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Wayne Smith | April 14, 2009
Article from: The Australian
IT will not be the number on his back but whether the Western Force can create a happier workplace that will determine whether Wallabies' number eight Richard Brown re-signs with the Perth side or returns to Queensland.
Confirmation yesterday that All Blacks flanker Daniel Braid intends not to exercise the second year of his two-season deal with Queensland has made the recapture of Townsville-born, Julia Creek-raised Brown the Reds' No1 recruiting priority.
Brown might have played at number eight in all but the Paris Test on the Wallabies' spring tour after making his debut off the bench in the Bledisloe Cup clash in Brisbane last September, but the Reds are just as interested in him as Braid's replacement at openside flanker.
With another player, that could be a deal-killer. After all, Brown is the incumbent Test number eight, with the only real threat to his position coming from the man he will confront in Saturday's derby in Sydney, Waratahs battering ram Wycliff Palu.
But if he was to be used as a seven, Brown would find himself competing for a gold jersey next season against the likes of George Smith, current Force teammate David Pocock and, depending on what decision he makes in the coming weeks, possibly Phil Waugh.
But that is not how Brown is weighing up his decision.
"When I'm happy I play my best football and when I look back, I was happiest during the Australian Rugby Championship (in 2007) when I played seven and eight for the Perth Spirit," Brown said yesterday.
"It's pretty well known all the problems the Force have had and sometimes the strain and the tension surrounding the club doesn't make this the happiest workplace environment. So I'm not basing my decision on whether I go back to Queensland to play seven. I'm seeing how things are sorted out here at the Force.
Do the problems here get solved or do they remain? Wherever I am, I want to be happy."
Brown conceded he missed his family and friends in Queensland but insisted ultimately his decision would rest on what was best for his rugby.
Force chief executive Greg Harris yesterday quipped he was caught between the chicken and the egg and the domino theory as he attempted to retain Brown and the two other key Wallabies coming off contract, James O'Connor and Drew Mitchell.
"It's a bit of a waiting game at the moment," Harris said. "They're all asking what the other two blokes are doing."
Yet Brown insisted that his decision would not be swayed by whether Mitchell and O'Connor stayed or went.
"It would add a bit of confidence, I guess, but it's not going to be what influences me. But if this place (the Force) was not to be what I want it to be, if it wasn't constructive and I felt I wouldn't develop as a footballer, it wouldn't matter what the other guys decided."
O'Connor, meanwhile, will have one eye on the 2011 World Cup when he makes up his mind at the end of the Force's Super 14 campaign.
"For me, I'm not too much concerned about what the others (Mitchell and Brown) do," O'Connor said yesterday. "I want to be involved with good footballers, which I think I've got here.
"It will be a rugby decision about my future, especially leading into the World Cup. I want a good solid few seasons to prepare for that."
If O'Connor follows Matt Giteau to the Brumbies, he would be able to continue his rugby education at a steady pace, learning not just from Giteau but from the likes of Stirling Mortlock, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Tyrone Smith.
Conversely, he would hit the fast-forward button if he remained at the Force and found himself thrust into the playmaking five-eighth role as a Giteau substitute. That could be the making of the 18-year-old or it could see him saddled with too much responsibility too early.
Reds coach Phil Mooney won't be following former Wallabies boss John Connolly's advice to switch Digby Ioane back to the wing against the Lions at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
"We're happy with Digby at 13," said Mooney, dismissing the suggestion that the Reds had been over-using Ioane at outside centre. "It could be just that he works harder than most 13s."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html
Nice to see he was happest when he was playing for the Spirit , there might a lesson there JON!
Get rid of these drips
Rugby is a game for hard bastards who don't care if the coach has a tanty if they are playing like girls.
Player power, emotionally delicate players..........rugby 21st century style.
I think I'm going to convert to ice hockey. I'm over it
Controversy corner
im fairly certain that Brownie likes it here!!!
thanks brownie, sign on![]()
Be There. Be Heard. Be The Force Behind The Force
Gee who would go to the reds......... his rugby will go further here along side Sharpie and Pocock Hodgson and having Mitch to guide him.
Gee please stay Browny I will be gutted if he leaves
Just one thing for Browny to ponder before signing.
Winning is fun, you'll do more of that here than in Qld
End of Statement
C'mon the![]()
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Exactly GIGS!!!!!!!!!!!
It's rather a relief to read about someone who wants to make up his mind based on his personal happiness rather than a buck.
Again really hoping this person stays because if he does his heart will be here.
(Really confused about the difference between the Spirit and thethe only difference I can think of is the
backliners were missing, the coaching staff was the same really) ergo as most of them are leaving Brownie will stay - I hope
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
Mulvihill was head coach for Spirit...
Interesting. With a little imagination, you could read subtext something like ''I'd be really happy to stay at the Force if John Mulvihill was head coach"
All very slow to commit so the happiness issue is on the cards... The Force and Third party combined offers is the main detail stopping them walking away at this time... The Force needs to consider a new head coach and create fresh excitement around the club to encourage new players to come on board......
Brown knows the Reds are on the up as does Drew. JOC wants to learn and become a world-class international, he needs a preeminent program with international mentors both at player and coaching levels, the Brumbies genuinely offer him this …
The fact that these guys are holding out shows that the combined Force and third party offers must be extremely generous… I expect now the semis spot for the Force is out of reach player decisions will begin to appear.
Halangahu is not a world-class flyhalf, he wont help JOC stay… Force need to keep looking...
Last edited by mudskipper; 15-04-09 at 10:40.
on the up ??? maybe of the field but definately not while playing rugby. Are you aware that the Reds are placed 13th out of 14 teams with a total points Points Diff of -50 this year and ended up 12th last year with a points Diff of - 65
That is going backwards not up
---------- Post added at 07:48 ---------- Previous post was at 07:47 ----------
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