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Form from 2007
The Force were in quite good form in 2007, or at least until our New Zealand tour. The squad went up a gear from 2006 and ran pretty close to the finals with only a few close losses to the Brumbies, Lions and Highlanders keeping them out. Will the team be able to step up that next notch and keep the trend improving? In the ARC the Spirit always put in a pretty solid performance and after a few teething problems the only thing lacking was a bit of finishing. The return of Giteau, Staniforth, Mitchell and Shepherd will more than account for that. The team is well geared for another solid year of Super 14.
Comings and Goings
Sadly 2008 sees the loss of a fair bit of experience from the Force ranks. The Force's very only Gladiator, Brendan Cannon, has retired after advice over a neck injury. Canno is the kind of character you don't ever want to see leave a team and you can bet the atmosphere around the Force camp won't be the same without him. Second row stalwart Rudi Vedelago has also packed rugby in for family reasons and returned to the eastern states. In the backs, Chris O'Young and Digby Ioane have signed on with other clubs to improve their opportunities. O'Young was always going to play second fiddle behind Henjak and Ioane has moved to the Reds to cement a spot in the starting XV.
In exchange for these notable departures a few promising young players have been brought into the Force mix. Former Brumby and U/21 captain Tamati Horua comes into the side as a 6 or 8 candidate. With the off field antics of the incumbent 8, Horua should get quite a look in and prove a strong ball running presence in the back row. 7s star Nick Cummins, who has been likened to Matt Giteau (but isn't everyone likened to someone great these days and then never does impress that much- lets hope this is an exception), joins the backs as a replacement to Ioane and Stapleton. Sam Wykes, the Australian U/19 vice-captain has also joined the Force in the second row. He probably won't get much game time but hopefully will learn the magic off of Sharpie and will be a great future prospect. Lastly 2008 will be the first year with local competition players. Kieran Longbottom (I won't if one of those helps your scrummaging) and James Stannard join the squad as well as WA School Boys rep Dane Haylett-Petty. These players mark what is hoped to be the start of many Perthicans to come through local pathways.
Keep an eye on
Keep your eyes on new talent Nick Cummins. All four Australian franchises weren't chasing his signature for nothing. With a few injuries he will likely see a fair bit of game time and will be looking at starting out in the wings and perhaps at the end of the year or the next he'll move into outside centre and closer to the action. He had a pretty good ARC when he wasn't injured.
A couple of names spring to mind in the forwards. David Pocock is set for another stellar year and its always beautiful to see him play, especially when props bounce off him. Pocock has recently won the RUPA newcomer of the year award and his maturity and skill have really put the boy at the fore front of the next generation of stars. If he plays well enough he could be a bolter for the Wallabies squad or end of season tour. The other big and by big I mean huge name to mention is that of AJ 'sleep with one eye open' Whalley. Whalley will be looking for a few more games and a few more tries in 2007. Whalley's athleticism will work in his favour with some of the new ELVs in play in 2008. He just needs to work on his finishing (ie not dropping the ball over the tryline) but with ball in hand and running at pace the only thing stopping AJ Whalley in 2008 will be Kryptonite.
Prospectus for 2008
Working together as a squad in the ARC and another year together will see a better Force outfit. They'll have learnt a lot from last years Crusaders, Chiefs and Blues matches and won't suffer those kinds of losses again (hopefully). I regret to say that off field issues that have plagued the club of lite will no doubt have ramifications for the team down the line. From stadium issues to player payments to quokkas its ironic that most of the pressure is coming off field. When I started writing these 2008 predictions I was unsure of how the Force would do and wrote them in for 6th place but the stars are aligning for this one and with a number of question marks comfortably answered I'm pegging the Force for 4th place by a nose and a maiden finals appearance.
Thats all 14 teams. I hope anyone who reads them has enjoyed it. Merry Christmas.
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Originally Posted by James
