Cameron Shepherd: Great effort, Mitch

[travelling_gerry]

A LOT of blood, sweat and, dare I say, tears, has gone into making the Emirates Western Force since the franchise was awarded to Perth some six years ago.

Taking what was essentially a community program and creating a fully professional organisation is a task that can never be underestimated, and one of the key architects in achieving that feat in WA has been John Mitchell.

You've probably heard that the coach will depart following the completion of his contract at the end of 2011.

While it's business as usual for John and the players as we focus on playing good rugby week in, week out, his announcement got me thinking about the early days.

In 2005, I joined 40 other players, said goodbye to family and friends and headed west to join the newly formed Western Force.

I'm sure for most of those boys it was a mixture of excitement and nerves heading across the Nullarbor.

There were plenty of unknowns and for the younger guys there was the uncertainty of how we'd go living away from home for the first time.

As a 21-year-old who'd never operated a washing machine or cooked anything other than microwave pizza, the whole process was very daunting.

I chose to come to Perth to be part of something special in a new rugby city while also working towards achieving my goal of becoming a Wallaby.

I'm fortunate to be able to say that I've achieved both and they've come in no small part thanks to Mitch and the outstanding rugby environment here in the west.

John will be here for another 15 months, so this isn't the time to reflect on what he's achieved, because as a group there's still so much more we can do together over the next season-and-a-half.

One of the exciting things in the short term will be the return to action of David Pocock and Richard Brown.

Both have been on the sidelines since Round 1 and are itching to get back, as am I, which will hopefully be only a week or two after those guys.

In the longer term, the focus is to see more great talent make its way through our system and on to the international stage.s With the set-up we have established in Perth there is no reason any player pulling on the blue jersey shouldnt aspire to those lofty heights

http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/cam...-1225846387204

[Tazzmania]

Great article by Shep, best part:

"In the longer term, the focus is to see more great talent make its way through our system and on to the international stage.s With the set-up we have established in Perth there is no reason any player pulling on the blue jersey shouldnt aspire to those lofty heights"

The way the boys have played in the last two weeks, while we remain winless we could see more of them becoming wallaby prospects in the years ahead.

[Sheikh]

Completely agree, Tazzmania. Look at the Reds. They've had to rebuild their squad over the last couple of years and are now reaping the benefits. With Genia, Cooper, Higgenbotham, the brothers, etc, they've got an young team hungry for success and they may beat the Force this year at the number of Wallabies in the squad.

Our injury problems have forced some of our players to step up. We all know Sharpie is the best lock in Australia, but I was worried age might be catching up with him. Not this season - he's been back to his best. Hodgson has been showing up Pocock, and Spanner has been our best back.

But of the uncapped players: Wykes has stepped up. Fairbrother has been a bit of a wrecking ball. Tyrrell looked good, and now Whittaker and both would have been looking at Australia A. McCalman had a poor game by his standards and it's only his 5th game! Luke Jones and Ted Postal (I love the name!) both played well and showed they weren't scared by coming up against the top of the ladder. I wouldn't be surprised if any of those guys got picked by Australia in the next few years.

I also have to say, that Sheehan's been brilliant at scrum-half despite having four different 10s play outside him. I was seriously concerned about his injury. But this week was probably the best I've seen O'Young play. I hope that this wasn't a one-game wonder. He's usually been the back-up, but if this how he plays when he gets a week to prepare with the starters, more power to him.