HooperPocockSmith
Bill Watson (15)
Outside of the Ashes and Aus vs India it is. WIs & SA's best players are already starting to pull out of test matches. The smaller nations feel excluded in the test arena. There's more opportunity with T20I.
Wallabies 2024
- Thread starter rugbyAU
- Start date
Tomthumb
Colin Windon (37)
This is like building a house and starting with the roof
Welcome to the model of Australian Rugby for the last 30 years
Derpus
George Gregan (70)
What better time to fix it than when we are on our arse?
Tomthumb
Colin Windon (37)
So that it, let not bother changing it?
How do we do that?
A whole bunch of teams and competitions that have never been money generators are not about to start.
Where is this much different? Many of the best teams in the strongest club competitions in the world have shaky finances and are largely reliant on external funding to remain a going concern.
Tomthumb
Colin Windon (37)
The first thing that needs to change is the idea that the only thing that matters is the Wallabies. We wonder why no one really cares about our Super Teams when for years we have been essentially told they don't matter
Fact is it matters the most. We need to build a strong foundation with a club or regional comp that actually means something to fans. Continually looking to simply "fix the wallabies" is ass about face. We need to fix the pathway systems and the national team will fall into place
I'm not defending the status quo.
I'm just living in reality.
Where does the money come from?
I would love a stronger domestic competition that sits below test rugby but I don't see how that can happen without a bunch of private owners being willing to pour a lot of money into making it happen over a long period of time.
Team finances are much more difficult here than in places like the UK because teams don't own their own grounds which has been a huge part of teams in certain competitions being able to run effectively despite only getting 5-10k people to each home game.
Derpus
George Gregan (70)
Sounds like an excuse to me.
Change it,
How tomorrow do we change it?
My premise is that you get the current model functioning and financial and then try to improve it
Tomthumb
Colin Windon (37)
Where does it come from now? Super Rugby sure isn't cheap to run, on top of having to fly to every single away game
A huge advantage for both the AFL & NRL is that half their teams are based in a single city
Derpus
George Gregan (70)
Sounds like trying the same stuff again and expecting a different result.
The money largely is generated by the Wallabies and the fact that this contributes a significant amount of the income of the star players in each Super Rugby team makes it feasible for them to be able to play locally.
Cost of players is the biggest issue. We are already struggling to be competitive against the teams we play because the amount of money we have to spend on players isn't particularly competitive.
Unless say Qatar (et al) decides to invest millions and bank roll some new exciting comp, it is all we have
shanky
Darby Loudon (17)
If we had more money, would we be better?
If we were better, would we have more money?
Riddle me that one…
…but before you do, let me tell you about a Colts trial game at Penrith a year or two ago.
Loads of people at the game (hundreds) so no shortage of support from the community.
All 3 Penrith grades got flogged sadly.
On the touchlines were many (dozens?) of young men wearing Panthers shirts watching their less-gifted mates doing their best
Stark evidence (if it was needed) that if you’ve got the talent then you go to League, in the non-heartland. Immediate opportunity and money.
So, do we take Crichton’s 800k and spread it around? Or not?
If we were better, would we have more money?
Riddle me that one…
…but before you do, let me tell you about a Colts trial game at Penrith a year or two ago.
Loads of people at the game (hundreds) so no shortage of support from the community.
All 3 Penrith grades got flogged sadly.
On the touchlines were many (dozens?) of young men wearing Panthers shirts watching their less-gifted mates doing their best
Stark evidence (if it was needed) that if you’ve got the talent then you go to League, in the non-heartland. Immediate opportunity and money.
So, do we take Crichton’s 800k and spread it around? Or not?
stillmissit
Chilla Wilson (44)
I think we will see a changing of the guard in Super Rugby next season. I'm expecting both WA and Melbourne to lift and (hopefully) the Tahs will come good.
stillmissit
Chilla Wilson (44)
One of the first things is to stop buying league players and look to develop our own as the NRL does mostly. ID the bloody talent we have by people with an eye for talent and not well-meaning people with no idea who could possibly make it. Get Bob Dwyer to overlook talent ID for 12 months to get some sense put into what makes no sense at the moment. There should be no limits to where we get talent and I assume there are a couple of unfit guys playing subbies who could make it but have never given it a thought.
shanky
Darby Loudon (17)
I agree
I think the long term approach (Wallabies First) has demonstrably failed and is not (anyway) sustainable.
How did we end up competing with Europe to attract or retain talent? It's a fools errand.
Let's get a bottom-up system going that we can be proud of, is sustainable and will (eventually) lead us to our natural position on the world rankings - hopefully near the top
I think the long term approach (Wallabies First) has demonstrably failed and is not (anyway) sustainable.
How did we end up competing with Europe to attract or retain talent? It's a fools errand.
Let's get a bottom-up system going that we can be proud of, is sustainable and will (eventually) lead us to our natural position on the world rankings - hopefully near the top