Melbourne Rebels can 'derail' us: Ewen McKenzie






QUEENSLAND coach Ewen McKenzie admitted yesterday that the Melbourne Rebels' aggressive recruiting drive had the potential to derail the Reds just when they were starting to play with the cohesion and confidence missing for the past seven years.

Rebels CEO Brian Waldron, who watched awestruck on Sunday afternoon at Suncorp Stadium as the Reds demolished the Western Force 50-10, met with a number of Queensland players yesterday, the first day of their short mid-season break before they leave on Friday for a three-match tour of South Africa.
Already three Queensland players, tighthead Laurie Weeks, second-rower Adam Byrnes and halfback Richard Kingi, are understood to have committed to the Melbourne team and more could follow.
Given that the Reds somehow contrived to have 23 players coming off contract in the year Melbourne entered the marketplace, Queensland has only itself to blame for again being the primary target of a new franchise, just as it was in 2005 when it was raided by the Western Force.


Even though McKenzie has devoted, by one QRU official's estimate, 80 per cent of his time since joining the Reds on player retention and recruitment, Queensland still has locked away only about 15 of those 23 players. Significantly, in-form playmaker Quade Cooper is among those who have not yet recommitted.
"I haven't said anything about staying or going," Cooper said yesterday. "I've been very much concentrating on my football. I let my manager do his job, and that's sorting out those things. I've got my job to do, and that's playing for the Reds throughout this season."
However, Cooper admitted the fact he and his teammates are enjoying their rugby with the Reds would influence their decisions. "I know that's one factor I'll be weighing up," he said. "But there are a lot of factors you have to keep in mind.
"It's going to be a tough few weeks for all organisations. The Rebels are going to be poaching from everyone's ranks.
"It's going to be a matter of everyone making their minds up over the next few weeks."
It's McKenzie's job to keep those minds focused on the upcoming matches against the Cheetahs, Sharks and Lions, respectively ranked ninth, 12th and 13th. If the Reds can maintain their concentration in South Africa and replicate their form of the past two weeks, they could set themselves up for the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
But as of yesterday, when the Rebels were free to start signing players from other Australian franchises, the dynamic within the team shifted, with three Reds linked to Melbourne.
"It's got the potential to derail us but I think everyone will knuckle down and do the work," McKenzie said. "I've been through this before (at the Waratahs) when Brendan Cannon and Lachlan Mackay signed with the Force (in 2005).
"I look at it on a case-by-case basis. You do make an assessment in the back of your mind whether it (a player moving to Melbourne) is valid. There might be some that are valid, there might be some I might not understand."
But McKenzie admitted that if it came to a 50-50 call, the temptation would be there for him to choose players who will be with the Reds next year. "These players are making decisions about their future and that's fair enough," he said. "But I've also got to make decisions about the Reds' future."
However, he refuted the suggestion that Byrnes had been dropped to the bench against the Force on Sunday because the aggressive lock was heading to Melbourne. "He had a groin problem and I had always wanted to have a look at Rob Simmons. Byrnes has played a lot of games in a row and he has not been a regular starter, so rotation was going to be an option sooner or later."


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