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Thread: O'Meara and Mitchell in the Media

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    O'Meara and Mitchell in the Media

    In what could be seen as damage control or spin doctoring, O'Meara and Mitchell have both had interviews in the National Media in the last couple of days.
    To me, they are just stating the obvious rather than trying to spin doctor anything.
    2006 is destined to be an extended pre season for the Force and we will be all the richer for the experience next season.

    Force 'here to stay'

    By Peter Jenkins
    March 17, 2006

    WESTERN Force boss Peter O'Meara last night defended his battling Perth franchise and slammed the doomsayers wanting to bury it a month into Super 14.

    "It took NSW 10 years to prove themselves," O'Meara said with a well-timed pop at the heavyweight Waratahs who the Force host at Subiaco tonight.

    "This is a three-year plan, not three months. We took a decision to recruit younger people and to grow them over time.

    "We've heard these sort of comments, that Australia never had the depth [to sustain a fourth team]. And that's pretty short-sighted. We're only four games into a new sports brand."

    NSW coach Ewen McKenzie told The Daily Telegraph earlier this week he had no sympathy for the plight of the fledgling province.

    The Force were rocked by injury in the opening week and have lost another two players to the Commonwealth Games Sevens team ahead of the clash with the Waratahs.

    There was also a whisper from the NSW camp that the Force support must be slipping. While they boast more than 20,000 members, a luncheon function planned for yesterday was cancelled before the Tahs hit town.

    The visitors sniffed a lack of interest.

    O'Meara scoffed at the slight.

    "We'll have 30,000 in the stadium [tonight] and we had a function a few weeks ago before the Brumbies game where we had 700 people," he said. "We auctioned three items that raised $94,000.
    "We have another one planned in three weeks and just felt for this game we should pull back a little.

    "We do have the biggest membership base and the strongest corporate portfolio of the Australian sides and have a massive public following for what we're doing.

    "I don't think that support is going to fade. West Australians are very parochial about their teams."

    O'Meara was speaking from the Force offices he established last year when the ARU gave Perth the nod ahead of Melbourne.

    Before he arrived, the game in the west was run by a staff of five out of rented space in a rugby club. There are now more than 50 backroom employees - led by a man with a strong pedigree in administration.

    O'Meara was a director on the boards of the Queensland and NSW rugby unions before moving out of the banking sector to take up the chief executive's job at the Force.

    There have been, from his point of view, no special favours from the ARU. The Force have the least number of players contracted to the ARU as current or prospective Wallabies, meaning the degree of difficulty for instant success was always going to be high.

    "People writing us off after four games," O'Meara said. "It took NSW 10 years to prove themselves, 10 years to make a final. They've been to the wall twice [financially]. Half of their backline come from rugby league.

    "We get the least number of top-ups from the ARU of all the four teams. We get the least funding in terms of development. We received no seed funding, we borrowed all the dough.

    "Even now, we haven't been touched up badly [on the field]. We lost a game last week we should have won. We were competitive against the Brumbies.

    "We're still rigidly sticking to the proposition that we can build a successful side here."

    McKenzie and others have argued the Force are in the same position as the ACT Brumbies when they were formed to play Super 12 in 1996. In their second year the Brumbies made a final.

    But the Canberra franchise did have notable locals in the team, including three of Australia's most influential players of the professional era - George Gregan, Joe Roff and Stephen Larkham.

    What the Force do have that the Brumbies took time to develop is booming supporter numbers. A survey of the Force membership has revealed that 20 per cent are expat Kiwis, 10 per cent expat Englishmen and 6 per cent expat South Africans.

    The remaining 64 per cent are Australians. But even within that figure, many come from elsewhere in the country -- much like the players the Force have assembled.

    Stars, fringe dwellers and little-known hopefuls were pulled together from Queensland, NSW, Canberra and overseas destinations.

    "It's a goldmine of opportunity here for the ARU," said O'Meara.

    But the Force, for the moment, would settle with finding one small nugget. That elusive first win in Super 14.

    The Daily Telegraph

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    Mitchell's relishing Force task

    By Greg Growden
    Friday, March 17, 2006

    JOHN Mitchell, a man accustomed to success, never thought the Perth experience was going to be easy. Despite the big boasts of some Western Force backers, who expected immediate rewards from the new Australian Super 14 province, Mitchell has always kept everything in balance.

    That has a lot to do with where he's from. Anyone who has worn the All Blacks jersey, or coached their national team, knows it is dangerous to get too far ahead of yourself. One has to be a realist. Public expectations are often misguided. The good is soon smeared with the bad. Scrutiny can be overwhelming.

    Mitchell discovered that when the All Blacks team missed out on the 2003 World Cup - he was replaced as head coach.

