Force set to be axed

[volvo]

Kearns wants ARU to 'show some kahunas'

Former Wallabies captain Phil Kearns has challenged the ARU to show some gumption and demand SANZAAR retain all five Australian teams in Super Rugby.
As the saga continues over who's in and who's out for 2018, Kearns believes it's high time the ARU made a stand and stood up to the competition's rulers reportedly lobbying to have one Australian team and two South African sides chopped.
The Western Force are the latest Australian franchise in the firing line but not only is Kearns advocating their survival, but also urging the ARU to insist no Aussie outfit is cut.
Kearns agrees with fellow former Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock and All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens that Super Rugby would be better off with a trans-Tasman competition and then possibly a Super Bowl-style final against the best from South Africa and Argentina.
"If Australia called their (SANZAAR's) bluff, so let's say South Africa and New Zealand go off and play in your own tournament, let's see how quickly they get tired of that - going over the top of Australia back and forth the whole time," Kearns told Fox Sports' Super Rugby program.
"And the fact is, the crowds are down and audiences are down on TV when a South African team plays.
"We don't get up at two o'clock in the morning to watch that.
"Our game needs some big kahunas right now."
Like Mehrtens - who believes removing the Force would be a blow also to New Zealand rugby - Kearns is adamant the Perth club must stay.

"They're starting to play some decent footy to start with. They're starting to put some good games, good performances, good tries together," he said.
"They're not playing the full 80 minutes yet but that will come with maturity.
'The second thing that I really like about what they've done is they are picking some home-grown talent.
"We know that Queensland and NSW is where most of the talent comes from. The Force are starting to produce some of their own as well and it's a real positive for the game.

Former Force star Cameron Shepherd has also made an impassioned plea for the 12-year-old franchise to be given a chance to grow old in Super Rugby.
"Frankly I'm pretty upset about it," Shepherd said.
"The Force has battled through a really tough 12 years; the Firepower debacle at the start, losing a lot of key players and a huge amount of them have toiled away to keep the team running, keep the organisation running and get them to where they are today, where the culture's fantastic.
"They're producing some great players.
"Dane Haylett-Petty is a perfect example of one, and Richie Hardwick, and this needs to continue so the future generations - and there's a lot of them coming though - aren't roadblocked and not given the opportunity to reach their rugby dreams."
TOPICS
https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-u...s-ng-s-1699950

[jono]

Not to mention the players not from WA who we have developed over the years into wallabies, or into integral players in other super rugby teams.

[FingerTips]

From page 5 of the West Australian, Wednesday 29 March 2017:

The State Government has left open the possibility of withholding millions of dollars in road trauma funding from the Western Force after claims the team will be axed from the Super Rugby competition.

Fake news or not fake news, Rugby WA and the ARU should start lawyering up.

[jargan83]

Given the speculation the Force might be folded has gone on for some time now I'd bet that the previous Government placed get out clauses into the sponsorship deal in case the side was indeed culled from Super Rugby.

[yungfen]

From page 5 of the West Australian, Wednesday 29 March 2017:



Fake news or not fake news, Rugby WA and the ARU should start lawyering up.

Not surprised to see such an article come out, but I would imagine that they would not be able to pull out of the original 1 year deal ($1.5 million), very different for the additional 2 years though which would have clauses into them to go ahead.

So I am worried about the $1.5 million, newspapers just jumping on opportunities to get more clicks and sell papers as the Western Force 'cull' is buzzing and selling at the moment.

[FingerTips]

Are the wise men of the ARU so out of touch with reality that they do not understand there will be financial, legal and political consequences if the Western Force are axed?

[Muddly]

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!!

[zed]

Like it or not, we need to lose at least one Super team. Last year all of the Australian teams, bar the Brumbies, performed poorly, this year looks much the same. The number of rugby players in Australia has dropped 63% in the last 12 years, only ten pin bowling and squash have experienced bigger drops, we simply don't have the players to support 5 teams. I think it makes sense to keep the Force, simply because of location. Get rid of Rebels and 2 x SA teams plus Sunwolves. Keep Jaguares.

[yungfen]

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 must admit that I did not expect him to call Mr Pulver so was pleasantly surprised that he did...

However this piece of rubbish that is on The West Australian would contradict his phone call and 'supposed' support for the Force....

[Sheikh]

Not to mention the players not from WA who we have developed over the years into wallabies, or into integral players in other super rugby teams.

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)

[MI5_Dog]

Like it or not, we need to lose at least one Super team. Last year all of the Australian teams, bar the Brumbies, performed poorly, this year looks much the same. The number of rugby players in Australia has dropped 63% in the last 12 years, only ten pin bowling and squash have experienced bigger drops, we simply don't have the players to support 5 teams. I think it makes sense to keep the Force, simply because of location. Get rid of Rebels and 2 x SA teams plus Sunwolves. Keep Jaguares.

Sorry mate I have to disagree with you there.
Australian Rugby is in a rebuilding phase with the NRC and 5 super teams.
It takes a while for players to develop and move through to the super teams, for standards of fitness and skill to improve and for results in super rugby to start to be seen.
Reducing the number of teams mightl concentrate talent in the short term (you'd hope but I suspect the 'good' players will head overseas) but at the cost of long term depth for Australian rugby as a whole.

[MI5_Dog]

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.
Especially if certain Shite Shield types saw the Force as a threat to NSW rugby.
I mean it's ok if NSW are the top Aus team or win the comp, and I'm sure that Qld and the ACT (made up of mostly NSW and Qld players anyway) winning is acceptable as it still shows the strength of NSW as the 'premier' Rugby state. But should WA win or top the conference with a large amount of WA talent.....

[Sheikh]

Like it or not, we need to lose at least one Super team. Last year all of the Australian teams, bar the Brumbies, performed poorly, this year looks much the same. The number of rugby players in Australia has dropped 63% in the last 12 years, only ten pin bowling and squash have experienced bigger drops, we simply don't have the players to support 5 teams. I think it makes sense to keep the Force, simply because of location. Get rid of Rebels and 2 x SA teams plus Sunwolves. Keep Jaguares.

Yeah, but that 63% drop in players comes from the Roy Morgan research, which is debunked in Brett McKay's piece in the Roar

[zed]

Yeah, but that 63% drop in players comes from the Roy Morgan research, which is debunked in Brett McKay's piece in the Roar

Ah OK.

[PerthGirl]

F off Trytime!! Can we ban this troll Darren?