Nine Western Force players called up to Wallabies training squad
Christy Doran
July 20, 2017 3:42pm,
THE Western Force might very well be on the brink of extinction, with the ARU still weighing up whether to cull the franchise or their domestic rivals, the Melbourne Rebels.
But based on Michael Cheika’s extended Wallabies training squad announcement on Wednesday, the path that the franchise is on has never looked clearer.
While in the franchise’s early years they chased big name players to drive results, the Force are now producing their own star power and, importantly, providing a second awakening to some of the club’s older statesmen.
Indeed nine players from the Force were named by Cheika in his 38-man squad — which didn’t include players from the lone Australian franchise in the Super Rugby finals series, the Brumbies.
And although Dave Wessels would prefer that his team were playing finals footy, the Force’s first year coach said that it was pleasing to know that the franchise was producing players of international standard.
“I think we have two ultimate goals for our program in the long term. One is to obviously win Super Rugby and the other is to try and create as many Wallabies as we can,” Wessels told foxsports.com.au.
“To see more players get closer to that Wallabies jersey is great.
“But we still have a huge amount of work to do.
“We had a bit of a fairy tale finish against the Waratahs (winning 40-11) and the Hodgo (club great Matt Hodgson) send-off, but we’re realistic about the fact that if we want to be consistently competitive, we still have a huge amount of work to do and that’s ultimately our challenge.”
After years of being known predominantly as a forwards oriented team, the Force, while far from perfect, showed considerably more capability in attack in 2017.
Central to their new attacking style was the midfield combination of Billy Meakes and Curtis Rona, who both received call-ups from Cheika for the first time.
But the quick ball that they often saw in 2017 was a result of the platform set by the Force’s forward pack.
Second-rower Adam Coleman was again a standout, despite missing the first-half of the year due to injury, while the young back-row combination of Isi Naisarani and Richard Hardwick also shape as outstanding long-term prospects.
It wasn’t just the youthful tinge that started to come through, however.
The older and more experienced heads of front-rowers Pek Cowan (31) and Tetera Faulkner (28) also stepped up another gear, which wasn’t lost on Cheika who called both props up to the squad.
The Force forced the most penalties (35) in Super Rugby this year and Cowan and Faulkner, as well as renowned scrummager Tatafu Polota-Nau, were central to their strong scrum and Wessels said the front-row were clearly working for one another.
“They’re really energised playing with each other now and obviously having Taf (Polota-Nau) in-between them has given them a real sense of team in that front-row and they feel like a unit, and with big Adam (Coleman) behind them they’ve really performed well over the last couple of months,” Wessels said.
“I think it’s a sign to anybody that if you’re prepared to work hard that the Wallaby selectors will look at you, which is a fantastic message.
“We’ve been saying in the group that we’ve seen a massive shift in Pek.
“Just the way he’s preparing for games, the amount of work he’s doing off-field, making sure his body’s right, doing all those little things that make the difference and he’s got a real intensity about his work and there’s no doubt in my mind that Pek’s playing the best rugby of his career.
“Tetera does a great job of leading our scrum and he’s put in a huge amount of work.
“I think his inclusion is probably reward for our scrum’s performance, in part, against the Waratahs the other night and a lot of that is due to Tetera’s hard work off the field.”
Wessels, 34, also paid tribute to the work being done by his assistant coaches, who not only provided him with experience beyond his years, but also helped revitalise the likes of Cowan and Faulkner.
“Joe’s (Barakat) been fantastic with the players,” Wessels said.
“I think what Joe brings is a real clear expectation of what he wants out of the players.
“There’s no grey with Joe and I think the players have really risen to that.
“But ultimately what Joe, Shaun Byrne, Kevit Foote and Alan Gaffney have done as a coaching staff is really build an environment that allows the players to actually take ownership of it themselves.
“And what you’ve seen out of guys like Pek and Tetera is they’ve flourished in that environment and they’ve enjoyed it and are now getting the reward for it.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/n...5978b94e65eb92
