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Thread: Twiggy backs the Force

  1. #46
    Champion Contributor WF1964's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sandgroperrugby View Post
    We made the ABC news two nights in a row when was the last time that happened.
    Quokkagate probably

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  2. #47
    Champion Contributor sandgroperrugby's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WF1964 View Post
    Quokkagate probably
    Yeah thanks for that memory!

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    Generally speaking you aren’t learning much if your lips are moving!!!

  3. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by shasta View Post
    So, Sonny Bono coached the 1979 Hale First XV! Who knew?
    His younger brother Pro is WF lawyer in the legal stoush with FU ARU

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  4. #49
    Veteran valzc's Avatar
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    After just reading Wayne Smiths article yesterday "what the hell just happened", regarding what good could Twiggy do at this point? The ARU are pretty much f**d three ways, Force arbitration (which could go to further appeal), Sued by the Rebs, or go to SANZAAR & get sued. All roads lead to bankruptcy. Essentially Twiggy could be the financial saviour of the ARU, if he so chose (be it a far fetched idea). How good would a powerful West Aussie running the show at the ARU be! Pretty sure the Force could be safe.

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  5. #50
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    Wayne Smiths articles have become more and more puff pieces since April. He is just postulating the same uneducated and unresearched opinions popping up on the "other" forums : Why now, why not earlier? Whats he going to do? Why should we trust him?
    It's like the East Coast forum expects think they have to have the final signoff on whether Forrest can help us or not.
    For mine, it is a game changer. The ARU thought they could send us broke dragging out the legal process but now it is the other way around. With Arbitration having an appeal facility we can now fight on a level playing field and not have to worry about time or financial constraints. It also puts pressure on the ARU to find an alternative outcome, be it buy the Rebels or the Tahds, Reds or Brumbies get the chop. The easy way out for the ARU now is to spend $4 million buying the Rebels instead of spending many more millions fighting Forrest, McCusker and RugbyWA. Add in Mr Forrests significant corporate clout and influence and we should be feeling positive about our future. The timing of his appearance was uplifting and has put us in the headlines.

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  6. #51
    (Previously WFDS) WFDom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kalahard View Post
    The timing of his appearance was uplifting and has put us in the headlines.
    Potentially the masterstroke that won the battle!

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    Great game, Fucken battled right through to the 80!

  7. #52
    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Wayne Smith's article seems to be saying that if WA and Vic continue down the legal path, that would send the ARU to the cleaners and the "heartlands" will suffer. I think he might be onto something. Guess what; there's a solution.
    No Wayne, it's not expecting a Rugby supporter from WA with a few quid to go marching into Christie St and bail out their sorry arses. That's as unrealistic as it is pathetic - maybe a little research on the costs of Rugby WA's legal moves would have been wise before putting that into print.

    Move our most successful franchise into a market big enough to support it - to replace the one that has lost a fortune since it's first days there.

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    Last edited by shasta; 18-07-17 at 16:01.

  8. #53
    Immortal GIGS20's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shasta View Post
    Move our most successful franchise into a market big enough to support it - to replace the one that has lost a fortune since it's first days there.
    The only problem I have with that statement is that ANY franchise in Melbourne will require similar largess to that of the Rebels simply to stay afloat. It's unrealistic to expect the Brumbies with their cluster of a mangement structure (remember the Corruption investigation, the very public fight with their own CEO ext) will be forward thinking enough to generate sustainability in what could be arguably the most congested market in Oz.

    I'm not suggesting that the ARU throw all of Victorian rugby to the wolves, but moving a dysfunctional family into a dysfunctional neighborhood is unlikely to solve the dysfunction in either.

    It's a complex problem, to which I can't find an obvious answer, all I can tell is that IF a team MUST be cut to save money, surely it HAS to be the Rebels.

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    C'mon the

  9. #54
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    Just reading a story on Fox Sports Rugby with Pulver apologising for delay on cutting team. Reads like they are just waiting to win legal action from us and then rugby will be just great again!! Seriously do they have a back up plan??? FFS he's got to go after this.

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  10. #55
    Champion Tazzmania's Avatar
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    ... and in the article he mentions that legal action costs are irrelevant as they are not recurring.

    Not sure how he ran a company, surely while they may be a one off expenditure, they need to be paid off and will hinder future prospects, especially for an organisation as financially fragile as theirs.

    Our emperor Nero continues to fiddle while Rome burns

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    Simon Cron: “People talk about winning and losing all the time and they are critical, but there’s a process to get into and it’s the ability to stay present, do your job and execute skills under pressure.”

  11. #56
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    What if the EARU see's a Twiggy backed Force as even more of a threat to NSW success and another reason to have us at the top of the chopping block?

    A few people have mentioned there is appeal to arbitration, I think this is only when there has been incorrect application of the law? One of our knowledgeable legal posters will know if this is true.

    Not trying to be negative just thinking and worrying about possibilities

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  12. #57
    Legend Contributor Alison's Avatar
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    Judging by the amount they've spent on the Rebels since 2010, they don't care about recurring expenditure either; provided it's not for the Force.

    They are just a bunch of disingenuous liars who don't care a jot about the product, just the producers.

    Just because they don't have shareholders to appease and pay doesn't mean they can toss the moral compass out of the window (assuming they had one in the first place).

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    Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby

  13. #58
    Champion Tazzmania's Avatar
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    From ESPN:

    Andrew Forrest's milliions add to ARU's rugby mess

    In lullaby land, otherwise known as Australian Rugby Union HQ, those in charge who require machetes to fight their way through the thick cobwebs to find the board room keep getting demoralised by disturbing images.

