Pretorius wants to be stay the Force

[Lonzy]

I say let Pretorius give it a decent crack, you never know what might happen :p

[GIGS20]

As long as the financials work in our favour (eg he doesn't drain the club of money if he breaks down again) I would be in favour of it. It's time to start grooming Stef for the role, and we could do worse than have the guy who's been mentoring him this season.

Stef should definately get some game time next season though!

[todd4]

Is it possible to weigh the contract more towards match payments with only a basic amount up front? I was looking forward to him playing for us this year and would still be interested in seeing him play next year but the reality is the Force would need a very strong plan B.

Its not as if he is a winger and we can replace him with another winger, his injury this year left the team rudderless until Hill arrived and settled in with the team, by then our season was stuffed. Nobody wants to see that happen again. I think the Force will need to recruit another quality 10 that can also cover 12 & 15 so we are not solely reliant on Andre. (I guess the Force thought they had that covered by recruiting Bart & Harris).

As far as Hunt goes I have not seen him play so I can't comment on him. Has anyone else seen him play? He seems to be some mystical figure that gets talked about a lot. Is he really as good as we are led to beleive and how far off is he before we get to see him? If he was anywhere near ready for S14 you would think they would have taken him to SA to give him a run seeing our season is shot anyway. The fact that Mitchell is not even giving him some experience by throwing him on as a sub with 10 to go makes me think that either Mitchell doesn't rate him at this stage or thinks he is still a fair way off being ready.

[chiraag]

Yeah, I was hoping Stefano would get a bit more of a run at the back end of the season, but that hasn't eventuated. Perhaps his form at club level hasn't been good enough to warrant that (I'm just speculating - haven't heard anything about his current form). I thought he looked OK in the pre and early season matches he got a run from the bench on.

Hopefully he's been training with the squad and learning off Hill & Pretorius while the opportunity was there. I'd imagine a chance to learn off 2 fly-halve's of their quality doesn't come about all that often.

[normie]

"It's not about anything other than me wanting to play with the guys I have become mates with and being part of the club.

"It never felt like I was injured because I was always part of the team.

"They pulled me in, made me a part of the team and I'm grateful for that."

Not wishing to sound too sentimental, but the above comments say a bloody lot about the bloke and group we have. I hope he plays next year because, apart from the warm fuzzies, he obviously is a good fit and knows all the plays and moves, strengths and weaknessess of the squad.

[Burgs]

It isn't as if Mitch is scared of age when blooding new talent, there is obviously a sound reason he hasn't been used.

The reality is that Marquee Players are inevitably going to be in key positions that need filling and as such are an injury away from leaving a gapping hole.

[Sheikh]

Thinking about Hill - the Japanese Top 14 competition finishes in February. When does the new Super 15 season start?

[jazza93]

I would rather they spend the Cooper money on Andre and a decent backup. and I don't think we need Brock James right now, he is probably much better in France.

[pieter blackie]

I would love to see Petoors perform behind the Force forward pack and using the Force backs as try scorers rather than defenders.
I can already see us being in the Final playing in Perth

[beige]

Thinking about Hill - the Japanese Top 14 competition finishes in February. When does the new Super 15 season start?

In 2011 about the same as this year - early start cos of the Rugby World Cup.

[pieter blackie]

What about a petition to allow him to sign another year

[jono]

if qld couldnt keep braid (i believe it was?) i doubt we're going to be able to keep andre. unfortunatley

[force addict]

braid wanted to go back to NZ for world cup. i didnt hear it had anything to do with not being able to have a marquee contract again with QLD. i could be wrong

[jono]

i thought they wanted to keep someone but they couldnt because they were on a maqruee contract?
i could be wrong as well though


might need the big or the little hand to help me out on this one

[beige]

if qld couldnt keep braid (i believe it was?) i doubt we're going to be able to keep andre. unfortunatley

They weren't allowed but they were going to ask the ARU to change the rule. As it turns out Braid decided to go back to NZ so they didn't bother asking.