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The Western Force coaching drama has brought the curtain down on a dismal year for the club.
The board has still not appointed Richard Graham's successor, 16 weeks after the coach announced his defection to the Reds.
It says it followed an "intensive and deliberate exercise to ensure that the most appropriate candidate is appointed" and it may well be tied by privacy over the preferred coach's current contract, but the delay is embarrassing.
It follows Willie Ripia's resignation after stealing from teammates and the disastrous ending to the bid to sign Will Genia.
Granted, the board had no real control over those end results, but they further destabilised the club.
The uncertainty over whether captain and Wallaby flanker David Pocock will re-sign looms large.
The Force need fresh changes. There have already been some moves at board level but there has to be tough scrutiny by chairman Russel Perry on positions from the top down.
A shake-up of the rugby department is expected but will that be enough?
If the club is serious about becoming a Super Rugby success then every aspect of the organisation needs to be scrutinised.
The club's importance on the Perth sporting landscape has diminished and the spectre of a new National Rugby League club is hovering on the horizon.
What unfolded this season has given too much ammunition to opponents and critics who have never supported a WA franchise and who question whether Aust- ralia has enough talent to sustain five competitive Super Rugby sides.
The Force have many talented players but how long they will commit to a club without tasting success is open to question, as is the club's ability to attract new talent in the current climate.
Even the most loyal fans will be glad to see the back of a season that began to unravel even before the first whistle and they have every right to be frustrated by on-field displays and off-field problems.
The club has fallen a long way short of expectations but chief executive Vern Reid says he does not believe major changes are needed.
"You are always under scrutiny and you are under extra scrutiny when you are not performing but I don't believe that we are in a situation where we have got to make radical changes," Reid said.
"Naturally when you are not winning on the field people develop opinions about what should or should not be happening off the field.
"When an organisation in professional sport has not lived up to expectations people always want to put a bigger microscope over what you're doing.
"What we have to do is continually reassess the organisation and develop a winning culture and with the appointment of the new coach there will be another emphasis."
The Force said membership rose from 12,891 in 2011 to 14,203 but average crowds were down from 15,828 to 13,255.
However, Reid is confident that RugbyWA will finish in the black again after a modest trading profit of just over $400,000 last year.
"RugbyWA, like all the other franchises in Australia, does not have very much fat in the organisation but our commercial operations certainly perform as well or better than the other Australian franchises," he said.
There is no hiding from the fact that this was a shocking season, a second-last finish with three wins.
The poor run was not helped by a huge injury toll and they were forced to promote untried club players. Too often they gave away possession and lacked the concentration needed at this level of rugby, showing a mental frailty that let sides back into games.
The Reds have shown fortunes can be reversed with a new coach - albeit with a squad packed with stars - and the Brumbies made a huge turnaround with an unheralded squad under a new regime.
The Force have got to find a way to do the same or they may find themselves in the Super Rugby wilderness for a long time yet.
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Originally Posted by stejwill
