Force set to be axed

[jono]

I looked through the past Force players list (in an old Line Break - they are useful!) and I think the following players got their first Wallaby caps while playing for us:

Richard Brown
Nathan Charles
Adam Coleman
Pek Cowan
Ryan Cross
Nick Cummins
Tet Faulkner
Kyle Godwin (he'd moved to the Brumbies, but was picked based on play for us)
Dane Haylett-Petty
Matt Hodgson
Digby Ioane
Ben McCalman
Tai McIsaac
James O'Connor
Dave Pocock
Cam Shepherd

Plus Drew Mitchell (1 cap, I think, whilst playing for the Reds, then a bunch more after moving west)
Marcel Brache (USA cap)
Josh Tatupu (Samoan cap)

Yep. this was exactly what i was going to do after i had a coffee & recovered from nightshift.
There are also the players that didnt make it as wallabies who have gone on to represent other super rugby sides.

off the top of my head there are players like
Inman
alcock (even though he came to us from the tahs)
and as loath as i am to admit it - wykes seems to be having an OK season at the sunwolves...

i'm sure there are others, but one coffee wasnt enough to engage brain

[jargan83]

THE Rugby Union Players Association has signalled it would oppose the ARU telling Western Force players which franchise to join next year in the event an Aussie team is axed.

News Corp Australia revealed on Monday the ARU has earmarked the Force as the Aussie franchise to get cut if SANZAAR’s preferred 15-team Super Rugby model is agreed upon in coming weeks. The ARU and partners are waiting on South Africa to return with an answer on whether they’re prepared to cut two teams.

That answer will come on April 6 at a key SARU meeting but sources have indicated there is now increased acceptance in South Africa that two of their teams should go.

Shutting down the Force will see almost 20 contracted players without a place to play next year and though ARU boss Bill Pulver has given assurances all contracts will be honoured, the national body wants to find new homes in Australia’s four other franchises.

Given they run the Force, the ARU plans to direct players to specific clubs so the talent is spread.

That could yield problems, however, if the player is not keen on their assigned club/coach/state. and legal action may even be a possibility

RUPA boss Ross Xenos said while still a hypothetical scenario, the players’ union believe the ARU do not have the contractual authority to direct players to certain clubs.

“All Australian rugby contracts are signed by the club and the ARU and there are provisions within the contract to second players for the purposes of Wallaby duty, but it is our view that there is no capacity under the players contracts for the ARU to unilaterally direct them to relocate to another city and to play for another team,” Xenos said.

“The standard player contracts and the CBA were never drafted with these circumstances in mind but as with any employment contract with an employee and an employer, the context of that contract is that employer will not have the right to direct the employee to work for another employer.

“As we understand it there will be consultation between the ARU and any player contracted to a team that has been removed from the Super Rugby competition in order to determine where that player will continue to fulfil the obligations of his contract.

“We remain optimistic that we may not need to worry about all that eventuating, however.”

Having sat uneasily beneath the SANZAAR cone of silence so far, the ARU issued a watery statement on Tuesday attempting to explain why there was nothing yet to say regarding Super Rugby’s future.

“We also wish to confirm for the public record that no decision has been taken on the removal of one of Australia’s Super Rugby teams,” ARU boss Bill Pulver said.

But with no mention of the Force, the statement served to deepen suspicions in WA. The Force are operating under the belief that should a 15-team competition get the green-light, only then will the ARU begin evaluating which Aussie team gets cut.

The defiant Force said they would push on with its “Own the Force” campaign, where the club is asking supporters to buy $1000 shares.

“We certainly have not been advised of anything and we are not expected to be advised of anything at this stage,” Force CEO Mark Sinderberry said.

Force chairman Tony Howarth claimed the expansion franchise had been “set up to fail” due to the difficulties of recruiting players on Wallabies’ top-up money.

“I suppose I struggle a little bit to see how a good strategy for the game is to shrink it. Nevertheless, that’s what the ARU has to look at,” Howarth said.

“That’s one thing we say to the Australia Rugby Union, ‘if you want to make it a national sport, look at what the west is doing. We’re actually growing Super Rugby players and we’re growing Wallabies’.”

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...1b546437df4f3d

[GIGS20]

I am not so worried about the sponsorship as Mark Mcgowan rang Pulver personally yesterday to tell him the state is behind the WF!
Maybe a leader I can finally get behind!!

I would think the story about sponsorship being cancelled works in our favour.

