No need to draft players:

[mudskipper]

No need to draft players: Fagan
BY DAVID JEAN
RUGBY UNION 25/02/2009


http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news...n/1443147.aspx


The Western Force might need to pack its own violins for its trip to Canberra this week, because there is little sympathy for its plight from the ACT Brumbies.
Matt Giteau's defection from the Force to the Brumbies next season has sparked complaints from Perth that it has it harder than Australia's other provinces when it comes to player recruitment and retention.

The Australian Rugby Union will meet with the Rugby Union Players Association to discuss measures, including the possibility of a player draft, to shore up the Force.

But Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan, who also has his sights set on recruiting Force and Wallabies fullback Drew Mitchell, said there was no reason to change the contracting protocols governing Australian Super14 teams.

''Everyone loses a few players from time to time, we lost Matt Giteau once, remember?'' Fagan said. ''We've all gone through periods where we've lost high-profile players and therefore you know the rest of your squad is under pressure because they may want to play with them.

''I didn't see Queensland calling for a draft when they lost players to the Force and we didn't call for one when we had a significant number of retirements and were down a little bit on personnel.

''I think the current system works fine.''

With Giteau already gone and Mitchell and fellow young Wallaby James O'Connor attracting strong interest from rival provinces, the Force believes it will struggle to lure quality replacements to Perth, particularly with third-party agreements becoming increasingly difficult to come by.

The suggestion mooted this week to help prop up Australia's newest province is a draft model similar to the one used by the AFL, ensuring no one team has a monopoly on the country's best players.

Senior ARU manager Peter Friend and RUPA boss Tony Dempsey will discuss that and other potential options at a meeting this week.

Fagan said with only four Australian-based provinces there was no need for changes to the current system.

''We've only got four teams in the competition and that means there's only 60 starting spots. That sort of forces players to move because players want opportunity.

''In order to play for the Wallabies players wanted to be sure they're somewhere in the 22 each week and therefore they will move to guarantee themselves that opportunity.''

''If we had six or seven teams in a competition then you might need to look at other mechanisms that ensure you've got a spread of players, but as things stand at the moment I don't see that is such a critical issue.''

Giteau's defection is sure to add spice to the Brumbies' clash with the Force at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.

[TOCC]

i dont think the QLD and ACT situation can be directly compared to the WA since both have the juniors depth to bring through new players, as opposed to WA who doesnt.

In saying that, i dont think there is a need for a draft either, even if WA does lose a few players over the next 12months, so what, thats the natural cycle of a professional side.

[AndyS]

''I didn't see Queensland calling for a draft when they lost players to the Force and we didn't call for one when we had a significant number of retirements and were down a little bit on personnel.

''I think the current system works fine.''

Technically true I suppose, but there was plenty of bleating about salary caps!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...21/1620864.htm

I can't see any justification for a draft either, mind.

[Burgs]

I don't think a draft system is really the way to go either.
I think it is more important that they tighten and enforce the negotiation window to be being a much shorter period post S14.
There has been arguments that players are too busy to negotiate or give interviews while training with the Wallabies however there seems to be no such hassle doing it in the middle of the actual season after getting up on a Tuesday morning.
I believe there should be a ten week window following from one week after the S14 Final and anything outside of that is to replace injured S14 players from local or NH Clubs through to the next Contract Window.
The current system is an annual farce.

[Darren]

You'd think a period which crosses the end and start of a financial year would be the best time to get 3rd party sponsorships also. If there's any money left, they can spend it and with a new budget they have new money to spend...

[.X.]

Rather then a draft, a suggestion could be, the ARU when signing its players for a period could perhaps suggest players play in _____ Team.

Tho - in writing this - I can already see a 100 holes in that argument.

But feel free to add to it