Force boss warns of no quick fix

[RumourMonger]

Taking that sip of water may have resulted in some form of Meningococcal virus into your brain.

Explains a lot.

[Darren]

I don't think sipping water is gunny's problem...

[brokendown gunfighter]

we all have our cross to bare

[Hansie]

The intent behind most of the posts in this thread cannot be disputed.

In the real world no club should import players, just develop their own. - Agreed.

BUT

How will this be done?

Let's look at the hours needed to be a diligent head coach. approx. 24 hrs per week made up of follows:

Training and game days = 15 hrs
Review videos, plan sessions, liaise with physios on injury management, team selection, liaise with other coaches, leadership meetings, manage players, help club with social occassions = 9 hrs.

How many people working 38 hrs a week can add on an additional 24 without impact on family and life outside of rugby?

Add to this maintaining your level 2 or 3 accreditation, talking to Perth Gold, Force 'A' and other interested parties from time to time. How many people of this calibre will do this work for nothing?

Let's then look at Junior coaches. To coach an under 18 side you must have Police Clearance and a working with children certificate - it's an unnecessary hassle. You still have do smart rugby, train, plans sessions etc. Maybe not 24 hrs per week but would be close to 15 hrs per week. For juniors to be extended and tested, you need at least a level 2 coach and one who volunteers for State coaching, say under 13's. Add another 6 hours per week??? How many of you guys will do that?

Let's look at this aspect first and debate how we get, maintain and grow our coaches? Then we'll look at kitting out these players, planning off season strength and conditioning, maybe even some tours, managing injuries, schooling, family holidays etc.

If we have 15 junior clubs in perth with say 5 teams per club and ONE coach per team - we need 75 dedicated, passionate people who can get the best out of our juniors.

[Alison]

All good points Hansie, but surely no different to what any other state or territory faces? And with the population of WA expanding by (I think) 700-1000 people a week - many of whom are coming from countries with strong rugby backgrounds like England, SA and NZ - why can't all those hurdles be overcome?

I guess these are precisely the sorts of issues the new CEO is being paid to sort out. He appears to have the will and I am sure will also find the way as long as the clubs are willing to help by sorting out their own backyards and putting their differences and back-biting to one side?

As I say, I don't know anything at all about the club scene so I may be over-simplifying things, but it makes sense to me at least!

[RumourMonger]

Now here's a first.

Totally agree with Hansie.

There is one issue and one issue alone that will improve club rugby in WA - Increasing the number and quality of Coaches.

If you look at a typical Premier Grade Club that runs say Under 18's Under 20's and say 5 senior sides (some have more some have slightly less) then at 2 coaches minimum required to run a team successfully then a club needs 14 coaches plus junior teams say 10 teams in the juniors (some clubs have more than 20 junior teams) then a club needs anywhere from 34 coaches upwards.

Thats a lot of volunteers and when you add to the fact that most clubs aren't inundated with coaches with the correct experience, accreditation and attitude then there's always a gap. Relying on well meaning but sometimes mis-guided fathers to coach junior teams has its pitfalls.

You will always have people putting their hand up for the top team; getting people to coach down the grades can be a challenge.

[PeterM]

Hansie I love the points you make and they are very valid I for one advocate if Rugby WA are going to do this properly we need to have more than just a 'head' coach. I believe there needs to be a backs and a forwards coach working in conjunction with the head coach and his or her game plan or style of rugby. Which could well be the ethos of the first XV head coach's game plan that we at xyz rugby club play this style of rugby through out the grades.

There is a wealth of resources out there and these need to be made available to passionate rugby people so they can teach the kids correct technique and the correct skills so best practice is shared amongst the rugby youth of Western Australia. Increasing the enjoyment levels of players and spectators alike.