It is basically saying that they'll pay $1.5 mill a year if the Force stay but don't think you're getting that money if you cut them.

[agrugger]

If I were the sort to wear tinfoil hats I'd think that the timing of this article was deliberately done to destabilize the 'own the force' campaign in an attempt to ensure that the minimum number of shares isn't reached.

I though similarly but the good news is that the public offering doesn't close until 14 July. I think WA has demonstrated support for the offering and hopefully the ARU won't look at actual number of applications on the 6 of April (a week after it opened).

Hopefully before 14 July we will have clarity.

[Sheikh]

Yep. this was exactly what i was going to do after i had a coffee & recovered from nightshift.
There are also the players that didnt make it as wallabies who have gone on to represent other super rugby sides.

off the top of my head there are players like
Inman
alcock (even though he came to us from the tahs)
and as loath as i am to admit it - wykes seems to be having an OK season at the sunwolves...

i'm sure there are others, but one coffee wasnt enough to engage brain

There are a few:
Robbie Abel - moved to the Brumbies
Cruze Ah-Nua - Rebels
Ryan Cross - Waratahs
Tim Davidson - Tahs, then Rebels
Kyle Godwin - Brumbies
James Hilgendorf - 2 games for the Tahs, then 15 for us, then moved to the Rebels
James Hilterbrand - moved to Edinburgh, now at the Tahs
Luke Holmes - Rebels, Tahs, Brumbies
Mitch Inman - Rebels
Digby Ioane - Reds, Stade Francais, Crusaders
Jono Jenkins - Tahs
Luke Jones - Rebels
Dillyn Leyds - Stormers
Lachlan McCaffrey - Brumbies
Guy Millar - Highlanders
James O'Connor - Rebels, London Irish, Reds, Toulon
Pat O'Connor - Tahs
David Pocock - Brumbies
Rory Sidey - played 4 games for the Tahs, then us, then the Rebels
Siliva Siliva - Brumbies, Rebels
Ruan Smith - Brumbies
Mark Swanepoel - Brumbies
Sitaleki Timani - Brumbies, Tahs
Ben Whittaker - Biaritz, Rebels

plus:
Josh Graham - Gold Coast Titans!

And the following players were with the Perth Spirit in the ARC:
Scott Fardy - Brumbies
Ed Jenkins - Australians 7s captain
Luke McLean - 90 caps for Italy
Ratu Nasiganiyavi - now called Nemani Nadolo - Exeter, Crusaders, Montpellier

Players move on for a variety of reasons, though: Luke Jones was stuck behind Nathan Sharpe and was offered a chance to start at the Rebels; David Pocock wanted to win things; Kyle Godwin wanted to learn from Stephen Larkham; Mark Swanepoel fell foul of visa laws; Dillyn Leyds wanted to go home; and Ratu Nasiganiyavi was a lazy, injury-prone risk who got moved on.

[chibi]

FYI to all of you.

Just read a retweet from Dave Wessels that originated from Mark McGowan - Premier of W.A. and I quote:

@MarkMcGowanMP - Just got off the phone with the CEO of the ARU to make it clear that Western Australia wants @westernforce to stay. #SeaofBlue.

I am not so worried about the sponsorship as Mark Mcgowan rang Pulver personally yesterday to tell him the state is behind the WF!
Maybe a leader I can finally get behind!!

Not trying to rain on parades fellas, but the WA government has said "We support X and the sport of X" before, so I'm a bit weary about them in that regard.

PS- Does Jake Ball count as an ex-Force player?

[travelling_gerry]

Not trying to rain on parades fellas, but the WA government has said "We support X and the sport of X" before, so I'm a bit weary about them in that regard.

PS- Does Jake Ball count as an ex-Force player?

Yeah, Darkness reffed him as an under 10, good kid

[Tazzmania]

Cam Shepperd going into bat for us:

Why the Force need to survive

[GIGS20]

There are a few:
Robbie Abel - moved to the Brumbies
Cruze Ah-Nua - Rebels
Ryan Cross - Waratahs
Tim Davidson - Tahs, then Rebels
Kyle Godwin - Brumbies
James Hilgendorf - 2 games for the Tahs, then 15 for us, then moved to the Rebels
James Hilterbrand - moved to Edinburgh, now at the Tahs
Luke Holmes - Rebels, Tahs, Brumbies
Mitch Inman - Rebels
Digby Ioane - Reds, Stade Francais, Crusaders
Jono Jenkins - Tahs
Luke Jones - Rebels
Dillyn Leyds - Stormers
Lachlan McCaffrey - Brumbies
Guy Millar - Highlanders
James O'Connor - Rebels, London Irish, Reds, Toulon
Pat O'Connor - Tahs
David Pocock - Brumbies
Rory Sidey - played 4 games for the Tahs, then us, then the Rebels
Siliva Siliva - Brumbies, Rebels
Ruan Smith - Brumbies
Mark Swanepoel - Brumbies
Sitaleki Timani - Brumbies, Tahs
Ben Whittaker - Biaritz, Rebels

plus:
Josh Graham - Gold Coast Titans!

