What I Would Do IF Given the Chance

[Cowboy]

I have recently been critical of several issues that I see within the Force and the Spirit. The big concern being that the Force become financially unviable due to loss of members before the positive things that they are doing bring some success.

Some forum members think that this is an overly negative position, but I only see it as being realistic. But hey different life experience different perspectives and all that. So I thought I'd start this thread with a few quick ideas of what I'd do to try and reverse the trend of disappointing loses and declining crowds.

- If this season is similar to last year replace the coach with one that has a track record of attractive rugby that crowds want to watch

- Hire a strength conditioning coach from one of the Kiwi teams, their teams always seem fitter then ours. Once you have one of them in charge we can fill in the rest with Aussies

- Get as much game time as possible into the players to build combinations and confidence. We may never have the most talented side but we can have the most cohesive.

[GIGS20]

What I would do if given the chance would be to perform an actual, honest review of the entire organisation's practice before throwing the baby out.

I think everybody agrees that the teams aren't performing to expectation at the moment, the thing that is in the dark for pretty much everybody on this website is the source of the actual problems.

Is the coach the issue? maybe, maybe not. He's certainly an easy target, but in professional sport the coach always is.
Perhaps it's the location (tips hat to Andrewg and Taz) maybe we just aren't going to attract the right calibre of ruby people to WA for thirty years and maybe we have to satisfy ourselves with the long game.
Perhaps it's mismanagement by the board/CEO/backoffice staff (similar tipping of the lid to Sevenmile and whatsdoin) maybe they're mismanaging the funds so much that we can't afford a better coach or a better playing roster, but if they only grew some balls (to borrow an epithet) they could turn the organisation around in 18 months by using players from Nedlands and Mandurah (sorry, couldn't resist)

You see, I'm pretty sure we're all very small fish in the rugby pond of WA, yes, even Hansie, the whipping boy of TWF members who want to rail against anything the CRAC have done probably has no genuine clue of what is ACTUALLY going on behind closed doors at rugby HQ

So, I'd personally take a chill pill, find out what the actual problems are and solve them (even if it means replacing the board)

[James]

I like how focused we are on developing local talent. What worries me is that we are developing them to play a low risk style of rugby that isn't inspiring. We might make the finals in another lucky year like last year but we won't go past the first week.

We need to hire a gung-ho attack coach (plenty of names have been thrown about) and start to develop a dynamic attack and develop better attacking skills. Who cares if we lose quite a few along the way- we are already doing that as it is.

[taylor]

Bring in the Tasman attack coach and allow him to dictate the game plan. Bring in the Tasman skills coach as from what I saw last year our guys couldn't catch and pass accurately for long enough periods to implement the plan.
Our game plan of what seemed to me of half a dozen hit ups from forwards receiving the ball in a stationary position, then moving it to a centre to run straight and get smashed, followed by an aimless kick down the middle of the field was relatively easy for the opposition to read and defuse. The only reason we won any games at all last year has to be put down to the character of the players in the squad

[westies man]

I like how focused we are on developing local talent. What worries me is that we are developing them to play a low risk style of rugby that isn't inspiring. We might make the finals in another lucky year like last year but we won't go past the first week.

We need to hire a gung-ho attack coach (plenty of names have been thrown about) and start to develop a dynamic attack and develop better attacking skills. Who cares if we lose quite a few along the way- we are already doing that as it is.

Have no idea who you are but you nailed it. This is was needs to happen.

[westies man]

Actually all posts on this thread have a lot of merit but it all comes down to one thing we can't change and that is the moolah required to make it happen.

[Tazzmania]

Agree with Westies man, and with 91,000 plus at the mcg today and 40,000 plus at the two Perth afl games, ain't going to change.

So let us do the only thing we can do and that is support what we have and try and look on the positive side to ensure rugby remain a sport in W A and that while we may only remain competitive at best, we carry on getting the privledge of seeing some of the best players in the world up close and personal when they take on the Force, and we carry on seeing some of our Perth kids getting game time in the best rugby comp in the world.

[GIGS20]

+1

And take some heart from the Highlanders, who are New Zealand's Force.

They prove that, eventually, with heart and effort, it is possible to succeed when the structure of the centralised bureaucracy is against you at every turn.......but it will require us playing the long game, gradually improving every year until, eventually, we get competitive with fringe players and journeymen who are rejected everywhere else.

[Cowboy]

I think that regular crowds of ~20,000 are possible for the Force. Perth has enough former Poms Kiwis and Saffa's and Eastern staters to do so.

[Cowboy]

I like how focused we are on developing local talent. What worries me is that we are developing them to play a low risk style of rugby that isn't inspiring.

My concern for the players is that they pick up on the underlying message of the low risk approach which is - your not actually good enough to win, so just try and make sure the loss isn't embarrassing.

[AndyS]

I worry about more than that. I've worked with many engineers in my career and none of them got there by being morons. But something I noticed over the years was that once they started doing it for real, they were what they did for the first 5 years. If they weren't really challenged in that time, they became drones that never recovered - they were set on a path. Analogously, my concern is what the Force game-plan might be teaching their players. Lots of defence sure, but I can't help but wonder if we are churning out defensively minded, low risk players that become incapable of even recognising opportunity let alone taking it. That is why I have always thought an NRC so important, as like NZ it should be where players learn to take chances when there are real stakes on the table but not whole careers. Unfortunately, the Spirit seems to very much be Force Lite, giving players opportunity to be seen but perhaps not learning the skills or lessons they will be too scared to try later.

Personally I think the two teams should be entirely separate entities, and most especially at the philosophical level. In SR the weight of importance leans toward defence, in the NRC it is attack. You can make the defensive line as good as is possible, but at the end of the day it will only be as strong as the weakest defender in the line and he will be a club player. And it will be the strongest attacker that will be running at him, who will be a professional SR player or even a Wallaby. With all the best will in the world, you will get scored on so you better be able to score at least as much in return. Frankly, that balance between offense and defence is not one that seems to be anywhere near right in either team at the moment.

[choice]

I am not sure if this is fixable in the short term. The rot started right at the beginning when a lot of 2nd rate players were recruited through the recruitment company of one of the coaches.
We now have a terrible attitude in that we seem to tolerate inferior coaches and players.
All current players and coaches should be put under review, and those that do not show a total commitment to WA be told to get on their bike and look for a paid holiday somewhere else.
We need more players like Hodgson and McCalman who while they aren't rated as "x" factor players they give everything they have on game day and lead by example.
This mindset is lacking in a lot of our current players who in some cases appear to just do enough on game day to ensure they have a pay cheque next week.
It only takes one or two players to fall down on their core skills and the whole game plan goes to the crapper.
Sadly a review won't happen as too many of the people administering the game in Perth have too much to lose.

[westies man]

I am not sure if this is fixable in the short term. The rot started right at the beginning when a lot of 2nd rate players were recruited through the recruitment company of one of the coaches.

That is almost as bad as that guy from Neddies who used to run a rugby recruitment agency. The last player West's got from him couldn't get his way out of 3rd Grade. Heard he is now trying to pass himself off as a fishing tour guide and if you look at his face book page he is holding up 2 fish which I presume he uses for bait.

[brokendown gunfighter]

we gave you a bloody good coach (and manager)a few years back.You can't win them all,Westies

[choice]

Still trying to stalk me, about time you lost those chips off your shoulders. You are holding your club back with the extra weight you are carrying around.