Perth Spirit lifts stocks for NRC semi

[wholetruth]

Nick Taylor
The West Australian
October 19, 2014, 8:13 pm

Perth Spirit coaches are expected to inject Western Force players into the side for Saturday's National Rugby Championship semifinal against Melbourne Rising.

The Spirit, who finished fourth despite last Saturday's 40-34 loss to NSW Country Eagles, have had a season-long policy of using mainly local club players for away games as part of the Force development program.

But with the title on the horizon they are likely to bring in some professional players for the clash in Melbourne.

They will also assess their injury list and see how players have recovered from the long trip to Dubbo that included two seven-hour bus trips as well as the flights to Sydney and back.

Coach Kevin Foote said they may select professional players to play the Rising who have used a Super Rugby player-based side all season.

"We will probably look to bring in some of the big guns," Foote said.

"The club guys have been exceptional but now we are at finals time and we want to do well, we want to give it our best crack.

"The club guys have been supportive of what we are doing. They have loved the opportunity but accept the fact that someone may come in from the contracted squad.

"We need to be at our best to knock over Melbourne."

The Spirit were unable to recover from a poor start when the Eagles jumped out to a 24-point lead.

Perth still trailed by 22 points with 10 minutes remaining but two late tries to replacement scrum-half Michael Ruru put them close, and they nearly scored another at the final whistle.

Foote was pleased with the way his side clawed their way back into the game.

"We had made it a goal during the week to ensure we finished strongly against the Country side because only one other team had scored a try against them in the final 20 minutes of the match this season. It was great to see the boys achieve that goal," Foote said.

"The team was very frustrated with their start but they were very mature about it and at half-time we regrouped and talked about what we needed to do to manage the game better.

"We got a bit angry and carried hard at them, stuck to our basics to go through them and as soon as we started doing that the pressure was back on them.

"We were very unlucky at the end to not score because we were on their line but we'll have to finish off better next time."

[GIGS20]

Is Hodgo an option?

I'm sure he'll be pissing lightning after an International season where he had ABSOLUTELY NO FAULT for how much his team sucked!

[Sheikh]

Should think Hodgo will be on the plane to Europe. Mind you, if the ARU bring in a yes-man as interim coach (or Cheika) they might just pick all Waratahs and the Spirit get Hodgo, Godwin and Faulkner back!

[valzc]

New team name - the Wallatahs.

[MI5_Dog]

New team name - the Wallatahs.

Thought that was the old team name.

[westies man]

Put yourself in the boot's of the discarded club player's, would you really be supportive firing in the big gun's at this late stage.

[travelling_gerry]

Actually it would be quite interesting to see the numbers of players each of the squads used and who really fostered blooding new players.

I have no problem with stacking the team now....blow over the undefeated Rebels at home, onto the GF..

[AndyS]

Put yourself in the boot's of the discarded club player's, would you really be supportive firing in the big gun's at this late stage.

I agree. I personally disagree with the whole approach of playing one team at home and another away, but having gone down that route they should at least have the balls to stick with it and play it out.

[valzc]

I agree. I personally disagree with the whole approach of playing one team at home and another away, but having gone down that route they should at least have the balls to stick with it and play it out.

Can see your point & agree but for the fact that the Rising haven't "played ball" & used a great number of club players they're so desperate to win the comp, so I say Stuff em & give em a taste of their own medicine. Everyone else did the right thing & gave guys more of a chance but the Rising can bloody well suck it up & I hope that Spirit will give em a good run.

[jargan83]

How haven't the Rising "played ball"? They finished last in the dead last in Super Rugby.

Different teams would have had different goals going into the competition and if RugbyWA were desperate to win it we would have seen the Force players more often.

I'm with Westies and Andy, we've gone with the selection policy of resting the Force players and it would be a bit harsh to chop and change it now.

[James]

Put yourself in the boot's of the discarded club player's, would you really be supportive firing in the big gun's at this late stage.

To be fair, a lot of club players will still be involved either in the starting side or off the bench. Also, it was the two big wins that the Spirit 'A' had at home that got us into the finals. It should be a good motivator for those club players who do miss out to take their game to the next level and be there next year.

[shasta]

Rest the club players who need it. Beat the Rabble Rousing at their own game then let the clubbies contest the final. All good.

[Fullback]

Rest the club players who need it. Beat the Rabble Rousing at their own game then let the clubbies contest the final. All good.

I agree shasta, fight fire with fire and all that. I'd be guessing if it was one of the other teams we were playing, it would be the usual Spirit Clubbies team.

[Rex Messup]

The Rabble have been playing their super 15 team against clubland.

The idea of this ridiculous concept was to provide "next level" for the talented club players. They need to play with a few hardened professionals. They should have had some rule like no more than 7 professionally contracted super 15 players in any game so that it is half and half or something.

The western Australian franchise was also about promoting the game locally so it was important that Force players played in the Perth matches to increase exposure and lift the prestige of the game. Road trips were used to give the club players a real taste of the big time. I'm also supportive of that.

The policy has seen them scrape into the finals. Awesome for rugby in WA. Silverware is now on the line. You can expect the Melbourne Rebels to roll out for the Rising Phallus in the semi. Unless you want to accept you aren't going to win the game, it is time to flood the team with professional contracted Force players.

Put the best team on the park and win. A trophy in the west has to be a priority and since we have "played ball" with the round matches, we have been fair to the concept and to the best local talent. Lets win the trophy. Time to "think win". The profile of the game in the west now has to be the priority. A final or even better some silverware would be nooiiiiiiiice. Choice bro.

Since this ridiculous concept is likely to be canned as soon as next year due to 1) lack of interest and 2) lack of funding........winner keeps the trophy.

Let's win it

[AndyS]

If the concept is "ridiculous", a case could be made for teams not taking it seriously being the reason. As Rex notes, the future of the competition is tied to attendance, funding and audiences. All of those want to see the best non-Wallaby squad players on the field and got something quite different. If we did only play the Force guys at home to "increase exposure and lift the prestige of the game", the pretty clear implication is that the Spirit felt our away opposition could go f*** themselves when trying to do the same.

The Rising had 7-8 local players consistently playing alongside 14 professionals, which strikes me as an entirely defensible balance - the very best showing they are ready to take that next step. The Spirit had either locals playing with 4 or 5 professionals, or professionals playing with just a few locals. Of the two provinces, I wonder whose local players really learned the most about what it is to play in a professional environment.

The Spirit is only in the finals because they played their best team at home and got a couple of big wins. If they really wanted a proper crack at a trophy for the West (and their fans) they would have taken it seriously and done that throughout. Instead they were happy to drop the away games in the name of experience, with the result being an away final. Changing the philosophy now would be nothing but hypocrisy.