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"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
A) he spent the pre season with the Force and captained Force A but then decided to head to Sydney for this season to test himself out - looks like it worked.
B) No idea why he is not officially in the national academy but the whole business of having to go to the national talent pool for replacements does not apply to the Rebels as they are a private franchise and can tell the ARU to stuff it - Private money, we hire whom we like.
Good on the lad though
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'Rugby and sex are the only things you can enjoy without being good at them.' -anonymous
Incorrect, the teams all have equal access to draw on players outside the national academy system. The Academy system is more or less designed for U20's and to develop them in that way, at times many of the players aren't suitable as replacements at super rugby level due to their physical development, however rather them cuttin them loose for NRL clubs to poach or train outside of a professional environment, they are placed in the Academy.
Clubs need to apply to get a player from the academy, which is a pretty simple process, or they can get players from the club scene as well... The QRU has done both in 2012, Sam Lane was a national academy player, Rapana was a club player andnDallan Murphy was a EPS player.
No the fact that they are a private franchise has nothin to do with the salary cap not applying to them. The salary cap doesn't apply to them because their 10 internationals aren't counted within it....essentially giving them 4.1 million to spend on 20 players, where everybody else has 4.1 million to spend on 30!
C'mon the