Brumbies 2009

[Lee Grant]

So you're not THE Noddy. But I thought .......

 

[RugbyReg]

Drat!

My cover is blown.

 

[whocares]

maybe he should take the hint

It's sad really. when he started i thought he had potential. but he didnt get anywhere

harsh. Between me and him we have four test caps.

maybe

i think i was just comparing him to Vickerman, Horwill, Sharpe, Chisolm, MMM, and Mumm......you know all the other starting locks in S14 teams

 

[Spook]

It appears that Fishers love for Campbell was the only thing keeping him at the Brumbies .

 

[Pfitzy]

While I was working at Sydney Uni I walked past Campbell a few times in his Brumbies kit when he was in town for a visit. The bloke lacks nothing for size but every game I've seen him play, he doesn't stand up mentally. A particular low was his "leadership" of Aus A v the Maori when we got humped 50-something to zip a couple of years back. Bit of a poor man's Tommy Bowman but maybe smarter Might have impressed me if he'd thrown a few punches.... on the field - not at me

 

[Cutter]

While I was working at Sydney Uni I walked past Campbell a few times in his Brumbies kit when he was in town for a visit. The bloke lacks nothing for size but every game I've seen him play, he doesn't stand up mentally. A particular low was his "leadership" of Aus A v the Maori when we got humped 50-something to zip a couple of years back. Bit of a poor man's Tommy Bowman but maybe smarter Might have impressed me if he'd thrown a few punches.... on the field - not at me

He is big alright, just soft. The Waratahs would be better off giving a contract to the best lock in country NSW and letting Campbell get on with his post rugby life. He didnt stand out at any level I have seen him play including 2nd grade club footy.

 

[RugbyReg]

Sydney University premiership-winning prop and Australia A squad member Jerry Yanuyanutawa has been included in the Brumbies Academy for the 2009 season.

The 23-year-old front rower joins Sydney University team mate Nathan Charles as two of four newcomers to into the Academy?s Tier One level for next season.

Yanuyanutawa, nephew of Fijian rugby legend Waisale Serevi, was plucked from Sydney University?s third grade to start in the club?s 2007 Shute Shield grand final win over Eastern Suburbs. He consolidated himself in the Sydney club rugby premiers? top side this season, including a try-scoring performance in their 45-20 grand final win over Randwick, and was a bolter and the only non-Investec Super 14 player selected in the Australian A squad picked in June.

The Fijian-born prop says he?s excited about joining the extended CA Brumbies squad for 2009.

?I can?t wait to get down there and start training,? he said. ?It?s hard to believe that I?ll be training alongside the Brumbies guys when I was playing third grade in Sydney just last year ? I?m still pinching myself.

?I?ve played against Nic Henderson, Guy Shepherdson, Salesi Ma?afu and Ben Alexander in club footy and I?m really looking forward to having the opportunity to training alongside them. They?ve all had representative experience with the Wallabies or Australia A so there?s a lot I can learn from them.?

Charles, 19, joins the Brumbies Academy after representing the Australian Under 20?s during this year?s IRB Junior World Championship. The former Knox Grammar student was a member of the 2006 Australian Schoolboys alongside current CA Brumbies Peter Betham and Alfi Mafi.

Yanuyanutawa and Charles join Gordon lock Ed Gower and Warringah outside centre Pat McCabe, and existing Academy members Leo Afeaki, Talalelei Gray and Brent Hamlin as Tier One inductees of the Brumbies Academy for 2009.

CA Brumbies Head Coach Andy Friend says the intake of players represents some of the rising stars of Australian rugby.

?We?re very pleased with the balance, not only of the senior squad but the extended Academy squad as well,? he said. ?The Brumbies Academy is an invaluable tool for not only introducing players to a professional rugby program but continuing their physical and rugby development as we expose them to a Brumbies-style of rugby.

?We?ve restructured our Academy for next season into a three tier system, with our Tier One players identified as those we believe could be ready for Super 14 within the next one or two years.

?It?s very important to have succession plans for the senior squad in place and this a great opportunity for these players, particularly when you look at what guys like Ben Alexander, Sipa [Taumoepeau] and Leo [Afeaki] achieved on Academy contracts last year.?

The make-up of the entire Brumbies Academy squad ? which included a total of 29 members in 2008 ? will be finalised in the lead-up to the 2009 Investec Super 14 season.