I would have thought that Rugby WA have someone or people who are responsible for overseeing coaching of juniors or developing coaches?? If not this is an area where money could be spent to organise regular people to oversee coaching sessions and provide feed back on areas things can be improved. Possibly even organising a mass meeting of coaches from all grades from all clubs to meet and share best practice and respectfully challenge each others coaching ideas and ideals of how the game should be played.

In the UK soccer players are identified as young as 6 and 7 and are put into academies and train and play I would be interested to know from those more knowledgeable than me how old players in rugby tend to be when coaches say we think he can make the grade.

So the kids who are deemed to have potential and 'may' be future first team players are provided the proper instruction and skills to move up the grades.

I wonder how a a state coach at the earliest age at which kids are selected for representative honours would get on when his team is made up players who are good players potentially but his time is spent correcting fundamental errors in their individual games before he can work what his role is as state coach

[Hansie]

All good points Hansie, but surely no different to what any other state or territory faces? And with the population of WA expanding by (I think) 700-1000 people a week - many of whom are coming from countries with strong rugby backgrounds like England, SA and NZ - why can't all those hurdles be overcome?

The easy answer Alison is that AFL and Soccer are yet to make big inroads into the culture of Rugby ( even though it is League) in QLD and NSW. As a result there are a few more dollars there and a huge number of School Phys ed teachers also play their part. Sports teachers in our schools will be seen around a footy field not rugby.

We are still a minority and if we are going to make an impression we need to be innovative.

I have challenged ( albeit the previous coaching group at EWF) to forget about distributing Force players to clubs - because of all the problems this forum has discussed over the years BUT allocate the coaches to clubs . Send Foles to Rocky for 3 hours each thursday night ( He might actually like a break) Ask someone at Rocky to pay for the fuel ( Say $100.00 a month) have the boys give him a free feed and get him to actually participate to the extent he remembers the names of the coaches. Naturally the visits will have to revolve around EWF fixtures, but with a "can do" attitude I am sure it would work.

Mark Calverly's dept to coach and test coaches is just stretched beyond capacity and frankly we may need to even canvass the idea of getting some coin there. The EWF are running on empty, RugbyWA Coaching development needs coin so that Mark can employ more people. Community Rugby Dept in the organisation runs on the smell of an oily rag to cover an area twice that of QLD. Remember QRU will have passionate helpers in all of the regional centres - because Rugby is in their blood. It is not so over here.

[DinkyDi]

in an ideal and socialistic world, all clubs would have the same funds, access to equal talent and Force players and we would all live in harmony. However, this is club rugby and there will always be those clubs tat are more successful both on and off the field. The issue is how to stop the petty jealousies from blighting the game. Most of the clubs are trying their best to improve their teams, depth and committees with some being more successful than others. In most cases the clubs appreciate the effort each other make whilst maintaining a friendly banter. There are, of course, those with old axes to grind and chips on shoulders and sadly that will always be the case.

The point is that we do have young local talent which I hope that the academies will pick up, we do have some good coaches but no where near enough (RugbyWA runs ARU coaching courses every year) and these coaches need to be doing this for the love of the game in most cases without looking for massive financial gain. Look at the "head coaches" that have their hands out and most of the time you will see failure more often than not.

I just wish Mark all the best and I hope that he can deliver with the ideals of having a big chink of the Force made up of local lads playing for their team, in their town but getting compensated appropriately for their dedication.

[Alison]

Thanks for the explanation Hansie :-)

[The Oracle]

Is anyone able to advise the dates and venues of the Force trial matches and first 2 or 3 games?

Cheers

[Alison]

Is anyone able to advise the dates and venues of the Force trial matches and first 2 or 3 games?

Cheers

Trial matches are 1 Feb (in Darwin) and 8 Feb (in Mandurah).

First S15 game is against the Rebels in Melbourne on 15 Feb. The full fixture list is on the home page of this site

[The Oracle]

Thanks Alison.

Been trying to find the info on the Force website but its not obvious. Perhaps my computer skills.

Cheers.