No 'magic bullet' for Super Rugby's crowd crisis: Castle

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Originally Posted by Bakkies

Signing all of the under 20s is not a wise thing to do as not every player in a batch is not going to make it...

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Of course not, but that is the stupidity of the Australian rugby structure. They've already made it, and will now each take up a SR spot and get two years of professional development put into them to find out whether they have what it takes, because that is the only way to find out. Meanwhile, the NZ teams will be signing players after they have had that development in a professional M10C, but only if they have shown the necessary. And they wonder why there is a gap that killing off sides won't close...

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Originally Posted by AndyS

Of course not, but that is the stupidity of the Australian rugby structure. They've already made it, and will now each take up a SR spot and get two years of professional development put into them to find out whether they have what it takes, because that is the only way to find out. Meanwhile, the NZ teams will be signing players after they have had that development in a professional M10C, but only if they have shown the necessary. And they wonder why there is a gap that killing off sides won't close...

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Exactly. The Force benefitted from the players that made the under 21s Final in 2002. The likes of AJ Whalley and Henjak were in that squad. The stupidity of Hooper’s five year deal may hold back McReight. Butler, Fainga’a and Gill saw the light.

The 2016 Ireland squad had Stockdale, Porter and James Ryan as the exceptional players which is the norm. Others like Max Deegan, Hugo Keenan, Johnny McPhilips, Stephen Kerins got game time in the 7s and Pro 14 to get experience.

McDonald has gone to Tahs academy. Not sure about Tizzano

So with last night's crowd I think our average numbers of 10,800-odd were better than SR. But I suppose they are dragged lower by the ongoing car crash in Melbourne. :thumbsup:

He didn’t have to pay back a cent of the $30 million the Rebels owed the ARU whereas the Alan Winney consortium was willing to restructure it to pay it back.

This is why people are supporting Folau as the only way to send the fuckwits who have ruined the game a message is to send them broke. The gutless and impotent corporate regulator refused to do it.