2009 Brumbies Academy Tier One Inductees

Sanualio Afeaki
Position: Centre
Physical: 1.86m; 95kg
Born: 20.01.1987
Club: Sydney University

Nathan Charles
Position: Hooker
Physical: 1.83m; 103kg
Born: 09.01.1989
Club: Sydney University

Talalelei Gray
Position: No.8
Physical: 1.91m; 102kg
Born: 28.02.1990
Club: Tuggeranong

Ed Gower
Position: Lock/flanker
Physical: 1.95m; 110kg
Born: 15.07.1986
Club: Gordon

Brent Hamlin
Position: Scrumhalf
Physical: 1.80m; 83kg
Born: 28.06.1989
Club: Royals

Pat McCabe
Position: Utility Back
Physical: 1.86m; 89kg
Born: 21.03.1988
Club: Warringah

Jerry Yanuyanutawa
Position: Prop
Physical: 1.82m; 114kg
Born: 10.04.1985
Club: Sydney University

Hmmmm, so Jerry Y is just an academy contract. As is Afeaki. Is that the same Afeaki that played last year? I wonder how many games he played? Must have been only a couple.

 

[formeropenside]

Man, thats embarrasing for NSW...to lose J-Y to the Brumbies Academy!

 

[the gambler]

Not really. The Tahs have Robbo, Kepu and Dunning as loose head options. Adding Jerry would just be a waste.

Hopefully that said to him "We would love to sign you and we know Canberra is a hole but why dont you go down there, take their money and then come home in a year or two with more experience and we can give you more money"

 

[Pfitzy]

Man, thats embarrasing for NSW...to lose J-Y to the Brumbies Academy!

Well-established procedure here former. You're just lucky Toowoomba don't have a team or your players would piss off to a freezing hole on top of a mountain for a couple of years at a time to get coached by any Wurzel Gummidge lookalikes in the place before coming to their senses

 

[TOCC]

whos the Toowoomba man?

I spent a season playing in the Toowoomba comp, not bad except for the hours of travel that come with it.

 

[Lindommer]

Who's the Toowoomba man?

I've had a beer (or two) at The Spotted Cow; do I qualify? 8) 8) 8)

 

[naza]

Ah, good to see someone has snapped up Ed Gower. Good solid grafting blindside.

 

[formeropenside]

I gave a seminar in Toowoomba just last week.

I have fond memories of schoolboy rugby in Toowoomba when we'd make the trip up there. Never lost a game up there, used to play two matches in a row on occasion. Big tough country boys though, and played some close games, one a tight 4-0 win.

The red dirt was interesting: I was playing no8 and one of our second rowers scored a try, diving over. At the end of the game I when I hit the change room I realised that half my face was red: I'd picked up the dirt off his shorts at scrumtime.

 

[Spook]

Hopefully that said to him "We would love to sign you and we know Canberra is a hole but why dont you go down there, take their money and then come home in a year or two with more experience and we can give you more money"

Yeah because that has actually happened in the past? :nta: Giteau will never play for the Tahs. Just like Bernie and GG.

 

[formeropenside]

Hopefully that said to him "We would love to sign you and we know Canberra is a hole but why dont you go down there, take their money and then come home in a year or two with more experience and we can give you more money"

Yeah because that has actually happened in the past? :nta: Giteau will never play for the Tahs. Just like Bernie and GG.

Hell, GG wouldn't even actually play for Randwick. He just signed up to the club to ensure continued Wallaby selection.

 

[Lee Grant]

Hell, GG wouldn't even actually play for Randwick. He just signed up to the club to ensure continued Wallaby selection.

He played for them but his last game was the 1996 Grand Final IIRR.

 

[whocares]

Hell, GG wouldn't even actually play for Randwick. He just signed up to the club to ensure continued Wallaby selection.

He played for them but his last game was the 1996 Grand Final IIRR.

Was that the one against Warringah when Campese and Latham also played

 

[RugbyReg]

New baby faces everywhere, some struggling to squeeze into brand new training shirts, pulled excitedly out of orientation day "showbags".

A new coach Andy Friend spelling out an acrostic of the Brumbies' on-field ideals ('B' is for ball winning, 'R' is for reaction, 'U' is for uncompromising defence, and so on) and showing a highlights package of the style he wants to see next year.

A new star forward, Queenslander Stephen Moore, glad he brought his bags packed for Europe and so had a jumper for suddenly cold Canberra.