    He had talent in abundance then. With the Force, he hasn't - which is why Mitchell is not exactly reeling at the fact that his new team is at the bottom of the Super 14 ladder, yet to experience a win and unlikely to for some time.

    He had no illusions that his task at the Force was to be anything but a long, excruciating process.

    "From day one, we've never said we were going to dominate, or win this competition," Mitchell said yesterday. "What has occurred is that by luring Wallabies, and with recruitment, sponsorship and membership exceeding expectations, some people probably felt that all that ensured victory.

    "But we've got to earn it. We've got to deserve it. And that's the way it should be. We set out every week to win, but we are only four games old. What's getting chucked at us at the moment was something I fully expected, and was totally prepared for. I know this won't be built overnight."

    Mitchell does have a fair assortment of Wallabies, but what is hand-cuffing him is that this is out-weighed by the number of unknowns and newcomers in his squad, several of whom have been already exposed as below Super 14 standard.

    "We have 21 guys who've never been to this level before. So every week is a test for us," Mitchell said. "But we haven't been lacking for commitment, and there has at times been some outstanding football. It's just a matter of getting rid of some of the individualism that has come from habits from other environments, and trying to become one."

    Mitchell, a pugnacious back-rower during his New Zealand playing days, has prided himself, as a coach, on cultivating competitive forward packs. That has happened again at the Force. The problem is that so often everything has gone haywire as soon as the ball has headed towards the backs. Some of the mistakes made by the Force back line have been abominable.

    "At times, we've been guilty of not playing enough football at the far end," Mitchell said." And you've got to reward your forwards from time to time, rather than just getting them to keep whacking away. Sometimes, young men have to go through these experiences for the penny to drop."

    For a coach who has experienced Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup glory, being involved with a team at the other end of the spectrum naturally requires behavioural change.

    "I've had to modify some of my thinking," Mitchell said. "I am naturally very competitive, and I go about trying to exploit opposition weaknesses.

    "But I also have a role here to educate my staff and players. When I see them do things that could have involved a better choice, it's about getting them to understand first, and not getting down on them. With this approach, eventually things will pay off for us as a group.

    "I have a philosophy that has worked for me before. But what you have to do is read the level where the group is at, where each individual is at, and modify so that you get the best out of the group and the individual."

    As Mitchell has found, teaching has its rewards, but can also be exasperating. In the end, it becomes a test of one's own patience.

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    Veteran Contributor The EnForcer's Avatar
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    Good on them, there does seem to be a lot of negativity from the general press. I suspect through ignorance. Although, I trully believe there is a significant portion of our community secretly hoping that the Force fails......I need not say more as most of you will understand what I'm getting at.

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    Player Rodent's Avatar
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    Good to see O'Meara coming out and saying that... But it shouldn't need to be said. I guess some of those that don't understand or follow the game are starting to throw stones already...
    But after 4 games?
    From a state that embraces the dockers??
    How can this happen???

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    Its hard to have a battle of wits with unarmed opponets

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    These guys should have to justify themselves, if the figure of 30,000 turning out tonight is correct thats all the justification anyone needs ...

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    GO THE FORCE

    What shall we do with a drunken Sailor
    What shall we do with a drunken Sailor
    What shall we do with a drunken Sailor
    Earli in the Morning

    Give him a beer and watch him Spew
    Give him a beer and watch him Spew
    Give him a beer and watch him Spew
    Earli in the morning

    Leave him on the bench and watch him stew
    Leave him on the bench and watch him stew
    Leave him on the bench and watch him stew
    Earli in the morning

    Send him home and sack the bastard
    Send him home and sack the bastard
    Send him home and sack the bastard
    Earli on the morning

    Or something along those lines.....

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    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Well with all the shit coming our way lately and the sniff of treachery about the 7's selections, I was considering breaking the habit of a lifetime - barracking for the 'Tahs. But I just can't do it. I'm just off to Subi now - wearing my Force members cap and my Waratahs polo. BUT - there'll be nobody there cheering louder for the Force than me. I'll probably be more subdued for the 'Tahs

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    Quote Originally Posted by shasta
    I'm just off to Subi now - wearing my Force members cap and my Waratahs polo.
    Sounds like an each way bet to me

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    Veteran Contributor The EnForcer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shasta
    Well with all the shit coming our way lately and the sniff of treachery about the 7's selections, I was considering breaking the habit of a lifetime - barracking for the 'Tahs. But I just can't do it. I'm just off to Subi now - wearing my Force members cap and my Waratahs polo. BUT - there'll be nobody there cheering louder for the Force than me. I'll probably be more subdued for the 'Tahs
    I'll help you young man..........you've been with the dark side and you have no joy........join the young and grow with us my son.

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