    As if the pesky public is not enough of an irritation- having the temerity for the past four months in demanding a decision, any decision, on who out of the Western Force or Melbourne Rebels will be cut- now those with clout are openly snubbing them.

    The end of the Super Rugby season- well for four Australian teams at least- was supposed to provide some relief for those masters of procrastination on the ARU board. Instead, at the end of the Force-Waratahs game in Perth was the most ominous of sights. Out strode onto the field the type of identity the ARU networkers love to pal around with- a billionaire with money to burn. This one though had an abrupt 'up-yours' message for the ARU- especially to those in the organisation who thought it would be easy getting rid of the Force.

    With the once-loved Bledisloe Cup series causing nothing but dread for Wallabies fans, perhaps New Zealand can lend us a hand again, writes Greg Growden.

    Quade dumped from Wallabies' training squad
    Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has included 11 new faces in a 40-man training squad for the first two Bledisloe Cup games but there is no room for veteran playmaker Quade Cooper.
    After the high emotion of the Force's final-round win over the Waratahs, highlighted by their retiring captain Matt Hodgson having his Eric Simms moment toe-booting over the final kick, local iron ore magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest gathered the players around to announce their fight for survival had gone up a gear.

    Just a month or so after donating $400 million to various charities, Twiggy told the Force players he was backing them all the way. No money was mentioned, but it was inferred. He told them: "Be assured that surviving is not an issue, you will survive and you will win."

    Smelling salts were immediately required at ARU HQ.

    Twiggy followed it up the next day with a statement that his ongoing support "would be contingent upon (rugby) remaining a national, not an eastern states-only sport."

    Straitjackets were now being called for at ARU HQ.


    Twiggy's defiant stand comes on top of the Force lodging a Supreme Court writ, claiming the ARU could be in breach of an alliance agreement. So, the Force are not going to be disappearing in any hurry. Twiggy and his men are too hard to budge.

    So, the pressure reverts back to the privately-owned Rebels- and while they have been impotent- with just one victory and a draw this season- they are off-field a far more militant, better organised beast. The Rebels management have also shown they have little regard for the ARU, and are also waiting to sue the national body.

    No matter what, court action appears inevitable- and many more months of indecision while the legal eagles hover. It could end up costing the ARU millions.

    Since that silly '48 to 72 hours' moment on April 10, yes you read right April 10, when the ARU stated a decision over whether the Force or the Rebels would exit the competition was just days away, fluoro thongs have gone in and out of fashion, snakes and panda bears have gone into hibernation, new-born babies have developed full-grown beards, governments have been overthrown, ships have been built and launched and the Wallabies amazingly have had enough time to discover even more ways to lose unlosable Test matches.


    But during this eternity one factor has remained exactly the same. Then and now, put an Australian Super Rugby team up against a New Zealand side, and the outcome doesn't change. Well, it hasn't actually changed for the last 31 Trans-Tasman encounters. It's only got worse. And that's why the ARU must finally front up and tell us who they want to get rid of- so that the whole messy legal issue can at least start, some sort of step can be taken, and hopefully an outcome can be achieved before the end of this decade.

    In spite of all the emotion and sentiment swirling around the teams, the 2017 Super Rugby season confirmed that Australian Rugby cannot sustain five provinces. Four is even stretching it.

    Only two of the five- the Brumbies and Force- played at an acceptable level this season, while the other three- Waratahs, Reds and Rebels- produced several unforgivable performances. Their overall effort was far from satisfactory. Each province fielded players who weren't up to Super Rugby calibre- and not surprisingly standards dropped at an alarming rate.


    Melbourne Rebels Scott Barbour/Getty Images
    Even worse it appeared that a few Waratahs and Rebels players either gave up, or were just going through the motions during the season. They made a mockery of their supposed lofty positions.

    At the start of the year, the Rebels were diabolical, with several seemingly too scared to even attempt to tackle their opponents, while the Waratahs against the Force last Saturday showed absolutely no heart or drive, and as a penalty for their lethargy should have been forced to take the train rather than the plane back from Perth to Sydney.

    Only Bernard Foley and Michael Hooper could be forgiven, as they did put in. For the rest, a few days on the Nullarbor would have brought them back to earth. Far smarter than getting them all together to watch the Super Rugby final. But yet again the Waratahs take the meaningless, soft option.

    When teams whose future is either safe (Waratahs) or in serious jeopardy (Rebels) don't put in- they don't deserve any sympathy. Nor do the ARU, as their dithering along with a string of foolish decisions in the last season or two from past and present officials which has provided the Force and Rebels with loopholes they can take advantage of, has created this almighty mess.

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    Simon Cron: “People talk about winning and losing all the time and they are critical, but there’s a process to get into and it’s the ability to stay present, do your job and execute skills under pressure.”

  14. #59
    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Usual Growden poison pen stuff. Long on twisting the knife. Short on any hint of suggestions to move this mess forward.

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    Last edited by shasta; 20-07-17 at 08:43.
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  15. #60
    Veteran zimeric's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tazzmania View Post
    From ESPN:

    Each province fielded players who weren't up to Super Rugby calibre- and not surprisingly standards dropped at an alarming rate.

    .
    Ok there will always be players fielded that are below par but looking at the Waratahs who fielded 11 Wallabies (incl. 7s players) in their side and the Reds with 11 current and former Wallabies and the Brumbies with also 11 Current and Former wallabies. id be asking not so much of the quality of players or depth but training and coaching methods as well as mental toughness.

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