Force in fight for academy funding

[jazza93]

This is a tough one. Centralizing the academies will create strong pathway for Australian players. But they have to keep some sort of academy here because not everyone can afford to move at the age of 17 or 18 into a totally new state.

[James]

Who exactly will pick who goes into the academies? A few years back (2009 I think) the Combined States team came second in the national schoolboys championship and were seriously underrepresented in the Australian Schoolboys and Australia 'A' Schoolboys sides. 5 out of about 45 players.

[GIGS20]

Who exactly will pick who goes into the academies? A few years back (2009 I think) the Combined States team came second in the national schoolboys championship and were seriously underrepresented in the Australian Schoolboys and Australia 'A' Schoolboys sides. 5 out of about 45 players.

I wonder if teams would be allowed to contract players from outside the academy system? If that's the case, and given James' very good point about combined states schoolboys, maybe we should just retain our academy setup and contract the players locally.....apart from picking the best of the system that appears to be set up specifically to support Sydney and Melbourne club rugby.

[fulvio sammut]

Gees, and I thought I gave them the shits ....

[Rucking Good]

This is a knee jerk reaction to the poor funding management by the Eastern States franchises. J O'N wants all the clubs to be run by private backers as per Soccer and the coaches in the ARU High Performance Unit want to justify their jobs. RUPA has a seat at the table on these discussions and are not going to sign off until a number of the comments made in this thread are addressed. Kids of 17/18 need their support network to grow both in rugby and out of it. Who will bear the costs of moving these kids? Who will manage their academic development which is supposed to be run in parallel. Will they get a say in where they go or not? Will they be able to go home on a regular basis and if so who is bearing this cost? It's not as if they have decided to give the Shute Shield a crack for a season and will pay their own way!

The academies are planned for Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane whilst raping the two most financially viable franchises in the Force (yes its true) and the Rebels. The concept has some merit, allowing kids a crack at a higher level club rugby competition on a regular basis but it sounds as if they are cattle to be picked up and discarded on a whim. Nathan Charles was a mature player when he helped out last year not an 18 year old.

We have the opportunity to bring on some real local talent in kids like Cruz, Justin T and Kyle G. Having these lads on the open market in a talent pool situation may sound like they are fast tracking them for Super Rugby but I see it as fillers for the three eastern states clubs at no additional cost.

Not a smart idea in my opinion

[James]

Melbourne, not Brisbane, is getting one of the academies. Other than that I agree completely. What is the difference between 3 academies and 5? If they wanted to make one super academy you could kind of understand it but 3? If the ARU want development make an informal (or better yet formal) competition between each region's academy sides. Since they won't fund another ARC it would be the next best thing.

[beige]

If the ARU want development make an informal (or better yet formal) competition between each region's academy sides. Since they won't fund another ARC it would be the next best thing.

3 of them are already involved in one: http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/regiona...te+prc+victory

[Stone Cold]

This stinks. A draft system would be bad for the game. The acadamy system appears to be producing some local quality players. Surely the long term benefits of growing the game in WA would be a greater pool of potential Wallabies.

AFL uses a draft system and as such no club wants to promote the game. The only way to guarantee a player comes to your club is via the father son rule which prompted Essendon to start the Hird foundation which mentors sons of current and former players.

[palitu]

This stinks. A draft system would be bad for the game. The acadamy system appears to be producing some local quality players. Surely the long term benefits of growing the game in WA would be a greater pool of potential Wallabies.

AFL uses a draft system and as such no club wants to promote the game. The only way to guarantee a player comes to your club is via the father son rule which prompted Essendon to start the Hird foundation which mentors sons of current and former players.

yeah, they would rely on the national body to promote grass roots rugby, which would not happen as the ARU are not in WA.

[James]

3 of them are already involved in one: http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/regiona...te+prc+victory

Well yes. I mean one that actually benefits all 5 teams.

AFL uses a draft system and as such no club wants to promote the game. The only way to guarantee a player comes to your club is via the father son rule which prompted Essendon to start the Hird foundation which mentors sons of current and former players.

They don't necessarily have to a system similar to the AFL draft. New Zealand's draft system seems to work pretty well where surplus talent gets redistributed.

[PerthGirl]

Yes, to the Crusaders! I would have thought that very young guys would benefit from having family support around them. They can go off the rails so easily at that age

[Guru]

You can't compare Australia with NZ development wise. The NZ rugby system is so much better than here. There are so many different levels to play & learn in. As an example to get selected to play for the for the Crusaders from 1st Grade in Christchurch it is possible to play in 8 different representitive teams. Where as in Perth there is Perth Gold & the new Force A.

[palitu]

You can't compare Australia with NZ development wise. The NZ rugby system is so much better than here. There are so many different levels to play & learn in. As an example to get selected to play for the for the Crusaders from 1st Grade in Christchurch it is possible to play in 8 different representitive teams. Where as in Perth there is Perth Gold & the new Force A.

and rugby is their sport.

here it is AFL, without someone pushing the development, it would go no where...