that is creative and works well in developing players. It's more than just the head coach - look at the Chiefs and Highlanders - they have developed good coaches in all of their assistant roles. Don't recruit journeyman players from SA and NZ - decent enough players but lacking the spark that the team needs. Start with the number 10 - successful teams always have a good 10. I'd really like to see the Force doing well.
M
Moono75
Guest
It was certainly on the cards and there needed to be clear and concise action taken which communicated to Force members and supporters that the hard decisions would be made to effect the changes necessary to turn this around.
Michael Foley came into a hard rugby environment in the West and by no means can the current predicament be pinned entirely on his shoulders. The club and players all played a role. He comes across as a genuinely nice guy, I thank him for the work he put in at the club and wish him the best for the future.
Dave Wessels in the hot seat for the last couple of games.
Michael Foley came into a hard rugby environment in the West and by no means can the current predicament be pinned entirely on his shoulders. The club and players all played a role. He comes across as a genuinely nice guy, I thank him for the work he put in at the club and wish him the best for the future.
Dave Wessels in the hot seat for the last couple of games.
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
The chronicle of a death foretold.
The appointment of Foley as Force HC was if anything even more disastrous for the always-fragile Force than the catastrophe of Graham as HC of the Reds. The Reds have the local support base to permit some kind of credible recovery, the Force have a fraction of that - chronic team losses and an awful playing style can destroy its shallow base and the damage may be irreversible.
Both failures were entirely predictable. How RugbyWA thought a coach that had singularly failed to get even tolerable results from the best playing roster in Australia would enter the Force and transform its fortunes is totally inexplicable.
Not only are such woeful managerial misjudgements an indictment of the then WARugby board, they are just as much an indictment of an institutional governance model from the ARU board down that permits the ARU board to stand by idly and see these reckless and incompetent HC decisions being made.
That was quick, but not entirely unexpected.
Spin the chocolate wheel to see who is available.
With RWC 4 years away, some top notch coaches may be keen to take on a challenge, with a chance of picking up a RWC 19 gig in a year or two, or to resurrect their career following a post RWC15 sacking.
Spin the chocolate wheel to see who is available.
With RWC 4 years away, some top notch coaches may be keen to take on a challenge, with a chance of picking up a RWC 19 gig in a year or two, or to resurrect their career following a post RWC15 sacking.
We need to thank the Force for taking Foley on.
Without that happening, Waratahs and subsequently Wallabies would not have secured the services of The Great Cheika.
Without that happening, Waratahs and subsequently Wallabies would not have secured the services of The Great Cheika.
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
HJ - the issue will come down to whether the Force - after being reamed to near-death by two incompetent HCs in sequence - is on the edge of an irreversible death spiral, or not.
The ARU - the Force's new owner - cannot afford to go back to the 2006 model of paying big $ for a new core group of say 6-8 elite players, it'd be destroying its own policies.
The Force's crowd and sponsorship positions are at non-viable levels and the only proven way up is consistently winning more matches than they lose and playing an engaging brand of rugby.
But how now will they get the players with which to do that? Any any proven coach will surely fear that a rugby version of the Bermuda Triangle has emerged in Perth and they may never be found again once venturing there.
The only likely option will be a largely unproven coach on the rise who's willing to take a substantial career risk. And that in itself is very risky when surely the Force as an enterprise is on its very last chance.
The dice are loaded against the Force as they always were. All WA rugby-related board, managerial and coaching decisions and policies had to be repetitively top-notch for the Force to have any chance of sustained prosperity. When incompetence and poor choices overtook events, the die was cast.
chiraag
Larry Dwyer (12)
I was hoping they'd keep him on as forwards coach.
Hopefully they did at least offer him that, but he turned it down and quit as a result so didn't have to pay out his contract....probably wishful thinking though
BarneySF
Bob Loudon (25)
IIRC he tabled that idea at the Waratahs but it wasn't agreed to?
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He left the Waratahs whilst head coach to take the head coaching gig at the Force. He wasn't sacked.
Brumby Runner
David Wilson (68)
It"d take a World wide search to find a suitable head coach in the Ballymore car park.
Not sure that the Force/ARU have the resources to conduct a world wide search of the Ballymore car park.
Not sure that the Force/ARU have the resources to conduct a world wide search of the Ballymore car park.
Brumby Runner
David Wilson (68)
Ah, but I hear that one Nick Stiles might be roaming the car park atm. Not true?
neilc
Bob Loudon (25)
Maybe since the ARU have taken over the Force they need to use it as an opportunity to put whatever coaching resources they need at the time in - not just appoint a new HC and assistants but use some of the coaches who have been on their pathways, and bring in specialist resources when needed - the Wallabies scrum coach etc. Maybe engage with the WA rugby community of coaches etc and see what their input can be - use this as a chance to really build on the community that they have and hopefully develop more players. Emerging players from around the country will look for opportunities to get playing time - and maybe look at some of the Japanese players looking for offshore opps - Hendrik Tui has been really good for the Reds this season.
topgun
Billy Sheehan (19)
Benn Robinson for joint head coach and Premier of Western Australia. You'd have a mortgage on that trophy.
In all seriousness I can see a few options
Laurie Fisher
Stuart Lancaster
Matt O'Connor
Nick Stiles
Todd Blackadder
Ewen Mckenzie(Please be available!)
Dingo Deans
Joe Schmidt(if you believe rumours)
Warren Gatland(after that chiefs game, do you really want him?)
It gets more far-fetched as it goes on...
In all seriousness I can see a few options
Laurie Fisher
Stuart Lancaster
Matt O'Connor
Nick Stiles
Todd Blackadder
Ewen Mckenzie(Please be available!)
Dingo Deans
Joe Schmidt(if you believe rumours)
Warren Gatland(after that chiefs game, do you really want him?)
It gets more far-fetched as it goes on...
ChargerWA
Mark Loane (55)
It's a positive step. I bear Foley no will ill and respect him for mutually parting ways without enforcing the next year. He saved the organisation hundreds of thousands of dollars they can't really afford with that kind gesture.
But the next step is just window dressing unless they do something to address the structural issue of playing talent distribution within Australian Rugby. To expect WA to self support from a pool of under 2000 senior players is ludicrous.
If they think a new head coach will turn the entire problem around they might as well move the franchise to Western Sydney now.
But the next step is just window dressing unless they do something to address the structural issue of playing talent distribution within Australian Rugby. To expect WA to self support from a pool of under 2000 senior players is ludicrous.
If they think a new head coach will turn the entire problem around they might as well move the franchise to Western Sydney now.
Scrubber2050
Mark Ella (57)
Reckon the Force would all of the above.
Also send over say 5 Tahs to bolster ranks
Folau, Kepu, Hooper, Phipps and Horne
All for the good of our game
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