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![Not allowed!](images/buttons/down_dis.png)
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
A few days ago I contacted our mate X and proposed he write another ROAR article to show up the crooked way the ARU has mismanaged Wallaby top ups to stack the NSW and Qld franchises and consequently put the Force and Rebels on the road to failure on the field. I offered to help with the research. I had to reluctantly admit I couldn't find anything concrete enough to do a publishable article. Well since then the professional journos have hit the same Cone of Silence and said so.
As part of their sudden realisation that the Force are actually a very productive nursery some have listed the Wallabies who have come through the system. However none have really highlighted the story of Nick Cummins and why he had to leave Australia and ply his trade in Japan. I can't go right into detail - it's a state secret . But everyone has an inkling what happened.
But I will draw the comparison of what seemed an odd coincidence at the time. The Reds were trying to get money to lure Karmichael Hunt to Rugby at the same as Nick was asking for a top up from the ARU. The Reds got their man. The Force didn't.
Alan Jones talks about the $777 million the ARU has mismanaged over the years. I'll call it Honey Badger syndrome. Nick was a walking, talking publicity machine at the time. Still is. Everybody in the country, Mungo fans AFL people - people who don't even like sport and lot's more around the world knew him and his antics - they lapped it up. Pretty fair Rugby player too. The ARU? Not worth a tup up!! These people have trashed Australian Rugby and now they want to say simply "Yes we made some mistakes but we know the way forward from here. Trust us" Just resign the lot of you. Please!
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Of course we know what happened. The ARU deserterd someone that was pro active in playing, being an ambassador and wallaby for an untested former NRL player who left his code to chase money in the AFL and immediately showed the amount of respect he had for the 3million reasons the ARU had in him
I was thinking its so "the heartland" can each have a superplayer in each team (Karmichael in Qld, Izy in NSW).
"12 Years aSupporter" starring the #SeaOfBlue
I brought this up recently in a posting I did on GAGR. HB was a Wallaby but couldn't get a top up while KH got a $3 mill contract! How many tests has KH played? It meant that HB was lost to Australian rugby despite the fact that he was internationally recognised through his interviews and was a pretty good player!
If I were Puller or Clyne, (after finally making an executive decision and cutting their own throats) I would go crawling over broken glass on my knees and begging him to come back. He was a marketing Depts dream and the cockheads completely muffed it, and mind you Puller was supposed to have come from a Marketing background. They have cocked up on so many levels it's pathetic, NZ must be laughing their arses off! Despite my dislike of Alan Jones, that was the most constructive interview he's ever done. Sack the bastards and don't slam the door on your way out. JohnEales? WTF?! Was he seriously involved in this?
My understanding was they had to be in Wallabies Squad for three years before a Top Up Contract could be signed, unless of course you are cross code marquee signing (Hunt & Falou). Pretty sure that is how they changed the rules. Because Nick had not done his three years and because he was not a cross coder, no top up.
Yet another ARU disgrace.
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
Stop bringing facts into the argument.![]()
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Those facts only prove, yet again, that the entire ARU top up system is a thinly disguised sham designed to increase salary caps in "the heartlant"
Remember, those rules didn't exist until they were needed to entice the badge away from Perth.
C'mon the![]()
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Last night I was explaining the inequities of the ARU top up system to my AFL supporting Dad. He said why don't they use a salary cap/draft system? It is working brilliantly in the AFL. The big monied traditional clubs (Collingwood who he supports, Carlton, Hawthorn) are on more or less equal terms to Western Bulldogs (one their first title in 1000 years), Sydney, Geelong......
I couldn't give him an answer except that the ARU power brokers don't want to lose their power.
And it is not even that, they all just want to keep the players they "breed" and nothing will change their attitude.
Now look at NZ, The McKenzie brothers, all lived down south (Highlanders catchment) and now they spread all over NZ, do you them whinging that should be playing for the Highlanders, the NZRU certainly don't force them to where they came from and look at how much healthier NZ rugby is. Even out the talent and everyone prospers. Bloody hell even Richie is from Highlanders country, but the Saders (Hansen at the time I think) spotted the talent and lured him to Canterbury.
The biggest travesty that could come out of all of this is that we survive, but the ARU continues to ignore and support us by levelling the playing field. We may win this battle, but the war is still on.
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
One thing that had crossed my mind more than once during this saga; it's fine for RUPA to come out now and complain about the axe falling. But did any of those f@ckers ever consider that, in demanding that they get an ARU top-up as well as maintain the right to choose where they play, they could actually be the root cause of the whole friggin mess?