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NICK TAYLOR, The West Australian
December 7, 2011, 8:58 am
Western Force fly-half Willie Ripia is heading into the new Super season with a huge weight of expectation on his shoulders - not only from fans and coaching staff, but himself.
After an injury-hit 2011, he is hoping to rediscover the form that earned him New Zealand and Maori representative honours.
He will also be under pressure from teammate James Stannard, with coach Richard Graham indicating yesterday that he will be looking to use the former Australian Sevens player of the year, in the playmaker role.
Stannard, who began his club career at fly-half but was converted to scrum-half when he joined the Force, was a revelation when he stepped in at No.10 for the injured Ripia at the end of last season.
"I'll see how pre-season goes and also the trials, but at this stage I'm leaning towards playing him (Stannard) at 10," Graham said.
When Ripia moved from the Hurricanes last season, he was seen as the solution to the Force's fly-half problem.
Instead it turned into a year of frustration with a mystery foot injury and then a calf muscle problem limiting him to six starts and one appearance from the bench.
Even in those games, he was never fully fit but has gone through a tough four-month strength and conditioning program.
"Last year was very disappointing, very frustrating," Ripia said. "I'm going into this year with huge expectations.
"Expectation weighs heavily on any person that makes the team, there are demands from all sides.
"Some players put demands on themselves more than anything else. I'm one of them. I demand a high performance of myself and I was frustrated because I was not playing well."
Ripia will be expected to attack the opposition line more this season. Last year, with his confidence down because of injury, he often stood deep and played a bigger passing and kicking game.
"I've got to step up in taking the ball to the line," he said. "Being a threat amongst the line will be a focus of mine, to have a dart once or twice, get beaten up a bit."
Graham, who shouldered some of the blame for Ripia's form by throwing him into games before he was fully recovered, is confident a new Ripia will be on show.
"With a good pre-season under his belt he'll provide. He's a player we will be looking to build something around. There is an expectation on him to perform," he said.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...a-force-again/
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