And the following players were with the Perth Spirit in the ARC:
Scott Fardy - Brumbies
Ed Jenkins - Australians 7s captain
Luke McLean - 90 caps for Italy
Ratu Nasiganiyavi - now called Nemani Nadolo - Exeter, Crusaders, Montpellier

Players move on for a variety of reasons, though: Luke Jones was stuck behind Nathan Sharpe and was offered a chance to start at the Rebels; David Pocock wanted to win things; Kyle Godwin wanted to learn from Stephen Larkham; Mark Swanepoel fell foul of visa laws; Dillyn Leyds wanted to go home; and Ratu Nasiganiyavi was a lazy, injury-prone risk who got moved on.

That would be a good list to follow up with an asterisk for "wouldn't have seen a contract if the Force didn't exist"

There'd be more than a few names

[Sheikh]

That would be a good list to follow up with an asterisk for "wouldn't have seen a contract if the Force didn't exist"

There'd be more than a few names

Yeah, and I forgot chibi's suggestion of Jake Ball. Like Cruze Ah-Nua and Robbie Abel I don't think he ever actually played for us, but was on the books.

[GIGS20]

Trying to speculate with the asterisk thing

Robbie Abel - moved to the Brumbies *
Cruze Ah-Nua - Rebels *
Ryan Cross - Waratahs *
Tim Davidson - Tahs, then Rebels
Kyle Godwin - Brumbies
James Hilgendorf - 2 games for the Tahs, then 15 for us, then moved to the Rebels
James Hilterbrand - moved to Edinburgh, now at the Tahs
Luke Holmes - Rebels, Tahs, Brumbies *
Mitch Inman - Rebels
Digby Ioane - Reds, Stade Francais, Crusaders *
Jono Jenkins - Tahs
Luke Jones - Rebels *
Dillyn Leyds - Stormers
Lachlan McCaffrey - Brumbies
Guy Millar - Highlanders *
James O'Connor - Rebels, London Irish, Reds, Toulon
Pat O'Connor - Tahs *
David Pocock - Brumbies
Rory Sidey - played 4 games for the Tahs, then us, then the Rebels
Siliva Siliva - Brumbies, Rebels *
Ruan Smith - Brumbies *
Mark Swanepoel - Brumbies
Sitaleki Timani - Brumbies, Tahs
Ben Whittaker - Biaritz, Rebels

plus:
Josh Graham - Gold Coast Titans!

And the following players were with the Perth Spirit in the ARC:
Scott Fardy - Brumbies
Ed Jenkins - Australians 7s captain
Luke McLean - 90 caps for Italy
Ratu Nasiganiyavi - now called Nemani Nadolo - Exeter, Crusaders, Montpellier

Since this is all speculation, feel free to challenge my guesses, but most of these blokes were not at the top of their game when they came to us. I've tried to cater for blokes like Fards who played for us, then kind of disappeared for a bit, then returned. I assumed that those boys would probably have been scouted from after their Force days...could be wrong on that as well.

I was seriously tempted to put an asterisk on Nadolo, because he was luggage when he played for us. Apparently he changed his ways significantly after us, you could argue that being cut by the Force caused him to reevaluate and turn his career around. I'm not prepared to draw that long a bow.

[Sheikh]

I was seriously tempted to put an asterisk on Nadolo, because he was luggage when he played for us. Apparently he changed his ways significantly after us, you could argue that being cut by the Force caused him to reevaluate and turn his career around. I'm not prepared to draw that long a bow.

He bounced around a few sides, attracting attention because of his size but being found out. There's probably a better case for Exeter or the Crusaders turning him around.

[chibi]

I wonder what the best ex-Force XV of currently active players would look like?

[antiussentiment]

Hmmm..
I may just buy my Hurricanes jersey now then..

[Tonkar]

We could add Brock James Played 3 games for reds 2005 then 10 games for Force in 2006 and ended up Claremont till last yr ,