And moving among them familiar faces, confidence-inspiring faces.

Wallabies and Brumbies captain Stirling Mortlock. His deputy George Smith. The "forgotten man", Clyde Rathbone, whose Test career has been derailed by injuries and who knows he is playing for his career next season.

Introductions, lunch together, a kick of a soccer ball and the bonds of a team already begin to form.

Yesterday marked day one of what the ACT rugby organisation from chief executive down to rookie player desperately hopes is a new era of success.

The majority of the playing squad will begin crafting it from next Monday, when pre-season training begins in a freshened-up gymnasium and on a field finally fenced in to keep out hoons in their cars.

However the team's relatively modest Wallabies touring contingent Smith, Mortlock, Moore, Mark Chisholm, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Peter Kimlin and Ben Alexander won't be seen again until after what will be a bruising spring trip to Europe via Hong Kong.

"There's no doubt there's a sense this is a new era," Mortlock said.

"Having a new head coach and a whole new coaching staff it's very hard not to. There's an air of excitement around the guys today and the boys are looking forward to ripping into work."

On his return from the Wallabies' six-match tour, Mortlock will discuss with Friend, among other things, his Super 14 captaincy and whether he should continue on in the role.

Mortlock took over from George Gregan in 2004, mainly because Gregan found leading a province and a national team too demanding.

The veteran of 10 seasons in Canberra, Mortlock said he would do what was best for the team, whether it was staying on as skipper or letting someone else grow into the role.

"I love coming down to Canberra and being part of this group ... it's a massive honour in being captain," Mortlock said.

"But having said that there is a time and a place for getting new blood in and new movement, so we'll see how things pan out later on."

A rugged-up Moore, the club's most prized off-season recruit, has been talking with his new teammates about where in Canberra to live when he returns from Europe. Kingston seems an obvious choice.

Robust, skilful and mobile, Moore should almost certainly emerge as a starting player from a Brumbies forwards mix suddenly made more intriguing by the rise of prop Alexander and lock-flanker Kimlin.

Not that the 25-year-old expects a saloon ride into the Brumbies No2, which has begged for a permanent custodian since Jeremy Paul retired.

"The fact I'm playing for Australia has no bearing on what happens here," Moore said.

"I have to prove myself to the players and all the people around the organisation and I'm going to work hard when I get down here to do that both on and off the field."

That sort of talk would be music to Friend's ears.

A former ACT representative player who has returned home via the London Harlequins, Friend is keen to put his own stamp on the team quickly and in turn have it challenge for a third Super title in 2009.

One of the first things he did yesterday was show a seven-minute compilation film of the new Brumbies style he and his assistants want to impose. It was pieced together from the 2008 season, in which the under-manned Brumbies finished ninth under Laurie Fisher.

"The message was 'listen boys, you can do it, we've seen you do it'. We did have to search through a few videos to find it," Friend said.

So the pre-season to 2009 has begun. Lots of new people, lots of optimism, lots of work to do.

In Friend's words: "It's all there as a canvas for us to to work on and we're all looking forward to putting some blotches on it."

"Backs - that's where we need you forwards to play!
Reds - any more of them we can steal? What's Greg Holmes up to?
Umbrella defence - it means we have a defensive strategy, but it sits in the back of the car and we forget about it until its too late and its pissing down.
Mmmmmm - Are George and Steve still playing in Japan? When does that season finish again?
Ball movement - if you make a break look outside you, one of Moore, Chapman, Chisolm, Hoiles, Timani, Smith or Alexander should be outside you.
Illdiscipline. We won't tolerate it. Thus we've appointed Owen Finegan, Bill Young and a leaguie as assistant coaches.
Egos - let's put a cap on it hey? We are the Brumbies. The best Australian Super Rugby team ever. Producer of more Wallabies than any other team in the professional era. We play the most attractive football ever and are as good as the Crusaders, except for injuries. We are awesome. Just listen to our fans!
Speed on the wings - step forward Clyde Rathone and Mark Gerrard.

 

[RugbyReg]

Before any bitter Brumbie fan (is there any other kind?) retorts, allow me:

Rebuilding - yep, we're doing it again.
Ex-pat kiwis - more please!
Demoralised - the catchphrase again for more close losses to good teams and thrashings by crap teams
Substitute Dad - what Coach Mooney will need to be to his team of teenagers