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![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
To be fair, we're any of those who stayed offered a SR contract at the time? I dunno.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
More importantly, were any of them still under a contract with rugby Australia?
Have any of them remained under contract the whole time.
The guy might not have had any choice
C'mon the![]()
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DHP did come back to play for the Force in the NRC in 2018, much to Melbourne's annoyance (IIRC) as they had wanted him to play for the Rising.
I don't think he played many games that year due to injury, but he had played for the Spirit and didn't want to play the NRC for Melbourne.
You had to be in a Super Rugby side to continue to be selected for the Wallabies, so I don't blame him for leaving WA, but he came back as soon as he could.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
All of the players were free agents to stay or move as they wanted.
We should always remember the 7 players who stayed in Perth:
Brache, Grant, Louwrens, Prior, Scoble, Stander and Tessman.
Louwrens moved on once Prior was made Captain.
Not if they wanted to remain as Wallabies. RA may never have officially said it, but no-one was going to be picked if they weren't playing at the top level, and that meant one of the 4 remaining sides.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
RA actually said quite the opposite during the IPRC discussions/approvals i.e. that WF players would be considered for Wallabies selection.
They may in fact have been considered - we'll never know - but we do know that none were selected and RA's support for rugby in WA dropped to the same level as that for the NT and SA.
Everyone complains about lack of loyalty in the professional era but when players show loyalty I reckon that should be recognised.
The IPRC discussions were after the majority of the ex-Force players had signed with new clubs, needing to think about where they were going to play the following year, especially if they wanted to continue playing at the highest level in Australia.
And I've never said that the players who stayed shouldn't be considered loyal, but DHP returned to WA to play at the first opportunity (the NRC in 2018).
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
In any event DH-P had 2 stints in Sea Blue. A local who left for the NH to get better and did. Big time. Came back, answered an SOS in tragic circumstances after a full game in Premier Grade, killed it and never looked back. A lap of honor would be very fitting IMO.
As far as a coaching appointment, I'll leave that to the experts.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Yeah, I got that. I was more referring to comments about a lack of coaching experience. As in; I wonder how much of that Greg Holmes, Kahui or Thrush had when appointed by the management. Most see those as a major plus. If they thought DHP had something to offer, what's the diff?
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Well, I can imagine that he'll be putting most (all?) of his time into his new business with Justin Turner, so he'll probably have little time for coaching the Force. Even if his new job is a fitness centre, I'm pretty sure that the Force have fitness/strength/conditioning coaches already.
Would be nice to see him around the games, though.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
I would expect that, through the course of 7 or 8 years as a professional player almost everybody will have done at least a couple of levels of both the coaching and refereeing courses. I've always advocated those sorts of things as ways of improving your game. This is universal to all sports, if you can understand the way a ref's mind works, you're going to be penalised less, if you can coach a little bit you add value to the team and are better able to analyse your own performance.
C'mon the![]()
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Story on Dane
Dane Haylett-Petty opens up on 12-month battle with concussion upon retirement
Nick Taylor
The West Australian
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Former Western Force and Wallabies star Dane Haylett-Petty has literally listened to his head after a 12-month battle with concussion.
The popular full-back, the first homegrown WA player to go through the Force junior system to play for Australia, said he had left no stone unturned attempting to prolong his career before opting to hang up his boots.
“I tried to give it every chance,” Haylett-Petty said.“I gave it a full 12 months but I always said I would only come back and play if I was 100 percent. Unfortunately I haven’t got to that point.
“I’ve got to about 90 per cent, training hard and tackling, but never quite shook it.
“Specialists said listen to your head and make the right decision.
“It’s hard to walk away from something you have spent your whole adult life doing, literally, from the day I finished school. It was my dream as a child to play international sport. Rugby is all I’ve ever done.”
Haylett-Petty, 32, suffered a head knock against the All Blacks at the Olympic Stadium on October 31 last year.
The former Hale School student took an elbow to the face from ball-carrier Jordie Barrett early in the match.
“I struggled through the game with blurry vision,” said Haylett-Petty, who scored 12 tries in 38 Tests after making his debut in 2016 against England.P
He did not play again as he continued to suffer with “footballer’s migraine”.
It was his “sixth or seventh” head knock in a career that began at the Force in 2008, included spells with Biarritz and Toyota before a return to the Force in 2014, and a move to Melbourne Rebels when the Force were axed by Rugby Australia.
Haylett-Petty said the decision to retire was ultimately made for him.
“It wasn’t a great quality of life living with headaches every day,” he said.
“I’m on migraine medication that helps hugely but I can’t train to the level that I would need to be a professional rugby player.
“They can’t tell me how long it will be before it goes away but generally it will go away now I’ve stopped tackling and running into people.
“I do light exercise now. I’ve stopped doing anything that stirs me up. Right at the beginning specialists said ‘listen to your head’.
“I put my faith in them but they could not tell me about the long-term risks.
“Some people get footballer’s migraines after one head knock, some after 10, others don’t get it no matter how many head knocks they get.
“Some guys I spoke to went through it for a couple of months and then suddenly woke up one day, felt fine again and had long careers.
“That’s what I was hoping for but I just couldn’t get to that point.
“It’s good that the game is taking better care of players and that a lot of resources are being poured into research.
“Players are more aware of the risks and the game is moving in the right direction.
“We are learning so much more about the risks of concussion but there’s so much more to do.
“It’s a complicated issue. There’s a huge spectrum of views.”
With his rugby career over Haylett-Petty is looking forward to the future with new son Hugo with partner Hannah and the chance to concentrate on his off-field businesses.
He is set to open his third health food cafe and drive-through, Nourish and Feed, in the northern suburbs that he owns with his sister and start a gym, Fitstop in Jolimont, with former Force scrum-half and good friend Justin Turner.
“I’m excited to do something else, to start a new chapter and take on some new challenges,” Haylett-Petty said.
“With my concussion, what’s done is done, but how I live the next 20 years is important.”