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NICK TAYLOR, The West Australian December 19, 2009, 10:31 am
The Western Force are likely to kick off the 2010 Super 14 season without an experienced hooker.
The club has only eight weeks to unearth a player to fill the crucial No. 2 jumper before the opening game against the ACT Brumbies at ME Bank Stadium.
The Force have had a fruitless search for an experienced rake since Tai McIsaac retired last season and second string Luke Holmes was cut from the squad.
There have been unsuccessful moves for Queensland's Sean Hardman, Australian U-20 captain Damien Fitzpatrick, who re-signed with NSW, Tatafu Polota-Nau, also from the Waratahs, and Springbok Bismarck du Plessis from the Sharks.
The Force were also blocked by the Australian Rugby Union in their bid to sign Otago hooker Peter Mirrielees as their second overseas player.
The ARU claimed that at 27, Mirrielees was too old to fit their protocol for imported players, yet it is widely accepted that front-rowers only mature later in their career.
The New Zealander would have had to play three seasons in Australia to be eligible for national selection.
McIsaac was 30 when he made his debut for the Force, won his first Test cap a year later and went on to play for the Wallabies seven more times.
The Force unsuccessfully appealed the ARU decision.
Currently, the only options are Australian U-20 representative Ben Whittaker, 20, who has only played 56 minutes of Super rugby, coming off the bench in three games last season, and Rockingham's Ryan Tyrell, 26, who has been switched from loose forward by the Force.
They have ruled out using specialist loosehead prop Pek Cowan, who was touted as a hooker behind Stephen Moore and Polota-Nau by Wallabies coach Robbie Deans during the northern hemisphere tour.
However, Cowan, who has three Test caps at prop, only came off the bench twice as a replacement in midweek tour games.
Force rugby manager Mitch Hardy said: "Mirrielees obviously did not fit the profile of the ARU. We argued that he would have been beneficial to the Force program but the ARU is obviously only looking for players that can offer something to the Australian program.
"We were very disappointed with the decision and we are still chipping away, but there are not many options open to us.
"There is not a lot of hooking stocks in Australia, which is why we were disappointed.
"The ARU gave us a list of long-shot names but most are already on contract
"The most likely scenario is still a player from New Zealand, but we may look at a couple of guys from the Sydney competition."
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...s-is-a-hooker/
Nick Taylor at the West now?
Given the amount of top-up money finding it's way into Real Madrid and MU, wouldn't you think the ARU would at least try to look as if they were cutting WA & Qld a little slack? FFS.![]()
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
I guess if you don't have a hooker you could just avoid kicking the ball out... just run the ball WF...
Gee Muddy - I remember when hookers had a role in scrums not just lineouts......
'God invented beer to prevent Props from taking over the world'
they got rid of holmsie too early, should of signed him for another year, losing both him and tai, in one year was a bit much.....
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I'm tipping a Genia style coming of age for Whittaker, he's no slouch.
And can only hope that Tyrell siezes the day in the same manner as his Club mate did against the Chief's, Longbottom didn't look like a local rookie at all when he got his chance then.
Our main concern isn't match day, I believe they will hold their own, but more two younger players backing up week to week.
However, as seen at Canberra a couple of seasons ago, when it is an issue at Hooker then players are allowed to be seconded in during the season, wonder if JP has kept fit...
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
I'm assuming that the Force decided that with Tai going they needed two hookers, a starter and a back-up. From the game time they got last season, Whittaker was an improvement over Holmes. But if they wanted to carry two hookers, I assume that they released Holmes thinking that they had a better option lined up (Fitzpatrick, probably). It's only because Fitzpatrick stayed with the Tahs that we're worried about our options at hooker and talking about converting props to hookers.
The question is why did Fitzpatrick decide to play 3rd string at the Tahs rather than fight Whittaker for a starting role at the Force? Even if the eastern states think our rugby is inferior, why give up the chance of significant game-time early in your career?
While Fitzpatrick was judged the better player by U20's selectors (and Captained the team so ?must? have been clear cut) at only 104kg he sounds a bit scrawny to come to much this season?
Perhaps already having one junior development the Force just couldn't justify putting up the same coin as the Waratahs who are faced with replacing the aging Freier in a season or two.
As listed elsewhere, Australia isn't exactly abounding with Hooking talent:
Force:
Whittaker
Tyrrell
Brumbies:
Moore
Edmonds
?Academy
Reds:
Hardman
Faingaa
Hanson
Waratahs:
Polota-Nau
Freier
Fitzpatrick
With both Hardman and Freier in their last seasons before considering their superannuation then experienced Ausralian Hookers are a bit thin on the ground.
I seem to recall that the Holmes decision was all the Force's to make &/or it was a signing timing issue related to JO'Cs signature and available funds etc.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
The reason quoted was that he thought he would develop better at the Tahs (having two experienced hookers to learn from as apposed to noone). The money wasn't hugely different in Perth and I guess for some getting up and shifting to the other side of the country could be a big issue when it comes to friends/family/relationships/study/etc. It sounded like it was fairly close for a while in there though. Adam Freier will be winding his career down soon anyways. Pretty sure Chris Hickey being the former Eastwood coach would have gone a long way too.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
holmes got the boot as he wasn't developing as much as they liked. Apparently, talking to mitch, Tyrrel is going to be a great hooker, with lots of potential. though game time will tell.
I like the home grown/trained blokes. It builds a TEAM. i hate the way people always change teams. Thats why i could never really get into a euro leagues team as the bloke play for cash, and always have imports in their team.
I hope the likes of browny, bam, cummins even JOC stay for their careers at the force. It creates the force and a team that i want to follow.
Yeah, I'd prefer an average player coming out of the WA rugby system than a slightly better/more experienced player from elsewhere. Much better in the long run.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Holmes's problem was our scrum struggled every time he came on,otherwise he was great around the field,not sure how heavy he was but maybe a bit light.
Its a shame he's a real nice guy,I believe hes been training down at the tahs while looking at his options overseas.