Bred not bought.

[Bronski Beat]

Life is going to be a little tough for sure in Force land. But now is a great opportunity for all of those young WA blokes to put their hands and have a decent crack. This team needs OUR talent. And now now I'd suggest they will have a chance.
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[GIGS20]

Joc IS bred Bronsk, you can't suggest that since he played his schoolboy rugby in Queensland he's not ours, he's been Force since 17!

[James]

I would consider someone 'bred' to be someone who grew up wanting to play for the Force and noone else. What did O'Connor grow up wanting to play for?

Talent is all well and good but we also need some stability. Our forward pack is decent and performs pretty well, especially when Pocock is fit. But the backline is where everything goes wrong. We've had a huge turnover of fly-halves with 5 in the last two years. Compare that to the Reds one (Cooper), the Tahs two (Barnes and Halangahu) and Brumbies 3 (Toomua, Giteau and I think Lealiifano). The last three years have seen a massive turnover of players. Only O'Connor, Shepherd and Cummins out of about 14 players have been here and playing the whole time, and even then Shepherd has been in and out with injury and Cummins spent 5 week out last year which didn't help his season. Again look at the Brumbies/Reds/Waratahs by comparison.

[shasta]

What did O'Connor grow up wanting to play for?

Well seeing as you asked, James. Most probably the NSW Origin Blues. Most Parramatta juniors lean that way.

[James]

I knew it was somewhere in the NRL.

That's the point though isn't it. Growing up wanting to play for your local team makes things a lot easier in retention.

Probably what we really need are 'country' stars. Seems like guys like McCalman and Brown have stayed in Perth so long is because Perth is like a big country town. When we need overeast talent we should look for the guy who wants to go out shooting rather than the guy who wants to stay in and do his hair.

[jombi]

When we need overeast talent we should look for the guy who wants to go out shooting rather than the guy who wants to stay in and do his hair.

Well that counts me out then.

Maybe RugbyWA SHOULD do what perfect beat boy has suggested before and spend that $500m that went to O'Connor on some relatively cheap players from WA & the NSW comp then splurge the rest on KWIK?

I think the real question coming out of all of this is who is going to replace O'Connor's image on the RugbyWA homepage background?

I think Rambo should get the nod.

[Hoolly Doolly]

Anyone know how Justin Turner is coming along or what haylett-petty is up to?
The force has done a great job with longbottoms development and would like to see more success stories like his.
I would count Stannard as a product of rugbywa as well.

[Bronski Beat]

As Jombi said, maybe we can invest those JOC billions on local Rugby or maybe plunder the Gayfl. We need backs and the WAFL for instance has 1000,s of young blokes who are super fit, have great skills with the boot and probably wouldn't be too hard to convert over to Union and all have great hair. Before you start sledging me for a crazy idea Captain Obvious played Footy and so did the Broncos Darren Lockyer, granted both Sharpe and Lockyer have never really played Union but look what's in front of you RWA.
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[SNOB]

Anyone know how Justin Turner is coming along or what haylett-petty is up to?
The force has done a great job with longbottoms development and would like to see more success stories like his.
I would count Stannard as a product of rugbywa as well.

Haylett-Petty is playing in England cant remember which club but think it may have been Quinns.

[James]

I thought it was France. Maybe Bayonne.

Some supporter from whichever club it was was on here saying he's been going great guns a few months ago.

[farva]

He is playing at Biarritz in the Top 14