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Last night we were treated to an enlightening second members evening as to what happens behind the scenes. It was a real eye opener to hear and see the tremendous effort that goes into this franchise from just two of the behind the scenes areas.
It made me feel that paying my membership and turning up to watch the games was the easiest job, and a lot is happening to make sure we field a team and get to enjoy the game we all love so much, by many others that we do not see or hear about often enough.
The evening opened with new recruit Bill Meakes giving us an insight into his background. It appears that we have someone capabale of breaking the line for us and giving us go forward ball. He has already demonstrated in the NRC that we have something to look forward to. Thankfully, he appears to have recovered from his concussion on the weekend but will miss this week as concussion protocos are followed.
Head Physiotherapist Emidio Pacecca explained what goes into preparing players for Super Rugby and Performance and worked through a few real examples. He even had Richie Arnold there to help explain what he has been through in an injury plagued career and how they are trying to get him fighting fit and back on the field. Similar efforts went into Adam Coleman and Dane Haylett-Petty by this team and we can see the fruits of their endevours now. Lets hope it is the same for Richie, he seems a determined young man.
Analyst Damian Pacecca ran us through what for me was the most fascinating part of the evening, the performance analyses. It was encouraging to see the work that goes on behind the scenes from using a drone at training to analysing video foootage of training matches, how different camera footage is obtained to enable them to get more than just the coverage we see on television, to the actual match statistics and how they are are broken down and utilised to find trends, stregnths and weakenesses.
Mark closed the evening by advising that at least one of the assistant coaches could be named as early as today. Hodgo is close to signing with the last bits of life after playing being ironed out, and commented on Wayne Smith's article that appeared in another thread on this site.
In regards to the proposed change to the Super rugby format it appears everything is on the table with no decisions made as yet, but they could be made as early as November because as at March next year teams need to start planning for the following year. He did state that without question that NSW and QLD will remain untouched as expected, however he was of the opinion that we are well placed in Perth to put up a decent fight of why we should not be the one that goes if it does come down to something as drastic as that. He feels we have a better chance than some of the other contenders, due to the rugby community and rugby public in Perth. However, the most vital ingredient is members, without members the choice will be easy for the powers that be. This year we have been served with a draw with three NZ teams that can help drive our game numbers, and we need to make sure we help on board as many people to get to games and take memberships etc.
I left the meeting enlightened and optimistic for the season ahead, and will watch the games with a new found understanding of what is happening behind the scenes to make my entertainment all that much better.
Again it is great to see the Force reaching out to us and giving us more than just the matches we go watch.